September in the Philippines can be politically contentious largely due to former President Ferdinand Marcos’s declaration of Martial law on September 21. And this turmoil was reflected in many of the art exhibits BluPrint covered for the month. But for this round-up of art exhibits in September, BluPrint highlights artworks that explore the artists’ inner […]
Three August Art Exhibits You May Have Missed
August, also known as the Buwan ng Wika in the Philippines, demonstrated the uniqueness of the Filipino art scene in its continued evolution. BluPrint covered some of these August art exhibits, from discussion of the Chinese diaspora to profound explorations of generative AI.
With the abundance of art out there, we at BluPrint wanted to shout out three more exhibits last August that displayed such a unique way of inspecting our world. Each collection of works function as interesting ways of reflecting on the self and society.
peach blossom jade valley pig water
For our first feature of our August art exhibits, peach blossom jade valley pig water offers an abstract representation of artist Ana Verayo’s recent trips in Taiwan. The exhibit was shown at Super Duper Gallery in Quezon City. It mainly focused on her recent trip to the Liuhang Sulfur Mines and the Green Sulfur Hot Springs.
The exhibit provides six mirroring paintings that attempt to depict the environment she saw. Each of the three diptychs work as reflections of each other, creating a yin yang effect that finds the balance between the emotions felt by Verayo in the moment.
It also reflects the volcanic history of the area through the way the colors play with each other. Verayo portrays the wonders of nature in the abstraction, all while keeping the work open to interpretation to the viewer.
“Verayo’s works demand no framework or lenses to see through,” the exhibit write-up said. “Viewers are invited to create unique connections.”
Land, Labor, Life
Lyra Garcellano’s Land, Labor, Life was shown at Finale Art File during the month of August. It concerns itself with our colonial past, and the ways it influenced how we perceived the territories of our country. The specific history explored here centers around the corporatization of different industries in the country during our colonization.
A visual representation of the Brandt Line illuminates the whole exhibit, a reminder of how colonizer countries tended to divide the world between the exploited and the exploiter. Maps and pictures of our colonial past fill the room. It showcases just how much our current situations and problems were partially created by this colonial instinct to conquer and exploit poorer countries for their raw resources and labor.
The exhibit write-up by Carmita De Jesus Icasiano, PhD says as much. “In reflecting on our nation’s past and present experiences with colonization, Garcellano a sorry gaze at the Philippines, lamenting how things, despite the supposed persistence of change, tend to revert and remain in the cyclical movements we hope we can disentangle ourselves from,” they wrote.
Not of Water Flesh and Blood
The third of the August art exhibits to be featured here, Not of Water Flesh and Blood from West Gallery, provokes due to its interesting composition. Made by Eric De Leon Zamuco, it creates a plastic/acrylic combination of works that appears to drip from the ceiling.
Zamuco uses a combination of red and white to create a blood-and-flesh-like look that looks genuinely gooey and sticky. The emptiness of the room also allows audiences to really absorb the strangeness of the composition. Empty white walls and the air conditioner vent in the middle of the ceiling allows it to stand out further.
It’s a genuinely weird and immersive work. Zamuco’s sparse surroundings allow the mind to fill in the blanks on the exhibit’s meaning, letting the imagination go wild to interpret what it says about the world as a whole.
Even without any explicit meaning, however, Not of Water is pretty and gestures towards Cronenbergian body horror whilst maintaining a certain level of polish in the work.
Defining and Redefining Filipino Art
These August art exhibits demonstrate the whole range of interest Filipino artists explore in their works. Many of them are exploratory, and highlight the unique obsessions of local artists. For this Buwan ng Wika, we see Filipino artistry knowledgeable in the presentation and execution of their ideas.
Related reading: Elmer Borlongan’s ‘Morning Rituals’ is an Exercise and Negotiation
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