Anyo | August 10 - September 7, 2024 Anyo Kendall Colindon August 10 - September 7, 2024 1/9 View Catalogue Video Press Release In his solo exhibition, Anyo, Kendall Colindon juxtaposes the serenity of nature with the bustling energy of cityscapes, offering a visual dialogue that merges our origins with present-day realities. Through his contemporary depictions, Colindon emphasizes sustainability and the importance of living alongside nature, rather than attempting to dominate and stamp it out with human force. Some of Colindon’s paintings present an ideal scenario where urban and rural environments coexist in harmony. This vision challenges the traditional narrative of competition between nature and urbanization, proposing instead a symbiotic relationship. As the artist states, “As we move forward, let us remember that the reality of our world is intertwined with the natural world around us, and we must strive to find a way for both to thrive in harmony.” This precarious balance between nature and urban life is essential to prevent cataclysmic outcomes. Colindon’s work often reflects this delicate equilibrium. In some pieces, urban decay is portrayed, highlighting the challenges faced by the urban poor and the deteriorating quality of life in neglected city areas. These works serve as a stark reminder of the fragility of our constructed environments and the importance of sustainable urban planning. The devastation of natural disasters, such as the recent Typhoon Carina, is also hinted at in a few Colindon’s paintings. These works underscore the dominance of nature, illustrating how our attempts to control and overcome natural forces with streets, bridges, and buildings are ultimately temporary. Civilization, in the grand history of the planet, is merely a fleeting moment in Earth’s existence. Rather than denying nature’s dominance, Colindon advocates for acceptance and integration, urging us to build our cities in ways that respect and preserve the natural world. His textured patterns, rendered in muted shades and tones, underscore the energies that lie beneath the surface. Colindon’s vision is clear: “Co-existence of nature and modernization is not only possible but necessary for the well-being of our planet. By recognizing the value of nature and taking steps to protect and preserve it, we can ensure a brighter future for all.” -Carlomar Arcangel Daoana

Behind the Everyday Ross Gadiana August 2 - 30, 2025 Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image 1/12 The Gravity of Small Gestures In Behind the Everyday, Ross Gadiana pursues a line of inquiry that transcends surface depiction. He isolates the mundane not to sentimentalize, but to elevate its being; to press into its form and structure until it yields the sublime. The works on view proceed not from invention but from recognition. Titles such as Uhaw, Kasalukuyang Yakap, Muni, Ulirat, Self-care, Loob, Sigaw, Hinahon, Malay and Hapag signal the artist’s interest in actions so ordinary they are often invisible. A person drinks water. A painter paints. Someone zones out while looking at his reflection while plucking thorns from his face. These are not performances, not rehearsed or posed. They are captured as they happen, undramatic yet emotionally precise, reflecting life as it is lived. Gadiana’s realism is conceptual rather than merely mimetic, making not only replications of reality, but distilled experiences of it. The method, anchored in oil on canvas, then expanded with hardwood, resin, and natural elements such as vine, tethers each piece to both tradition and nature. The artist’s choice of material and the tactile presence of his surfaces demonstrate an awareness of the medium as more than vehicle. The heavy hardwood frame becomes scaffold, the vine an echo of life’s entanglements. These become not only accessories to the image but integral components of the composition, extending the painted world into real space. In addition to his wallbound pieces, he includes a challenging assemblage, The Roots, Vines and Thorns, which is meant to be viewed in the round, though not too close. What Gadiana understands, and what this exhibition makes clear, is that art does not need a grand narrative. It needs necessity. Each brushstroke, whether tracing from a photo study or laid down freehand, asserts a kind of ontological truth: that meaning accrues in repetition, in dailiness, in the labor of simply being present. In these works, there is a gravitas that emerges not from scale or spectacle, but from the refusal to look away from the commonplace, and in the assemblage previously mentioned, one simply cannot draw on self-control to resist. If modernism taught us to see truth in material and form, Gadiana teaches us to find it in the repeatable actions of life: drinking, pausing, embracing, working. Behind the Everyday reminds us that these motions, frequently overlooked, are not lesser subjects. In an age enamored with spectacle, Gadiana’s work offers resistance, insisting that authenticity is not to be found in what breaks the pattern, but in the pattern itself. These artworks, humble in subject yet rigorous in execution, offer not transcendence but something perhaps more urgent: a return. To self, to space, to the acts that shape a day, and thus a life. '- Kaye O’Yek 1/1

