Venus Freed is a collection of interactive blown glass objects, flowers and found materials that conjure the ritual object through the Philippine myth of the ylang ylang, (scientific name, Cananga Odorata), a flower indigenous to the country. Poblador laments the way Western perfume makers have exploited the flower without attributing the rich scent to its country of origin. Poblador is highly conscious of her cultural heritage and motivated by the longstanding intimacies of Philippine culture as it relates to nature. She sees in the flower a subtle metaphor for the Filipino woman, a colonized body. She decries the loss of identity and empowerment of the Filipino woman in a global setting where consumerism and foreign cultural imperialism hold sway. Her work often delves deeply into themes such as colonialism, loss, cultural identity and the liberation of the third world woman. The artist communicates her insights through the technique of glassblowing and an exploration of the body and the senses.
top photo by JL Javier, 2024
bottom photo by
Anna Frumenti, 2021
︎︎︎Curriculum Vitae
︎︎︎Artist Statement
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Email goldiepoblador@gmail.com for inquiries
Goldie Poblador is a visual artist who merges glass sculpture, performance, and video into multi-sensory installations that address themes of climate change and the emancipation of the female body.
Artist Biography
Goldie Poblador is a Filipina visual artist who creates multi-sensory installations that merge glass scent, sound and performance that address themes of ecology and decolonization as it relates to the emancipation of the female body.
Her work has been exhibited and performed internationally at such institutions as Artpace, The Corning Museum of Glass, Urban Glass, 601Artspace, The Knockdown Center, Saudi National Museum, The Rubin Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Bangkok Art and Culture Center, Fine Art Museum of Hanoi, Lopez Memorial Museum, Art Fair Philippines, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, The National Museum of the Filipino People and The Cultural Center of the Philippines.
She is the first Filipino artist to be acquired by the Corning Museum of Glass. She has received grants from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts, the University of the Philippines, the Puffin Foundation and a President’s Scholarship from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has completed residencies at Artpace, the Corning Museum of Glass, Oakspring Garden Foundation, MASS MoCa, and the Cité International des Arts. She received her BFA in Studio Arts from the University of the Philippines in 2009. In 2015, she obtained her MFA in Glass at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Registered as Goldieland Studio / New York, NY