This painting exemplifies best the theme that Adam Nacianceno tackles in his Unmasked series. Unmasking involves the exposure or revelation of the true hidden self. It is the peeling of layers that opaques a hidden truth. This painting, which tells of Nacianceno's recollection of a smile, is his way of prodding us to jog our memory and recall for ourselves the selfsame experience of being smiled at. Nacianceno claims that the bliss he speaks of here is not of the physical or sensual kind which dissipates easily. He portrays here the mental or intellectual kind of bliss that fixes itself in one's mind and stays there forever. This painting is a revolving composite of faces. We see eyes that seem to be randomly placed, but are in fact components of faces masked by repeating floral patterns. The fusion here of Jackson Pollock's drip and splatter technique and a Jugendstil artist 's obsession with intricate floral drawings is what distinguishes Adam Nacianceno's art from those done by abstract painters before him. Not to mention his obsessive predilection for black and white, which make him a rare bird indeed in a Philippine art scene aswarm with colorful artistic personas laden with their colorful paintings.
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