Unveil Dave Alcon May 6-27, 2023 Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image 1/12 A stoic philosopher once said the worst thing one can do to himself is not become who he could be in this lifetime. For his 6th solo exhibition, Unveil, Dave Alcon literally pauses, reflects, and honors his long and arduous artistic journey an existential feast of paintings on his love for painting. Immediately after graduation Alcon worked as a graphic designer for nine years. Here he met like-minded creative people like him who valued the arts and revolved their lives around it. Yet even how much he set aside to be an artist the lure of paints persisted to no end. Common Ground is Alcon's ode to artists who like him kept the faith in the calling for the visual arts. In layers after another, Alcon skillfully recreates the unwrapping of his visual core in opened boxes, bubble wraps, and craft paper by showcasing his illustrative prowess using graphite pencil and acrylic paints. Even the plastic tale straw string representing the bondage from poverty makes an cameo appearance. His signature chairs are still present as an aesthetic accent--a remaining constant for his bespoke visual language. Notice the gold handle evokes hope and eternal positivity. Common Ground has the rudiments of skillful composition only Alcon can unravel. One can almost feel its surface and the texture of its ethereal materiality. In 2005, at aged 16, Alcon's mother upon learning that her son wanted to study Fine Arts in Manila, allowed him to join their relatives who were returning after a brief stay in Batanes. Adaptation I & 2 are two series interpreting the hard-earned realization of Alcon from the cultural norm and what can be and cannot be done in trying to survive in the city. These limitations are represented by the plastic tale straw strings and craft paper depicted on canvases. Alcon's inspiration was seeing all these packaging materials inside his studio even though he found difficulty in painting them. Struggling from a farming life back then, Alcon knew he did not have much opportunities in life. All his growing years he knew there were some things that he must aspire and what not. He became more appreciative of experiences that came his way, he was extremely focused in his drawings. Future Past 1 & 2 are for those hindrances even personalities around Alcon who tried to dissuade him from being an artist, there was an aunt who always called his attention when he was engrossed in his drawings. She even locked him out when he went home late after submitting an artwork in a national student art contest. Alcon will eventually win grandprize in that one and prove his detractors, including his aunt wrong. The foil symbolizes anything you can think of you can accomplish. The corrugated board stands for firmness in achieving your dreams. What makes an artist great happens not of his making but it happens of being in the world of seeing what is beautiful when everyone sees the mundane. In 2018, Alcon won special Citation Award at the Metrobank Arts & Design Excellence Oil and Acrylic Category. It was the sign that he was praying for to go fulltime in his art practice, Unleash tries to capture that coming out from his comfort zone. The bareness of white situates the freedom Alcon now enjoys at present. The freer the artist is, the more responsible and defining your art is. Unveil comes as a post pandemic learnings of valuing what we took for granted and what we still wished for- -only a grateful heart could come up with a show of such magnitude. Alcon has proven that Art is but a preparation for that bigger art, the art of Living. Jay Bautista Dave Alcon The lure to be contemporary is often affirmed by the young, Dave Alcon evokes a visual style that is one of the freshest to date. A native Ivatan, Alcon was born in Basco, Batanes. Graduated with a degree in Fine Arts major in Advertising at the Technological University of the Philippines -Manila in 2009. He won the grand prize in the ArtPetron National Student Art Competition and the Juror’s prize of the GSIS National Painting Competition during his second year and as PLDT Finalist the following year. In 2019, he received the Metrobank Art & Design Excellence (MADE) Special Citation Award for the Oil/Acrylic Category. After being a graphic designer for nine years, he pursued his passion and became a full-time visual artist since 2018 with five solo exhibitions to date. 1/1

