Still

In STILL, Arel Distor Zambarrano presents two interconnected bodies of work that examine measurement, perseverance, and grounded positivity. The exhibition centers on the titular STILL, a 15-piece polyptych of considerable proportions, and Optimism Underpinned, a suite of 30 smaller works. Together, they articulate a practice shaped by discipline yet animated by motion, steady and forward-looking.

The large scale polyptych is composed of canvas and metal strips of polgadera, the pull push rule essential to architectural practice, drilled and then fastened together with nearly indestructible metal rivets. As a tool, the polgadera signifies precision and calibration. Here it becomes metaphor. Contemporary life is structured by measurement and ruled by numbers: deadlines, dimensions, and digits in our bank accounts that attempt to define our value. Interlaced with the loosely cut and painted canvas strips camouflaging a sprawling growth, the flexible metal rules that draw blood when carelessly handled impose order while yielding to gesture. The result is a field of tension between control and fluidity, industry and nature. Stillness emerges not as inertia but as resolve, an artistic compass oriented toward endurance and ascent, Zambarrano’s true North Star.

Red dragonfly cutouts traverse the panels. Though materially flat, their wings and paint-flicked, highlighted bodies suggest strength and movement. The dragonfly functions as both motif and self-image. Defined by adaptability and acute vision, capable of near 360 degree sight and agile, multidirectional flight, it hovers, pivots, accelerates, and sustains, populating swamplands. These qualities parallel not only the artist, a proud local of coastal Banate, Iloilo, but his navigation between architecture and art. Once sustained by small paintings during his architectural studies, he now supports his art practice through market lulls by his projects as a licensed architect. The exchange feels balanced and complete, allowing him freedom and the space to unleash unbridled passions.

In Optimism Underpinned, Zambarrano extends this language. In construction, underpinning refers to strengthening an existing foundation by reinforcing or deepening it to ensure stability. Adopted metaphorically, underpinning becomes an act of fortifying one’s resolve. The artist’s recurring dragonflies appear larger here, set against layered, textured grounds enlivened by vibrant paint, punctuated by weatherproof copper nails, and collaged cutouts of furniture, product labels, text snippets, and fragments of everyday life. While recalling pinned specimens, these figures resist stasis, pounded nails resembling swarms of wildlife themselves, serving as visual anchors rather than immobilizers. The smoothly bent-edged acrylic frames holding the layered and textured surfaces suggest support rather than confinement. Even amid uncertainty, there is anticipation, an excitement for possibilities and what’s to come.

Despite its engagement with measurement and structure, STILL is marked by clarity and warmth. The exhibition reflects a present state shaped by responsibility and gratitude, celebration and cheer shining through in golden yellows. As a father of two young daughters, the artist situates protection and continuity at the core of his practice. The dragonfly becomes both self-portrait and guardian. The woven polgadera measures not only space but commitment. Through calibrated surfaces and gossamer Awings, Zambarrano affirms that stability and optimism can occupy the same ground, and that from reinforced foundations one can continue to rise.