Art in the Park returned this year to Jaime Velasquez Park in Salcedo Village, Makati City, to celebrate its 20th anniversary. This year’s edition featured a curated selection of works from 55 exhibitors representing galleries, art collectives, independent art spaces, and student groups. With all artworks capped at Php 70,000, the fair continued its mission […]
‘Black Paintings’: Shadows of Beauty in the Darkness
Miguel Lorenzo Uy’s Black Paintings, currently on display at Gravity Art Space until April 27, evokes the memories of our recent lived experiences. It portrays the sense of anxiety evoked by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the helplessness it left in many of us.
Uy was inspired to create this project by an online art exhibit on Instagram during the pandemic, after which he started to explore the possibilities of the medium even further.
“During that time while everything outside was viewed through a screen and the overall mood of the moment seemed dark and miserable,” Uy said. “I wanted to explore the idea of how we see and perceive black on screen and black in reality, like how this faint wash of light is sensed in our eyes.”
Dreamlike Darkness
Uy’s exhibit consists of two different projects. One features multiple acrylic on canvas paintings that use the “blackest black” available on the market right now. These paintings utilize two types of black paint to create images within the darkness. It accentuates the contrast without removing the darkness of the art surrounding it.
Advertisement
He uses the black paints to create landscapes of the world around us. He depicts different natural phenoma, from what appears to be ocean waves to birds in flight. One painting is of a typhoon cloud from weather maps. It uses the chaotic danger of storms—its largeness and scope and power. Without having to show the people themselves in danger, the painting invokes the fearsome power of storms.
Another work portrays a gorilla hiding within what appears to be a forested area. This one is especially provocative because you can see the gorilla’s features so clearly even in the low visibility the blackness gives. It almost looks like day-for-night footage. That visibility adds a certain sort of sadness to see this realistic-looking gorilla hugging itself in a corner.
Anxiety in the Pandemic
For the actual exhibit, an interesting addition is a one-minute short that loops itself as you enter the exhibit. It depicts some of the works in a hyper-stylized way, changing and shifting as it mutates the images into something unreal.
Advertisement
“The scenes are of a momentary dream of a soft, cosmic hum,” the artist explains. “Within the sequence, a plane of light sears the eyes, as if images are etched on the sight of the dreamer. Outside this boundary, a faint cosmos twinkles throughout the background of the shadows.”
It certainly uses the images to summon a sense of unreality to its audience. At times, it feels like a shapeshifter unable to stabilize, falling into the uncanny valley to the viewers. And while the black paintings create anxiety through the contrasts of darkness, the video uses quick-changing iterations of one image sliding together. The work makes us question within ourselves both what we consider real and what we trust from the world.
As the world barrels forward into an uncertain future of misinformation, questions of what we should trust and how much we should trust something become more important to ponder. Miguel Lorenzo Uy’s Black Paintings echoes the strange gloominess of the times. More important, it asks how we can still find images of life in the darkness of its world.
Advertisement
Related reading: ‘The Greatness of Simplicity’: Finding Peace in the Pandemic
Denise de Castro, Principal Architect of DEQA Design Collaborative, believes that designing with equity in mind means starting at the workplace. Values and practices that your studio or office espouse inevitably filter down to the work that you do. Equitable design ensures that people with different needs and different backgrounds are supported through fair access, […]
Advertisement
Across Metro Manila, residential developments are increasingly designed around proximity. As cities grow denser and mobility becomes more complex, new housing is often positioned near transport nodes, commercial districts, and educational institutions. This approach reflects a broader shift in urban planning. Mixed-use environments allow residents to live closer to daily necessities—reducing commute times while supporting […]
Luxury in design is undergoing a quiet shift. Where once luxury was measured primarily through visual opulence, today it is increasingly defined by responsibility—through the way spaces are built, the materials selected, and the impact those decisions leave behind. At the Philippine World Building and Construction Expo (WORLDBEX) 2026, this evolving definition of luxury takes […]
For more than nine decades, Fisher & Paykel has approached design with a simple but exacting belief: that the best living environments are those shaped by people, place, and purpose. Rooted in New Zealand and deeply attuned to island and coastal living, the brand’s philosophy centres on quiet performance, material honesty, and appliances that integrate […]
Advertisement
At Helm, dining unfolds as choreography. An open kitchen anchors the room, allowing guests to witness the precision behind its Michelin-starred fine dining menu. Designed by Kevin Nieves of Headroom, the 24-seat restaurant reflects that same discipline in its interior design. Tucked within Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati, Helm brings together culinary recognition and architectural […]
Download this month's BLUPRINT magazine digital copy from:
Subscribe via [email protected]