Sinuous Architecture and Evocative Forms | Art Fair Philippines 2024 Sinuous Architecture and Evocative Forms Ramon Orlina Art Fair Philippines 2024 1/7 View Catalogue Video Press Release Sinuous Architecture and Evocative Forms features the new works by Ramon Orlina, the Philippines’ preeminent glass sculptor. Marking the celebration of Orlina’s 80th birth anniversary, this exhibition organized by Art Cube puts a spotlight on the artist’s seamless blend of architectural and figurative finesse and the delicate beauty of glass. Offering a veritable glimpse into a wide range of Orlina’s stylistic preoccupations—from genre themes such as mother-and-child and graceful nudes to abstract rhapsodies of geometric and curvilinear forms—the exhibition exemplifies the artist’s remarkable ability to evoke a harmonious balance between straight lines and graceful curves, as well as the interplay between solidity and ethereal transparency. With an acute eye for detail, Orlina’s sculptures evoke the sense of witnessing beauty distilled in his chosen medium. Each piece stands as a testament to the artist’s prowess in capturing the essence of fluidity within the static nature of glass, particularly exemplified by his inspired interpretations of the human body. Audiences will likewise be captivated by Orlina’s exceptional talent in transforming glass into mesmerizing works of art that effortlessly bridge two seemingly disparate worlds: art and architecture. Not too many people know that the artist is also a licensed architect, who fuses the elegance of his chosen medium with architecture’s emphasis on structural integrity. Orlina’s choice of glass as a medium—in his signature emerald green as well as in varying gem-like tones—allows the master to play with translucency, even the illusion of softness and movement. His every sculpture doesn’t have a back and a front: each can be appreciated in a multiplicity of vantage points, inviting the viewer to move around it and experience seeing how the work interacts with light. The exhibition holds profound significance within contemporary Philippine art, offering a compelling showcase of a master artist who remains at the pinnacle of his creative prowess. Never complacent and always pushing the envelope of his artistry, Orlina epitomizes his belief that an artist worth their salt doesn’t have the word “retirement” in their vocabulary. Sinuous Architecture and Evocative Forms celebrates the legacy of a visionary artist and reaffirms the significance of art as an essential conduit for exploring the beauty of human aspiration. Ramon Orlina’s masterful works serve as beacons of light for current and future generations, urging them to push the boundaries of medium, scale, and the limits of artistic expression. Carlomar Arcangel Daoana Ramon Orlina Ramon G. Orlina, a licensed architect, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Santo Tomas College of Architecture & Fine Arts in 1965. After gaining four years of experience at C.D. Arguelles and Associates, he founded Ramon Orlina and Associates, specializing in architectural works and project administration. Orlina is also a distinguished member of the College of Fellows of the Philippine Institute of Architects. In 1975, he held a solo painting exhibition on glass at the Hyatt Gallery in Hyatt Hotel, pioneering the use of glass as an artistic medium in sculpture by 1976. Since then, he transitioned full-time to the arts, exhibiting extensively in the Philippines and globally. Orlina boasts numerous awards, including the ASEAN Awards for Visual Arts in 1993, Third ASEAN Achievements Awards for Visual Arts in 1994, and The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Award in 2006. The Philippine Institute of Architects honored him with the Gold Medal of Merit Award in 2012, and he received the 2014 People of the Year Award by Stargate PeopleAsia. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte recognized his contributions with the prestigious Presidential Medal of Merit in November 2021. In 2022, he received the Gat Andres Bonifacio Award, the highest recognition for a Manileño. Orlina's commitment to heritage conservation earned him The Philippine Heritage Award, and his environmental efforts were acknowledged with The Green Gala Award in the previous year. Internationally, he secured the "Mr. F" prize at the 1999 Toyamura International Sculpture Biennale and won the First Prize in the Sculpture Category of the II Bienale International del Baloncesto en las Bellas Artes 2000 in Madrid, Spain. His glass masterpieces place him among global art luminaries, such as Dale Chihuly of the US and Bertil Vallien of Sweden. Notable among his outdoor works is "QuattroMondial," a 10.32 meters high, cast bronze and glass sculpture unveiled at the University of Santo Tomas in January 2011. Orlina's name is synonymous with glass sculpture in the Philippines, and he further solidified his legacy by establishing Museo Orlina in Tagaytay City, Cavite, in December 2013. Celebrating its tenth year, Orlina envisions expanding the museum to include a new wing for showcasing his collection of masterfully painted art cars.

