The career trajectory of JJ Acuña reads like a global odyssey—one that stretches from a quiet Texas suburb to the skylines of Hong Kong and, most recently, Manila. Across each locale, he honed an approach he calls “spatial DNA”. It’s a bespoke methodology that weaves client aspirations, cultural context, and intuitive materiality into environments that […]
‘ANYAREH’: Kiko Marquez Portrays the Increasing Complexity of Modern Life
ANYAREH, Kiko Marquez’s newest exhibit at Art Cube Gallery in Makati, uses some interesting surrealist imagery to depict a world upended, while redefining the meaning of normal.
Marquez claims his daughter served as the inspiration for the exhibit, asking an “innocent question” about “some baffling scenes she experienced.” From that child-like curiosity, Marquez crafts works that straddle the line between the natural and modern world.
“[The exhibit] is an evolving story of where we are now and where this expression of the artist’s thought-provoking journey will take us,” the exhibit write-up said. “Marquez’s dexterous technique and layered symbolisms invite viewers to explore the intersections of beauty and fragility, protection and vulnerability.”
Nature Colliding with the City
“Layered symbolisms” is correct. ANYAREH is a series of multimedia works that provokes discussions on our society’s treatment of the environment as a whole.
Many of the paintings employ the motif of plastic pollution to illustrate how it changes our environment for the worse. One work shows a plastic bag floating in the ocean like an iceberg, and another shows a tiny fish stuck inside a plastic cup. It very much comments on the dangers of this pollution on the ocean.
Other works, like the painted animals in cages, provoke commentary on how we treat animals. For this one, Marquez uses actual metal bars to cage his subjects. This artistic choice establishes the idea of how humanity tends to imprison things found in nature.
His use of mixed media doesn’t end there, adding concrete elements on some of his landscapes. One painting juxtaposes a butterfly on a blade of grass with a “no parking” concrete barrier, with exposed rebar mimicking the blade of grass.
How Progress Affects Our Perspective
All of these combine to create this perspective: human progress as the removal of nature. We have all these memories of scenic farms and forests, but for many of us, the reality is concrete and steel buildings instead. Many of us wouldn’t be able to experience untarnished nature—we see animals in zoos, and fences and buildings surround our own parks.
Kiko Marquez’s work puts us in that context. It doesn’t marvel at the wonder of nature, it shows us instead that the continued progress of humankind requires the removal of nature in most of our spaces. The artist puts the same kind of barriers that city folks have in experiencing these places. And then it hits us with the question: “anyareh?” (“what happened?”).
Marquez shows us that a world focused only on human progress is a world lacking in freedom. In these works, even those that used to exist freely are now suffocated by our progress. Is a world filled with plastic pollution, where we see nature only in the context of zoos and small parks between buildings—is this the world we really want? Can a world this polluted be enough for everyone living in it?
ANYAREH doesn’t answer those questions for us. Provocation doesn’t always need a concrete answer. Kiko Marquez, crafting this from the curiosity of his young child, just puts us in a headspace where we can ruminate on the kind of world we desire to live in.
Related reading: ‘Gyre Dominion’: Jose Olarte Digs Up Meta-Commentary for Industrial Progress
A growing coalition of heritage conservationists and cultural advocates is calling for the urgent call to declare the Pasig River a National Cultural Treasure (NCT). They cite the river’s irreplaceable historical, cultural, and ecological significance. The move comes amid renewed concerns over the Pasig River Expressway (PAREX), a controversial 19.37 kilometer, 6-lane expressway that critics […]
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
For Unveiling Perspectives, Quezon City-based art gallery Kaida Contemporary assembled a group of artists to create different compositions that portray their daily lived experiences. It shows them in a way that illustrates their individuality as artists, with different materials that are important to them and their craft as a whole. “Art has a way of […]
Six years and a global pandemic later, I finally found my way back to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center for this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong — but this time, with my husband, litigation lawyer and business owner, Atty. Fred Young. Founded by gallerists in 1970, Art Basel is the leading global platform […]
Gloss with a Purpose combines the artworks of Filipino photographer Lee Morale and American artist Kia LaBeija. The exhibit highlights the artifice and performance that exists in queer communities—and its importance in the way we define our own identities as a whole. Hannah Jaugan curated Gloss with a Purpose as her senior thesis for AB […]
Download this month's BLUPRINT magazine digital copy from:
Subscribe via [email protected]