The year 2025 was a defining milestone for Paulina Luz Sotto. After a decade of navigating the world of arts, she celebrated her 10-year journey with an exhibit, “Duality in Dialogue,” at Galleria Nicolas Greenbelt.

Aside from being a collection of her new works, the exhibit was an inward exchange between where she began and where she is heading. It captured the tension and harmony between being the disciplined, geometric abstractions that pay homage to her grandfather, National Artist Arturo Luz, and a newfound, whimsical world of portraiture that hums with spontaneity.

For Paulina, the foundation of her work has always been rooted in the structural elegance she grew up with. Having spent her childhood surrounded by her grandfather’s iconic landscapes, the influence of the elder Luz was inevitable, even if it took time to recognize.

“Growing up with my grandfather, I was surrounded by his beautiful imaginary landscapes. His paintings filled up our house,” Paulina shared. “I didn’t really appreciate it when I was younger, but his works undoubtedly influenced my own. I’ve been creating my own version of abstract landscapes for the past 10 years, and it’s one of the subjects I don’t get tired of creating.

In these classic abstracts, Paulina carried the “Luz style” with a distinct sense of discipline and pattern. Yet, these are not merely carbon copies. Her landscapes were imbued with a contemporary warmth and intuitive sense of form that belongs entirely to her.

If the landscapes represented her roots, the portraits represented her discovery. This emerged from a place of creative freedom, sparked by the birth of Paulina’s second child. Moving away from the calculated precision of geometry, these “funky, cartoonish” portraits embraced the odd and the whimsical.

“The portraits are a more recent exploration. A few months ago, I just felt like working on a portrait, so I sketched it out, put it on canvas, and I really liked the finished piece,” she explained. From there, I wanted to make more of them with different subjects, different colors, different stories.”

What made these portraits stand out is the lack of overthinking. Paulina described the process wherein she allowed her hand to move before her mind could second-guess the direction.

“I’ve found that they would turn out better if I didn’t think too much. I would just keep sketching, adding one line at a time, one feature at a time. Some of my favorite paintings were made by just going with the flow,” she said.

Despite the two different styles, a singular philosophy binds Paulina’s work: the beauty in simplicity.

“For me, art doesn’t always have to be complicated. It doesn’t always have to have a deeper meaning,” she said. “I like making art that is pleasing to the eye. I want viewers to feel joy and happiness when they look at my paintings. Life is already complicated, and I don’t want to add to that chaos."

Reaching the 10-year mark is no small feat in a subjective and ever-changing industry. For Paulina, this milestone was an achievement of relevance and endurance.

“I’m very grateful to still be doing what I’m doing. As an artist, staying relevant is always a challenge. The fact that I’m still here and people are still interested in my work is a very big achievement. Hopefully, I have many more decades as an artist,” she said.

For emerging artists, looking to find their own “dialogue,” Paulina emphasized the importance of constant curiosity. “Collect inspiration like a curator. Check out art books, look for artists on social media, and search on Pinterest. Keep notes and photos of art that you like, then, when you’re ready, go back to what you saved and see if it sparks new ideas.”

Paulina proved that an artist’s evolution doesn’t require severing one’s roots. It just requires the courage to let them grow in new directions.