The Carbon Footprint of the Stoic Heroic, the new exhibition by Jose Tence Ruiz in Silverlens Manila, pulses with provocation as the artist presents his viewpoints and perspectives on a gallery-wide exhibition. From discussions of genocide and colonialism to blind religious fervor, the exhibit seeks to analyze and critique society’s hunger for power and its effect on the populace.
“The artist’s new paintings engage with a range of current events that disturb and provoke him—the horrors of genocide, the migrant crisis, the sanctimony of religious conservatives—while a handful of self-portraits in the small gallery invite the viewer to interpret his most personal subject: himself,” the exhibit write-up said.
The works of Jose Tence Ruiz exhibited here reckon with timely topics of interest, some seemingly ripped from the headlines. The almost-70-year-old artist desires to push the audience towards action regarding the different moral crises facing our populace.
One painting, “Morion, Miron, Moron, Meron,” challenges the reactionary nature of the church, depicting drag queen Pura Luka Vega in a costume reminiscent of those seen in the Moriones festival. It portrays Vega as a symbol of strength; a person pushing boundaries and critiquing power structures to tell the stories of the marginalized of society.
Another painting, “My Heart Will GUO On,” cheekily shows world leaders—many with anti-immigration policies under their belt—fighting to board a lifeboat. It appears to show just how little power even the powerful have as they battle for the dwindling resources needed to survive.
The most provocative part of the exhibit, however, is the sculpture “Ang Pila Balde ni Ning, Charie, Rochit…” Built in the center of the exhibition, it lines up giant empty buckets in a large circle, with the focal point being a baptismal altar near one end of the exhibit.
It punctuates the environmental problems we are currently facing. But more than that, it puts in stark relief just how desperate the situation is for many people, as the scarcity they face appears to have no remedy even for the future.
In its own way, The Carbon Footprint of the Stoic Heroic works as a testament to seeking personal purpose. During an exhibit walkthrough on October 26, Jose Tence Ruiz laid bare some of his influences in creating the exhibit.
For example, he stated that Joan of Arc influenced some of the works, including the painting from which the exhibit title comes from. Specifically, the influence is the song “Joan of Arc” by Leonard Cohen: a song where the figure surrenders to the fire of martyrdom for her cause. He elaborated on that, how his work exists as a way of reconciling with the idea of purpose in every human being.
“The privilege of being alive is also the challenge of having difficult purposes,” he said. “That, I think, can sum up, not just what I do, but what gallery owners do, what dentists do, what people who [make] medical supplies do. It’s always a difficult challenge to live up to a purpose.
“Our lives, no matter what we have achieved, will always be imbricated in the difficulty of the purpose.”
He discussed more of his artistic processes, including the inspiration for the paintings “Mondrian’s Denouement: The Vestida of Carcasses” or “Mondrian’s Denouement: Hills of Dermis.” Those paintings, directly influenced by the genocide in Gaza, questions how our version of stability has equaled to domination at all costs, to the detriment of many living in the planet.
He references Piet Mondrian in the painting’s titles, an artist known for seeking balance and equilibrium in their artworks. Ruiz then posits that there is no balance or equilibrium to be found in modern society. Destruction and domination has washed away that idealism in a bevy of dead bodies fed to our social media feed on a daily basis.
“But as far as I’m concerned, how do I now depict my despair at watching buildings just being bombed daily? [Maybe] that if I couch them in terms of Mondrian’s idealism—and they took the idealism away from you, from us, from me. When did our idealism end?” he asked.
The Carbon Footprint of the Stoic Heroic seems, to the outsider’s eyes, as an exhibit expressing frustration at society’s shortcomings. And yet, Jose Tence Ruiz lacks a sense of pessimism in seeking purpose through art. He works on his project with an implicit understanding that humanity affects their environment in many ways, and that it is up to the person itself to define what that influence would be.
“What is a carbon footprint? It’s code for you taking up some bloody space on the planet. You know? Eventually you will be tasked for having a terrible footprint,” he said. “What is the carbon footprint of somebody who is sacrificed? Or what is the carbon footprint of all our excursions to love those that matter to us? I think it’s a better question for all of us. What carbon footprint do we leave behind in taking care of those who are valuable to us?”
In a way, Ruiz understands the futility of finding purpose in art. But, especially in this exhibit, he finds himself reconciling with that futility in our existence. He cites Albert Camus as an influence in his exhibit, and finds the author’s statement on Sisyphus’s happiness a defining one for humanity as a whole. The work may never end, but one must find satisfaction in the work being done.
“Each of us has his own Sisyphean boulder. Each of us does,” he said. “We mark it out. The politics, our education actually programs us to look for that Sisyphean boulder. Or it is a wave that will drown you. It is a way to overwhelm you, minus a couple of seconds of bliss. And then, we wake up and start again.”
Photos by Elle Yap unless stated otherwise.
Related reading: ‘Canned Thoughts’ Explores Capitalism’s Influence on Morality
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