Piezas Ian Quirante July 5 - 26, 2025 Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image 1/12 The Integrity of Fragments In PIEZAS, Ian Quirante dispenses with the pretension of unity. These works do not seek completion, as they revel in the unresolved, a resistance to reduction. Untitled and unnumbered, the works insist on the autonomy of the mark, the surface, and the gesture, elements long dismissed when tethered too closely to narrative or theme. For the artist, automatism and spontaneous image making is not a novelty nor merely a nod to the surrealist impulse. Drawing IS his pulse. Each stroke, each inscrutable glyph, each fragment of text or number carries within it a fidelity to instinct. Resisting polish and refusing the illusionism of imposed meaning, the surface remains a site of struggle: a battlefield, as Greenberg once posited, where the flatness of the canvas confronts and contains all illusion. But these are not just gestures made for their own sake; they carry with them the residues of history, memory, and the negotiation of identity, and they have crossed the threshold to three- dimensionality. Born in Cagayan de Oro into a family of musicians, Quirante was shaped by a landscape of experience and improvisations, his practice emerging from both self-discovery and dislocation. His lines are informed by the memory of trauma (an ekphrastic exercise triggering a childhood witnessing of dark blood on green gate), by an obsession with research beyond art school, and even the embedded memory of the father of Philippine painting, to whom he is ancestrally tied. These are not biographical footnotes, as they are part of the matrix through which his material vocabulary is shaped. Cryptic, chaotic, and humming with snippets of internal rhythm and harmony. His pieces, paintings and assemblages alike, activate a kind of visual language that resists translation. Text appears in gibberish, rendering phonics useless; numbers suggest calculation but deny logic. In this sense, Quirante’s works share affinities with the broader cultural logic of the vernacular: open, layered, improvisational, and deeply intuitive. His compositions—scratched, stapled, collaged, pierced—do not hide their construction. Instead, they foreground process as form. From simple drawings and paintings, Quirante’s PIEZAS inhabit the logic of fragments, shaped by interruptions and disturbances. His surfaces speak of a world assembled from detritus and desire, from scraps of memory, language, and discarded form. Found sawed-off wood cutouts find new life as components of his pieces, pierced, screwed, marked, and lashed with wire. Canvas is cut, fringed, primed, folded, crumpled, and gnashed with impasto and pieces of paper already populated with drawings and doodlings, tiny artworks by themselves. The act of tearing, layering, and assembling becomes a method of configuration that is shaped by uncertainty, but grounded in intention. The diorama-sculptures, one kinetic and the other grounded, extend the pictorial into the realm of spatial composition. A fascination with levitation evokes both science fiction and the transcendence of cultural gravity. These assemblages are propositions of possibilities to be further explored. From selections of color in his wall-bound works, these present the opportunity for full color renderings of calculated intensity. Perhaps it comes naturally to Quirante’s artistic journey, this position of perpetual becoming, of risking incoherence for the sake of authenticity. In an art world increasingly smoothed out by dopamine-led desires and curated clarity, PIEZAS stands apart. It affirms that fragments need not be made whole to be meaningful; as they are, they are enough. Kaye O’Yek 1/1

