How can better-planned cities create the conditions for more creative, livable, and resilient urban environments? “Makati Urban Recipes for a City’s Survival,” a colloquium held at the Ayala Museum on September 15, brought together architects and practitioners from the fields of urbanism and the creative economy to discuss how design, planning, and collaboration can address […]
Five Noteworthy June Art Exhibits You May Have Missed
June has flown by, bringing many remarkable art exhibits to a close. At BluPrint, we’re always on the look out for artists who display exceptional skill and creativity; those who push the envelope through their work. So here are 5 noteworthy art exhibits in June you may have missed.
Kristoffer Ardeña’s ‘Ghost Painting: Pagkalalake’
Ghost Painting: Pagkalalake, exhibited at Finale Art File, is an imposing piece of work featuring a collage of various signs reminiscent of those you see during your commute. This multicolored quilt dissects masculinity in the Philippines, featuring messages in Hiligaynon, Tagalog, Cebuano, and English.
The exhibit engages with the patriarchal attitudes of the Philippines. Ardeña boldly pairs messages to dissect how society uses them to maintain male dominance. Its sheer size communicates that misogyny is learned, not inherited, and highlights how society reinforces this order.
Kim Borja’s ‘Flourish’
Flourish, exhibited at Galerie Stephanie, explores the Borja’s view of success: that true self-development stems from a personal sense of self, not just money or recognition.
“It’s about finding fulfillment in life and in the process of creating and sharing my art,” she says in her write-up, “as well as in the connections with others along the way.”
In this exhibit, she showcases a whimsical style, painting a portrait of a community where tired but satisfied human characters find contentment amid nature and adorable cat-bunny hybrids.
Celine Lee’s ‘Times’
At Gravity Art Space, “Times” features a striking image to comment on today’s world. The artist paints a person-sized mushroom cloud in copper, creating a vibrant, even nostalgic, sepia-toned effect.
Seen from different angles, the hue shifts to a metallic blue. This changing color and detail remove nostalgia, situating us in the explosion and reminding us that, as humans, we are always closer to our own annihilation than we believe.
‘Counting the Tears that Water the Earth’
How do artists cultivate spaces that encourage their creativity? This group exhibit, held at Vantage Contemporary in Makati, explores this question. Women artists contributed diverse works, including crochet, paper cut-outs, pottery, and paintings, to evoke the idea of finding personal space in an increasingly crowded world.
Works like Ally H. Publico’s “Return to Sender 1-4” tackles isolation, while Christine Chung’s “We Must Take Another Shape 1-4” or Margaux Blas’ mixed media tapestry demonstrate the quiet struggles of finding our place in this world.
Isha Naguiat’s “Parts of a Whole 1-4” or Katarina Estrada’s “An Unraveling I-II” also present a portrait of fractured womanhood in modern society, looking for definitions in a world that doesn’t care for them.
Overall, Counting the Tears that Water the Earth gives this multilayered representation of our fractured society, and how that tends to manifest itself wherever we go—affecting our focuses and creativity.
Bea Aspira’s ‘Laundry’
Laundry, shown in Modeka Art, allows Bea Aspira to find an inner cleansing in painting. The works presented in the exhibit uses watercolor styles to find self-renewal in the act of painting itself.
The materials used were collected over time during her travels around the world. She uses different materials, like traditional pigments from Taiwan or acrylics from Thailand, for the paintings. The works find precision in her abstract strokes and layering to symbolize “the rhythm of washing away the past.”
She hung them up in the gallery like one hangs clothes after washing them, showing that we, too, have the ability to emerge renewed and pure in the act of creating art.
Standing on with Pride
These selection of June art exhibits explore topics close to the artists’ hearts and beliefs. Their work advances our understanding of the world and invites viewers to form their own perspectives and questions, making space for individuality in a diverse world.
Related reading: February 23, 1949: Kristoffer Ardeña Showcases His Famous “Ghost Paintings”
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