Pagmamahal

Demosthenes Campos' Pagmamahal means love in Filipino, but in everyday conversation, it also signals something becoming more expensive. The dual meaning is tangential to this exhibition, because in a time when the pace of life accelerates at such a rush that we can barely cope and the cost of living continues to rise, what does it mean to speak of love? Has it, too, become something difficult to sustain? Can we still afford to love and be loved?

The artist approaches this question through material and form. Using dried paint, recycled wood strips, and clever use of colors, Campos creates his works which are renowned for their mosaic-like abstractions and assemblages. These pieces emphasize process, accumulation, and reuse, thus are not incidental. The pieces display surfaces that are layered, scored, and put together rather than with the smooth finish of traditional painting. Materiality becomes central to meaning.

In the large-scale works, angular planes interlock in compact formations. A heart in Tibok, flowers in Eros and Affection, and in Philia, a single-stemmed bloom. Lines outline and scaffold their structures, suggesting provisional architectures, forms that appear built rather than painted. This structural logic perhaps underscores the artist's statement: love is work is art. Campos' love here is not sentimentalized. It is constructed, requires alignment, adjustment, and the willingness to integrate disparate elements. The visible joins and seams emphasize that unity is achieved through effort. The artist does not conceal the process, making everything legible on each surface.

His Agape series, ten small works under glass, extends this inquiry at a more intimate scale. Framed and enclosed, these pieces function almost as studies or meditations. Agape, often defined as selfless or unconditional love, is translated into compact arrangements of fragments carefully composed within limits. The glass both protects and distances, suggesting preservation as well as contemplation. Here, love is examined closely, measured, contained, yet still layered.

A controlled restraint is maintained by Campos throughout the exhibition. The surfaces are punctuated with strokes and angular expressions of color and texture, yet the general tone is steady. The pieces prioritize structure, rhythm, and gradual building above extravagance. By doing this, they reflect love in the modern world, where caring, devotion, and affection must be maintained in the face of conflicting demands and growing expenses.

If Pagmamahal today implies escalation, Campos redirects the term toward value rather than price. His works propose that love is less about abundance and more about maintenance. It is an act of assembly, a continuous negotiation between parts.

Can we still afford love?

Perhaps the better question is: can we afford not to?