Exploring Filipino art in 5 exhibits
COMING from a successful run at the recently concluded ALT ART festival, West Gallery has gone on to open five exhibitions simultaneously at its Quezon City space, continuing its exploration of Filipino art.
In one room, painted landscapes and collaged canvases hang together, presenting different facets of Carina Santos’ body of work. In another, the walls are adorned with postcards by 28 artists depicting varying sceneries to immerse in, curated by Nicole Tee, who in turn has her own exhibit where she makes use of thread to add texture to foliage in photos and recall the grandeur of nature.
Eunice Sanchez’s ink-on-canvas images speak to fragments of memory, of mental pictures taken during a search for meaning. Further into the gallery, one can find a mixed-media installation by Luigi Singson that evokes a feed of images of demarcated spaces.
SCAPES AND GAPS
While Nicole Tee’s exhibition, to feel small, harkens to the immensity of nature, and the detail in her work can be quite grounding. With thread and photo transfer on linen, the textures become a striking highlight, inspired by rock climbing trips and hikes to and from crags.
The scenes portrayed appear animated in a way, with green thread mimicking thick foliage amid the imposing character of rock. Tactile to the eyes, the works draw viewers to step closer.
Meanwhile, Eunice Sanchez’s landscapes in Coming To This stand out in a disjointed, fragmented manner, more non-linear as a recollection of the artist’s journey.
The works were the result of when Ms. Sanchez fed her curiosity about the apparition of a “dancing sun” that her mother — then pregnant with her — saw in Agoo, La Union, in 1993. In 2023, she decided to climb the same hill.
“To put it simply, the body of work is my way of mapping out the experience,” she told BusinessWorld in a message. “I think after reaching the space, and after feeling the nothingness, that’s when I decided I want it to become a show.”
Around two years later, the memories of the trip were fully manifested, the forests and the ascent depicted in monochrome tones using ink and mulberry, some on canvas and some on Fabriano paper. A few of the works have red and white thread stitched through them, hinting at the gaps in time, space, and memory.
Such gaps are bridged in Wish You Were Here, a curatorial project by Ms. Tee, where 28 participating artists contributed postcards showing various landscapes.
For these artists, coming from different generations and different places, the postcards represent an age-old way of keeping in touch, of transporting someone into your own inner world. At West Gallery, they provide a fun sense of community, mapping out an experience of exploration across artistic perspectives.
In collaboration with the West Gallery Shop, the postcards can be purchased on their own as pieces, or as facsimiles to be kept or shared.
MORE MIXED-MEDIA
Carina Santos has been developing her “pour paintings” for a long time, utilizing abstractions in shape and texture to convey shifting environments.
Other Versions offers context to her work. Viewers can see her paintings alongside other modes, like collaged offcuts of canvases, long knitted textiles, and watercolor landscapes that incorporate billboards and signage.
“Sewing, knitting, and illustration often sit on a different tier to more so-called ‘serious’ pursuits of art,” she explains in her artist’s statement. “By showing these pieces alongside one another, the hope is that there is added contextual richness to my body of work, but more importantly, a leveling out of what art is or isn’t, what it can or cannot be.”
In Squared Lives by Luigi Singson, there is a similar presentation of varying images, this time through a single, mixed-media installation.
The vertical rectangular structure contains vistas of high-rise and densely populated districts, juxtaposed with scenes of indoor spaces, inviting viewers to reflect on the confines of an urbanized and digitalized society. Compounding this is the bottom half of the installation, seemingly held up by Jenga-like bricks.
“My view of the city is that everyone tries to get away with something, little by little. It’s still standing, but once the last brick is removed, everything could fall down. I incorporate that a lot in my works,” Mr. Singson told BusinessWorld at the exhibit’s opening.
“Social media is how we go about our connections, so that’s why the format of squares is a lot like what you see when you scroll through your feed,” he added.
As for the plaster squares, appearing a bit like stained-glass windows, they are “pieces of way-finding, like a map or guide when going to physical places.” Half-hidden on the floor inside the installation is a piece of debris from the demolished Capitol Theater in Escolta, again speaking to the tensions in an urban, individualized society.
“I think, like many artists, wala ka munang idea sa kung anong ilalagay mo (you initially have no idea what to put in),” said Mr. Singson, on the process of putting together a work. “In the end, mapapag-connect mo naman lahat (you’re able to connect everything).”
The exhibits Wish You Were Here, Coming To This, to feel small, Squared Lives, and Other Versions are on view until March 21 at West Gallery, located at 48 West Ave., Quezon City. — Brontë H. Lacsamana
