Held at the SMX Convention Center Aura in Taguig City, the first ASEAN Creative Industries Expo by Malikhaing Pinoy (ASEAN MPEx) features nine creative domains, including design, visual arts, digital interactive media, and performing arts. Organized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the event includes exhibitions, cultural performances, industry talks, and pitching sessions […]
“III. Self-Medicate: Indulge”: Pat Frades’ New Fungi-Filled Exhibit
Pat Frades pampers the senses during her exhibition at Galerie Stephanie, evoking an Alice in Wonderland sense of whimsy through her works. In her continued exploration of the senses, the artist creates a new immersive world focused on the idea of taste.
III. Self-Medicate: Indulge is the third exhibit of Frades’ Self-Medicate series. These exhibits, which will number five in all when finished, gives Frades free reign to explore the senses in relation to her interest in mushrooms and fungi. Past exhibits Allure and Breathe In explored the senses of sight and smell, respectively.
Indulge, meanwhile, explores the sense of taste. It fixates on the symbiotic togetherness of the nature around us, and illustrates that point through the usage of mushrooms in different approaches in the exhibit. Fungi and mushrooms are critical for our environment to thrive, and Frades uses her art in this exhibit to highlight its beauty beyond these functions.
Dining in Fungus
The set-up for the exhibit welcomes visitors to a feast of the senses. Pat Frades uses a “pastel and candy-colored palette” for the aesthetic of the mushrooms and other fungi. It makes them seem more wonderful, in a way, emanating a child-like vibe that encourages exploration.
The central work for Indulge is a white table filled with plants, leaves, and busts with blooming mushrooms on them. Frades worked on the head sculptures, which use strangely pleasant and neutral facial expressions even as mushrooms literally crack open through their face.
At the head of the table sits a mannequin whose whole face is covered in different types of fungi. The design is eerily close to the zombified people in The Last of Us, but it doesn’t evoke the same sense of fear. The pastel color scheme of the mushrooms provides an approachableness to the work, and the mannequin sits in a mannered way that relaxes the visitors.
Other mannequins with faces covered in mushroom and fungi litter the exhibit. These showcase the collaborative works between Frades and costume designer KC Contrevida. They created clothes “made from kombucha’s symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, as well as from tea bags.”
Symbiotic Works
For III. Self-Medicate: Indulge, the artist worked with Chef Iyay Ignacio of Mouldy Blooms to create some edible works that allow viewers to literally “taste the work in front of them.” In its most Alice in Wonderland choice, they laid out the food on the table in a mushroom-shaped bowl. The layout appeals to our sense of curiosity, a truly tempting invitation to indulge in the food in front of you.
Beyond the central table, Pat Frades fills this mushroom utopia with assortments of hues which complement the works. On the wall are multiple paintings where she makes the mushroom blooms look like flowers floating in water.
It pushes for a sense of serenity through association, reminding us that mushrooms work similarly to flowers in function, and thus deserve to be seen in the same sense of beauty and awe that we see their more delicate plant counterparts.
III. Self-Medicate: Indulge really immerses visitors to a new perspective of a world we don’t necessarily think about. Pat Frades doesn’t just show us a part of an environment that’s largely underground; the artist shows us the beauty which exists within the works being showcased.
Related reading: Galerie Stephanie Debuts Two New Exhibits on Nature and City Life
The SSS Building as an Expression of Civic Modernism My favorite modernist landmark in Quezon City is the SSS building on East Avenue. Designed by National Artist for ArchitectureArchitectureThe art and science of designing and constructing buildings, structures, and spaces that are functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing. It encompasses the planning, design, materials, and techniques […]
Archie G. Carrasco, Chairman and CEO of AGC Power Holdings Corp. (AGC PHC), has been named to The BoF 500 Class of 2026 under the Media category, joining The Business of Fashion’s global community of individuals shaping the fashion industry. Carrasco is among 100 new members from 33 countries and 48 nationalities selected for the […]
Culture in design does not always announce itself through a recognizable motif, material, or symbol. It can also be embedded in the relationships designers build, the knowledge they listen to, the materials they choose, and the decisions they make in response to communities and their environments. This distinction emerged throughout the 2026 International Design Conference […]
The DBP Building as a Landmark of the International Style At the corner of Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue and Makati Avenue stands a landmark of the Makati Central Business District. It is one of the last still standing that were built in the first wave of construction in district fifty years ago. The Development Bank […]
“Buildings only become architectureArchitectureThe art and science of designing and constructing buildings, structures, and spaces that are functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing. It encompasses the planning, design, materials, and techniques used to createGo to Architecture Glossary when they are shared,” said William Ti Jr., founder of the Anthology Festival and WTA Architecture and Design Studio, […]
Read the issues.
Collect the volumes.
Recommended Video
Tap to Unmute
Unmute
0:00
0:00