Aeternum Dolorem Melvin Guirhem April 12 - May 7, 2025 Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image 1/12 AETERNUM DOLOREM, Melvin Guirhem’s 13th solo exhibition, invites you to comprehend pain—that mysterious ‘frenemy’ who indiscreetly lurks in the shadows—as authentic, constant, indestructible, and, in a sense, eternal. A Latin phrase that means “eternal pain,” AETERNUM DOLOREM presents a collection of handcrafted textile art that instantly draws attention to Guirhem's semiotic perspective on family and kinship. Appropriately rendered in the horror vacui idiom are allegorical depictions of his own malignant familial narrative, conjuring images of chaos, anguish, and pain. Blurring the boundaries between the personal and societal, and fading the divide between despair and hope, are the surrealist characters in distorted forms with vibrant swatches of fabric cutouts highlighting hostile temperaments as normalized domestic affectations. Guirhem’s sharp visual prose seizes the eye, powerfully conveying pain as an embodied experience. Throughout his artistic career, Guirhem has portrayed the family as a powerful symbol of social exclusion and political tension, forces that have shaped the world across generations. In his work, the family becomes a microcosm of inequities that demand recognition and intentional action, not only to alleviate but also, if possible, to free future generations from potential suffering. This notion of cross-generational stewardship (or the lack thereof) within the fundamental social institution is the focus of Guirhem's art for the most part of three decades, in which he depicted pain as a cyclical struggle, transcending both time and place. Drawn from lived experience, AETERNUM DOLOREM represents the culmination of the Guirhem narrative—an opus that serves not as an affront to the traditions, values, and religious faith of the family to which he belongs, nor to the community with which they have evolved across generations, but rather as a timed series exploration of the stages of his deeply personal feelings and emotions. The Guirhem appliqué, with its ornate stitchery and delicate embellishments, stands out among a vast array of artistic styles. Notably, the artist dissects pain through a blended composition of social and psychological realism, forming a visual repertoire that explores bloodlines, patrimony, and legacy, guiding the artist toward a retrospective examination of life's philosophies. Evident in the work is the Guirhem trademark of existential symbols drawn from his experiences: chains, thorns, and sharp edges representing physical, emotional, and psychological entrapment; deformities and distorted bodies symbolizing prolonged suffering and agony; blooming flowers reflecting love and productivity; and colorful butterflies signifying hope and metamorphosis. At the heart of the collection lies LIWANAG SA DALIM, a striking portrait that weaves a nuanced depiction of family, framing inheritance as a bitter-sweet paradox, bearing the weight of both blessing and burden, forever etched in the artist’s soul. It portrays the couple’s bodies suspended in a horseback in an uncanny state of equilibrium, bridging the figurative and metaphorical representations of paternal and maternal figures, demonstrating breadwinners as workhorses, embodying the idea of tireless humans, their strength likened to 'horsepower' and machines. Contrasting affection and intimacy is the visceral tension that blends agony with desire, the sacred with the profane, within a family in flux. Here lies the fated life of the artist, shaped by the bones of their elders, nailed to a crucifix and chained to a karosa—a carabao-or horse-drawn farm cart, equivocal of daily burdens and a lifetime of misery. It is a precarious household, set ablaze by the evils of society, sending kin floundering in diverging directions—an allegory of hell wrought from deficient intellectual capital and squandered patrimony. Enriched with semantic potential, it personifies the Guirhem couple engaged in an intimate act, with Melvin embodying the ethereal bloodline and Recheal perpetually in bloom—a dialectic of fertility and reproduction. This coagulates the shared roles of spouses in nurturing the family’s well-being, spotlighting Recheal as a moral and spiritual character in an iconographic portrayal of the Reyna de las Flores de Mayo—the Queen of Flowers—a central figure in the Santacruzan procession during May—highlighting the peculiar burden associated with her meaningful role, as reflected in the biblical scripture: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." In LIWANAG SA DALIM, Guirhem synthesizes the historical roots of pain within the family, honoring his wife as a source of light throughout his journey into the dark landscape of his life, offering a profound understanding of the nature of pain. Overlapping with the narratives of LIWANAG SA DILIM are a series of