The exhibition is visually divided into three phases. The first shows works that are almost monochromatic and marks the early phase of the narrative—when we realised that COVID-19 was here. Reduced to basic activities and routines as we adjusted to life living indoors, the monochromatic works echo the simple life we all suddenly found ourselves living. "It was a sudden change," said Villanueva. "So I wanted to portray that visually, with a more basic palette, which gives way to more colour and more detail, as we progress. I focused on children. How they coped, given that they have been indoors now for more than a year and a half. Children have a natural resilience because their imagination allows them to be anywhere they want to be, even if they're just in the house. Sometimes, a change of perspective can do wonders for our well-being. And this is what we can all do, in the meantime."

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Villanueva would always claim to be an accidental artist. "She did not plan to be a painter but with her zeal in excelling on anything she takes up, she has had twelve years in this serendipitous career," says Art Lounge Manila.

From being tutored by renowned Filipino artist Mauro "Malang" Santos to being part of the Saturday Group, the elite group of esteemed Filipino artists, Villanueva had a full-fledged career both as a painter and a poet and was adored locally and internationally. She has exhibited in various art fairs all over the Philippines as well as in Hong Kong and Malaysia. "Like her mentor, she has mastered the evocative through the use of colour, outline, and diffused brush strokes. Through the use of just three dots, she can express an innocent stare, a joyful laugh, a nervous giggle, longing, or a child's impetuous sulking after something has been denied to him," the gallerist explained. "Evolving her own style conjures beauty through an austere simplicity and a wabi-sabi sensibility, Villanueva helps us recall how we once valued a leaf, shadows cast as we sit under the moonlight, a tiring afternoon of play, or the reassuring presence of a sibling or a friend."

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Migs Villanueva's exhibition, "In The Meantime" is presented by Art Lounge Manila, G/F The Podium Mall, Ortigas Centre. For inquiries, contact +63 977 839 8971 or +63 998 993 7963.