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Art Anton Debuts Two New Exhibits Ruminating on Our Viewpoints
For two of its exhibitions in its August slate, Art Anton Gallery allowed two artists space to meditate on our place in the universe. The artists sought to show their perspective on the world, and the art encourages its viewers to try and see it in a new way as well, beyond our own preconceptions.
Faye Manalo’s What I Am Not reconfigures found objects with colorful beads to create “abstract forms that resemble portals,” according to the exhibit write-up. She uses objects we see in our everyday lives—chairs, books, even eggshells—to show the possibilities that exist in every object in the world.
Meanwhile, Karl Lago’s Under The Shade Trees depict the “enchanting interplay of light and shadow” as they appear from the leaves of a tree. His work tries to relax the viewers, attempting to illustrate the sway of the trees and the sound of the breeze through a combination of colors and positioning within the works.
Faye Manalo’s ‘What I Am Not’
Manalo said that the works shown in Art Anton are her attempt to give viewers her perspective of the world. What we see as ordinary objects, she said, she finds bigger artistic possibilities within.
“It’s just showing that I see the same things but I see it differently,” she said. “So there’s like a different universe that exists aside from the one that we’re in. And that’s the power of imagination, of being an artist. I think that’s one of the things I’m most grateful for, being able to see things past what they really are.
She uses found objects in much of the exhibit to show this unique way of perceiving things. Many of them use a combination of dark hues and gold to create swirling portal-like worlds in front of us. Her intent was to create a magical aura in each object to represent their possibilities.
Is This Seat Taken?
“Is This Seat Taken?”, her collaboration with furniture designer Vanessa Gaston, is the most interesting work in the exhibit. The piece shows a chair with a hole in the middle showing the portal. It forces viewers to question the purpose of objects beyond their perceived utility.
“If you take away its value to humans or what it’s made for, does it become more of an art object more than an actual object?” she said.
Expanding on this idea further, she continued: “I think it’s to show that things don’t have to be just one thing. Like how people can be more than one thing. So a chair, which is used for sitting down, can be more than a chair. So there are layers to it.”
Karl Lago’s ‘Under the Shade Trees’
Lago’s pieces use crownshaft cuttings from a palm tree to create the three-dimensional look of his exhibit. A furniture designer by trade, he explored the material during the pandemic and found that he could make art from them.
The multimedia works in this Art Anton exhibit show a collection of leaf-like objects jutting out from canvases with plain color backgrounds. Karl Lago uses different colors to show the interplay between the light and the leaves. At times, it looks like camouflage when combined with the background.
His inspiration for the theme came from the desire to create art from things that aren’t really noticed. He noticed a calamansi tree near his studio, and expanded on the concept to depict different trees from his life, including a mango tree that he grew up with.
“It feels like I am viewing the shade tree from up, and also, why not notice the shadows and all the colors that are under the shade tree. And then after that, why not relate my personal experiences of being just under the shade tree?” he said.
Art as Seeing Through New Eyes
These two exhibits at Art Anton give viewers a perspective beyond their own. More than that, it gives them an opportunity to question whether the way we see the world is enough for us today. Art broadens our perspective of the world, and reminds us that there is more to our lives than what we see today.
“I think I just also want to encourage people to look at things more critically,” Faye Manalo said. “Like, not just see things, but really look at things, because I think there’s so much more if you keep digging. Us humans, we have the power to give things value and meaning, so everybody can do what I’m doing, just in a different sense.”
The exhibits are open to the public until August 21.
Related reading: Faye Pamintuan Revisits Home and Identity in “What I Owe to Each Line”
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