thought-provoking portraits that deconstruct the experiences of pain and family dysfunction. These portraits serve as a visual chronicle of major episodes in the artist's life, presented aesthetically through a contrast of gloom and bloom to convey meaning. Illustrating a family plagued by gloom and torment, KOMUSYON captures the artist's memory, portraying Guirhem as an observer, shocked by the incivilities within his family. In this setting, the dining table becomes a battleground for real-life conflict, where enduring disagreements and anger unfold in verbal commotion. Food, instead of being seen as a grace and blessing, is reduced to symbols of ingratitude, leading to misfortunes. The work epitomizes the fading emotional connection and spiritual hypocrisies within a conflicted family, as emphasized by the crucifix, further intensifying the emotional impact of pain on the artist. Exacerbating the gloom of suffering is ETERNAL PAIN, a deeply emotional and personal confession from the Guirhem couple, who faced the agonizing loss of an unborn child. This tragedy left them with a profound sense of emptiness and caused them to question their roles in life. The portrait idealizes the family as a monarchial unit in an ironic display of crowns and thorns, emblematic of their intense struggle to conceive. It depicts children as precious yet elusive gold, supposedly their birth symbolic of dignity, hope, completeness, and continuity. The piece serves as a remnant of lost aspirations, while also sparking the process of personal purification that brings emotional balance and peace to the couple's hearts, from which the blooming of flowers and butterflies emanates. From bloom and gloom are dissonances between personal and social norms and these are exemplified by KABALIKAT (partner) and HAPIS (sorrow and grief). These pieces continue the narrative of survival highlighting the important role of partners in life as a support system and sources of joy and inspiration, easing sorrow and grief. From the internal world of the family, the artist steps into the social milieu in HUKOM, confronting its dissociative tendencies, especially when faced with 'know-it-all' characters. In this piece, the artist critiques the notion inscribed on the canvas: 'Na ang talino at kabutihang loob ay batay lamang sa galing ng pananalita at hindi sa gawa???' By doing so, the artist reframes the idea that those who are articulate in speech should also be judged by their actions. HUKOM serves as a caveat for those who rely solely on sweet words, reminding them that they too will encounter pain. Completing the narrative is ELUXOROMA, a work that embodies the virtue of positive spiritual growth amidst chaos and pain. It serves as a composite representation of Guirhem’s past, present, and future. The artist, moving forward with cane and butterfly, is gently nudged by the hypnotic slithering motion of a serpent's undulating body. This evokes a return to his past, with claws representing unforgettable memories, cells symbolizing a lifetime of imprisonment from old beliefs and inadequacies, and insurgents whose ideology continues to undermine community peace and harmony. AETERNUM DOLOREM captures the power of art to facilitate acceptance of the coexistence of life and pain, an epigram of the artist’s cathartic journey to healing and self-understanding—mirroring our own experiences—evoking the universality of this profound human condition—a coming of age of the artist. '- Ted Aldwin Ong 1/1

Good Morning Jonathan Joven November 9 - 30, 2024 Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image 1/12 Good Vibes, Great Lives Jonathan Joven captures the unbreakable spirit of the Filipino working class through a deeply personal lens in Good Morning, his exhibition of recent works. Inspired by his own father, Tay Jun’s tireless hustle across countless jobs—from porter to stevedore to pedicab driver, street food vendor, electrician, carpenter, and all-around handyman—Joven creates an homage to the everyday heroes of Manila, those who labor quietly, often unseen, in the gritty heart of the city. Here, the humble Good Morning towel stained with various shades of sweat and grime becomes a vibrant emblem of resilience, sacrifice, and survival. Joven’s father, like many in Tondo, Manila, wore this towel day after day as he took on