New Jersey based artist Gregory Halili was born and raised in the Philippines, surrounded by lush vegetation and tropical wildlife that have influenced his works today. His extraordinarily detailed works on sea shells are like a small tribute to his life in the tropics. Working primarily in gouache and oils, he carves and then paints tiny images of human eyes on shells as small as 1 inches, to realistic profiles of human skulls as large as 12 inches. The ivory and pearlescent colors of the shells add a certain effervescence to his anatomical subjects. Halili found this same quality in Filipino 18th century illuminations, where text was supplemented with such decoration as initials, borders, and miniature illustrations. These decorations made subjects appear more splendid, even enchanted. In golden sepia tones, Halili evokes the visual style of these historical artifacts, thus creating work that is as unique to his heritage as it is personal.
