For their second iteration, ArteFino Resort took over the North and South Court of Power Plant Mall in Rockwell from March 6 to 9, offering Filipinos a glimmering vision of local Filipino fashions directly inspired by the tropical nature of the country. The summer-themed pop-up featured thirty different brands from across the Philippines, allowing city-dwellers […]
Pow Martinez Exposes the Dark Side of Wealth and Social Media
Martinez's latest exhibit at Silverlens Manila critiques the superficiality of social media culture.
Pow Martinez’s self-titled exhibit in Silverlens Manila features recent works from the artist in his distinctively dreamlike style. The new exhibit, which opened on July 25, depicts the lives of wealthy people as seen on social media.
Stylistically, Martinez’s work here bends shapes and perspectives in interesting ways, creating caricatures of people in mockery of their cultural shallowness. The works reveal the ugliness in beauty—as if to suggest that no aesthetic filter can mask the emptiness of the soul.
“The worlds he depicts are derived from the digital landscape we often find ourselves immersed in, his inspirations being movie tropes, pop culture moments, and the broader expanse of the online space,” the exhibit write-up said. “Martinez presents varying sizes of cartoonish paintings set in these eclectic worlds featuring a cast of recurring characters including cowboys, monsters, and soldiers.”
Vanity of Social Media
Some of the paintings in this collection showcase different social media tropes performed by rich people online. There’s “morality police,” which harkens back to those publicly-denounced pictures of rich people posing next to wild animals they killed. “inner critic” also seems to call back how influencers get showy with their luxury items.
Of course, Martinez puts kinks in the depictions. For one, almost all the characters have an ugly tan and blonde hair reminiscent of Donald Trump. For another, the works just remove any sense of luxury that people could be jealous about.
“wiggle room” portrays two people inside of a large jeep, but there’s no shine or filter to make the vehicle or its passengers look untouchable. Instead, they look so cartoony and detached from reality that it might as well be a cheap animated Barbie knockoff.
Overt political commentary exists within pieces like “mental door” or “battle cry.” The former shows an angry old man stagnantly watching television, while the latter shows a soldier giving marching orders while in a tank. “mental door,” in particular, appears to comment on how our own perspectives on things are skewed by the media we consume on a day-to-day basis.
Creating Dreamlike Cultures from Digital Spaces
An interesting thing about some of the paintings here is their sizes: some of these paintings are around the same size as a phone screen to really put you in the headspace of social media. It’s a neat aesthetic trick, but it also shows the skill of Martinez that each of the smaller 8×8 or 8×12 paintings contain the same amount of details as the larger works.
“strange appearance,” for example, layers multiple discordant images one after the other. It contains the pyramids in the background, and a person holding a snake, and two people enjoying the beach. That painting piles on the cliches, and mirrors a bit the way our attention shifts when using social media.
Martinez’s approach for the exhibit’s commentary on society is to show how untethered from reality it is. For its users, social media is mythmaking and the creation of heroic narratives for themselves. The grotesqueness of the figures detaches us from them personally, but the situations they’re in reminds us that “normal” in social media isn’t necessarily “normal” in real life.
“boss fight,” one of the larger paintings made for the exhibit, shows how un-normal social media can be. The image of a man riding a horse killing a snake reminds people of politically-charged art which depict political figures in a heroic light. It’s the “us versus them,” black and white mentality, one that social media perpetuates to all its viewers.
Pow Martinez shows the painter’s comical depictions of society has not lost its edge. In fact, the images will likely get more and more topical as people continue to recede towards the online space. Nothing can apparently separate us more from our humanity, and it shows us the ugliness we participate in when we log in.
Related reading: Silhouettes and a silvery glow welcome visitors to the new Silverlens
Taupe, a grayish-brown hue, goes with almost anything. It is this characteristic that prompted Francis Tolentino, Executive Chef of Taupe in Bonifacio Global City, to name his restaurant after this neutral. It is also his favorite color, and for him, donning the restaurant interiors in monochromatic tones allows the food to shine. Tolentino worked with […]
Interior + Design Manila 2025 opened at the SMX Convention Center from March 6 to 8. The showcase of the local design industry by the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers (PIID) hoped to go beyond just exceptional design—but to make the case for the future of interior design in the country as well. This trade […]
Artist Patrick de Veyra has always been obsessed with the idea of images and appropriation. As recently as last year, he curated two exhibits for Faculty Projects which tackle the idea of how we deal and define the images we use today. Storm in a Teacup, his most recent exhibition at West Gallery, circles around […]
Smart Home Philippines continues to solidify its position as a leader in smart home innovation, receiving the prestigious Best Interior Design Smart Home in Asia Pacific award at the IPAX Global Property Awards 2024-2025. Held at the Savoy Hotel in London, this recognition underscores the brand’s commitment to seamlessly integrating state-of-the-art technology with modern, functional […]
Kärcher, the German multinational company known for their cleaning machines, debuted the newest part of their 2025 Cultural Initiative as they partnered with the Intramuros Administration to clean up the walls of Fort Santiago. A “restorative cleaning effort” done to celebrate the company’s 90th anniversary, Kärcher’s team focused on cleaning up the wall facade and […]
Download this month's BLUPRINT magazine digital copy from:
Subscribe via [email protected]