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 […]
‘Portals’: Exploring Pathways and Connections in Art
For Portals, artists Ikang Gonzales and Isaac Sion give their own differing interpretations on pathways and how they connect us to larger realms and spaces. This Gravity Art Space exhibit mixes the two’s differing sensibilities into a united idea on the ways we build connections even within the walls that we create for ourselves.
“It is said that in order to control space, society builds walls,” the exhibit write-up said. “Perhaps one of the reasons why we are curious on what lies on the other side. Knowledge about the undiscovered are commonly introduced by what can be considered as gateways, physically and metaphorically known as portals.”
Illuminating Personal Spaces
For Ikang Gonzales, her works for Portals convey a sense of peace found in the comfort of our own room. Her works use oil paint on fabric to create detailed images of different rooms in a home. These show off types of light and shadow and how that adds or detracts to the comfort of a space.
The artist puts these fabric-painted scenes on top of a lightbox, creating an artificial glow that increases the contrasts between her interplay of light and shadow. It also adds this calming vibe, as if we really are seeing through walls and into the privacy of bedrooms.
“Gonzales paints the confines of her bedroom as light consumes darkness freely, little by little, through an opening, evoking the feeling of longing for her immediate space while having to accept the inevitable change from the outside,” the exhibit write-up said.
In the overall theme of the exhibit, Gonzales points toward the importance of gateways to form intimate connections. People exist in multiple realms, in personal and professional capacities. These windows and doorways allow for easier navigation between these realms that allow individuals to be able to protect or show themselves to others.
Guardians Between Worlds
Isaac Sion’s section of the exhibit features paintings of cats in various scenes, frowning at viewers as they wander through settings like restaurants, art galleries, and open fields. In keeping with the show’s overall theme, these animal guardians often guide travelers through mystical gateways in myths and folklore.
Sion’s style is colorful and vivid in a different way from Gonzales’s works. While Gonzales drifts more towards the realm of realism in her precise depiction of rooms, Sion’s work explodes with color in playful and comical ways. His cats bounce around, the universe seemingly seeping through their fur.
“Scenes where cats seem to live human-like lives painted with random confetti-like shapes and colors suggest an alternate reality,” the write-up said. “Sion playfully presents an imagined landscape parallel to his consciousness with the assumption that cats would imitate his likeness through an open doorway.”
Combining Styles Through “Portals”
Gonzales and Sion later combined their artistic styles in their wire mesh sculpture “Portals,” which depict a person apparently being taken through a closing gateway of colorful faces and symbols. The collaboration combines their dueling perspectives on the theme and finds an artistic middle-ground that lets both sides co-exist.
Ikang Gonzales and Isaac Sion bring insight into the ways humanity connects with each other. Whether in the privacy of their room or through the guardianship of other entities, Portals allows for rumination on the openness of our own selves in society.
This exhibit is open to the public until November 30.
Photos by Elle Yap.
Related reading: Portal of Experiences: A Gateway of Two Identities
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