Horror Vacui, painter Paolo Torres’s newest exhibit at Vinyl at Vinyl, is goofy and animated, reminiscent of old Looney Tunes shorts. Torres’s work brings this new spin at cartoonish anarchy that hides deeper feelings of anxiety in its frenetic look.
Torres collaborates with poet Ray Santiago, who provides multiple poems that link to specific paintings within the exhibit. Both seem intent on carving out a place where artistry stands in for the anxiety they feel, never stating out loud the specificity of these emotions.
“These cartoonish figures bare incompleteness, alluding to the strength in vulnerability, as packaged in the artist’s rough and intricate style,” the exhibit write-up said. “The poems depict a voice that is in recollection – a carousel of memories that, at its core, bear a scathing poignance of loneliness.”
Horror Vacui translates in Latin as “fear of empty spaces.” And one does see that ethos in Torres’s work, with their expertly-handled chaotic scenery evocative of psychedelic art and underground comix.
For the artist, they describe the stylistic choices as “brooding torsos; decapitated; riddled with stains and scribbles to emulate emotions like emptiness and uncertainty.”
The works drip with stars and abstract backgrounds of dirtied-up, muted colors. These disheveled backgrounds contain nothing linear about its presentations. At times, the stormy background reminds one of old, scratched-up film.
Torres fills the paintings with eccentric, headless figures that appear to represent the destructive lack of agency people have. A headless cat gets a pair of eyes and a mouth floating in front of where its face should be; one painting gives a couple flower heads while they smoke.
The artist draws these figures with peculiar poses and dimensions that make them look energetic. One painting gives audiences a whole body that looks like a nude Mario figure, with stars covering its head and other nude areas of the body in strategic ways. Pairing the background and the figures together add up to a memorable experience for viewers of the pieces.
Each painting appears to join itself with a poem from Santiago. The gallery gives visitors browsing copies with the poems as they enter the exhibition. Many of the poems talk of the despair of living, sometimes adding a new dimension to the paintings they are paired with.
One painting has a headless woman with a wing instead of a left arm, planted in a vase. Leaves and flowers cover the torso’s breasts as other white flowers grow around the body. Their corresponding poem, “Big Vase,” sets a theme of objects discarded by society.
“a space for hiding, claustrophobic, crushing, comforting, embracing/ dreams buried, kept/ broken things, forgotten things, kept things, thrown things, and all things,” Santiago wrote.
The poems take on themes of abandonment, and imbue the paintings with grief existing below the veneer of anxious cartoony energy within it. The works are poignant and honest with how unbalanced the world makes them feel. “Maybe I am dying now. But I don’t want to remember,” Santiago wrote for the title poem “Horror Vacui.”
Horror Vacui explodes with grief, finding comfort in the bizarre, fun grotesque pieces that the two artists fill the world with. Visitors can be dazzled with the eccentric artworks, and devastated with the piercing poems. However one sees the works, it allows us enjoyment in art that visualizes the personal demons of its artists.
Related reading: ‘Rituals of Recovery’: Honing into the Practices of Self-Care
Many people only notice good design when it is absent. A faucet that splashes too far, feels awkward in the hand, or sits slightly out of alignment can disrupt a routine in ways that are subtle yet persistent. These are small irritations, but they reveal a larger truth: the objects used every day often have […]
Running from November 27, 2025, to May 31, 2026, the exhibition traces how Art Deco moved from global design movement to localized expression through Philippine architecture, furnishings, fashion, and everyday life. The National Museum of Fine Arts’ Art Deco: Modernity and Design in the Philippines 1925-1950 explored the history of the Art Deco style in […]
Flooring can profoundly influence how a space is experienced. Long before furniture and finishes are introduced, the floor establishes a visual field that shapes movement, light, and proportion. This is where large-format tiles are particularly effective. By reducing the number of grout lines across a floor or wall, they create a more continuous surface. The […]
Since setting up her design firm, MB Architecture Studio, in 2007, Ar. Micaela Benedicto has built a diverse portfolio of architectural projects. Her works, whether residential or commercial, showcase a distinct spatial quality, “I like to create things that can go from something static to something that is alive and reactive,” Benedicto states. “In creating […]
Located in Pasig City, Kapitolyo is a small village that is known for its food and beverage scene. From karinderyas to local bistros, the area is a popular hub for young professionals and families. The cafés in the neighborhood reflect the dynamic community they serve, offering more than just a cup of coffee. What Makes […]
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
