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‘A Place to Let Go’: Pattpiha Takes a Journey of Self-Conviction Through Art
A Place to Let Go, the first exhibit of Pattpiha at Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery, works to capture the artist’s inner life. The exhibition adopts a chaotic, surrealistic look as a way of peering into the feelings of the author at this stage in their life.
A collection of paintings, sculptures, and various artistic touches portray the interconnectedness of her artworks with her emotions, painting a muted-by-vivid representation of the self as the artist sees it. The works demonstrate how self-conviction and self-doubt can co-exist, which in turn allow us to move forward to the next thing in our lives.
“[It] captures her journey as she navigates through these negative and positive emotions,” the exhibit write-up said. “It is the exploration of her art’s expansion-from journal drawings and personal experiences to now being able to paint and sculpt as a way to let go.”
Vibrancy in Sadness
The most unique aspect of A Place to Let Go is the strange color scheme. Its works use neon-like shades of pink, colors that typically pop out in bright, flashy ways in other contexts. But here, the brightness of these colors appear dimmed, which appear to reflect the differing emotions of the author.
The elements here seem to clash against each other thematically. For example, the cartoonish art typically used for whimsical subjects hides the darker themes being explored by the artist. Many of the characters are in these fantastical settings, and yet their demeanor and atmosphere looks ambivalent, even grieving at times. It’s an interesting juxtaposition of how positive and negative emotions can coexist together.
Dark but Neon
Pattpiha herself said that the color palette, described as “dark but neon,” came about due to the colors she had at hand and the different lighting in her room. Still, she said, she enjoys the way people reinterpret the emotional nature of the works from the color paired with the images.
“Feel ko, itong combination ng colors na ito, parang random siya,” she said. “Pero ang interesting pag na-vi-view siya ng tao, it looks cohesive, it looks intentional. But it’s more of like, ‘oh, ito ang green na I have. Maybe if I put some yellow, it will brighten up.’
“Yung parang contradicting na elements ay na-se-serve yung subject na iyon kasi hindi ako ang nag-dicta. So interesting, na parang, ‘huy, ano ang input mo,’ so nadadala ko siya along the way.”
[“I feel that these combination of colors are random. But it’s interesting when people view it, it looks cohesive and intentional.”]
[“These contradicting elements serve the subject because I’m not dictating it. It’s interesting, like I can go to people and go, ‘hey, what’s your input?’ and I’m able to bring that along the way.”]
Representing Inner Turmoil
One painting, “Look Closely,” leaves the character peering through a happy horizon with suspicion. Pattpiha said that this was an intentional move to showcase how people tend to expect the worst even when faced with happy situations. She calls this the person’s armor, a way to protect themselves from the disappointment of being too happy in life.
“It’s more of like nandoon ka na sa bagay na ginusto mo noon pero since nag-go-grow tayo, there are times that na kahit nakuha mo na ang gusto mo, may nire-reserve—kaya siya naka-eye patch—may nire reserve ka na percentage na parang ‘something bad is gonna happen,’” she said.
“Kahit na parang sinasabi naman yung universe na no, ito na, ito na yung good thing na hinahanap mo. It’s more parang, yes, thank you, but parang maybe may mangyayari. So I need to expect it.
[“It’s more like you’re here at the place you want to be, but because of our personal growth, there are times where we get what we want and we still reserve a percentage of ourselves to believe ‘something bad is going to happen.’ No matter what even the universe says that this is the good thing you’re looking for, it’s more the need to expect something to happen.”]
Accepting the Self
Overall, A Place to Let Go reflects the artist’s need to find control of their feelings as they experience the ups and downs of life. She reflected that the negatives of the past tend to loom over the positive experiences. Thus, one needs a place where we can let go of these emotions and exist with the contradictory feelings that these contain.
“It’s basically a journey of self-doubt, but then being able to get back to it again,” Pattpiha said. “Like, waking yourself up now, parang all of what’s happening to me is a bit [of] a downer. But still, hindi naman natin alam lahat ng future natin.
“So, just keep going and have a place to let go. Like art, or music, or writing. [It] just so happens na right now ang medium ko is painting, but I think lahat naman tayo may simple ways of letting go. So for me, this is a place to let go.”
A Place to Let Go is open at Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery until February 11.
Photos by Elle Yap.
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