whatever work he could find to support his family. A familiar sight among workers, the Good Morning towel is not just a piece of cloth; it’s a witness to the blood, sweat, and tears that fuel the city’s pulse. Each painted towel in Joven’s exhibit serves as a vivid reminder of these sacrifices, painted in shades of crimson to champion the enduring strength and courage of the Filipino worker. The red in his pieces doesn’t merely echo the text printed on it, it speaks to the lifeblood of the common laborer, echoing a gritty determination woven into the city’s landscape. The paintings go beyond just his father’s story, representing countless men and women who keep the locality moving. Joven also includes his acrylic, ink, spray paint, and oil on repurposed tracing paper on canvas paintings, Usad, to tell a story of transition and progress, staging a face-off between a traditional calesa and the more modern jeepney with a sprayed-on ghost of a bicycle refereeing in between. This collision of the old and new captures the city’s continual evolution, as traditions are both preserved and challenged by the forces of modernization. Sigasig, one of the centerpiece works, captures the frenzied energy of Divisoria, the famous marketplace where goods, people, and dreams all collide. Nearby is Tatag, a pedicab transformed with a makeshift tarp. Cast-off advertising is repurposed as shelter, a symbol of ingenuity in the face of scarcity. Joven’s depiction of such adaptations shows the street smarts required to survive everyday life with dignity and grace, and where the city’s workers navigate an ever-shifting economy with creativity and resolve. Through Good Morning, Joven holds up a mirror to the city, honoring those hard workers who keep it alive, fueled by the strength of individuals like his father and the collective spirit of countless others. It’s a stirring, tactile tribute to resilience and a reminder that the heart of a place beats in the hands of its people. Kaye O’Yek Jonathan Joven 1/1

Sangtigwa | November 4 -25, 2023 Sangtigwa Kevin Vila & Denmark Dela Cruz November 4 -25, 2023 1/7 View Catalogue Video Press Release SANTIGWA Knowing nothing can be better than thinking you know it all, a concept that some find liberating. There's a certain purity in ignorance, reminiscent of the bliss we experienced as children when we simply understood things through the lens of our senses. However, this kind of ignorance can also become a tool for corruption in the hands of those with selfish motives. People and society can mold children to serve their interests, creating the illusion of purity while ultimately tearing apart their dreams and aspirations. Childhood is the most crucial phase in a human's life. It's where we create an imaginative world, where pain and emotions are translated into monsters and characters we can play with. It should be a carefree time when the world is a vast playground, fostering curiosity and helping us learn about the true nature of life and love. As children, we don't judge what we see; we simply play with it. Sadly, this isn't always the case when we open our eyes. Children are often the most vulnerable in our fast-paced world, preyed upon by the harsh realities that surround them. We neglect the value and beauty of a child's innocence and forget that they are the future. While we often claim to think about the world's future and its greatness, we frequently overlook this key aspect. In the pursuit of creating a better world, we must ask ourselves: Who will heal these broken children? Where can they turn when the world seems to be closing in on them? Is it still safe for young people to nurture their curiosity? We already know the answers to these clichéd questions; we just need to refocus on what truly matters. As we move forward, we should pave the way for them to comprehend life through a positive lens. We should be attuned to their laughter, their tears, and their fears. We should all believe in a better place, especially those of us who were once like them—damaged, broken, and traumatized by the realities of life. We should be their healers, ready to offer guidance when the path ahead seems bewildering to them. Frenk Sison Denmark Dela Cruz & Kevin Vila Denmark Dela Cruz (b. 1990) is a contemporary artist in the Philippines who brilliantly encapsulates the hard-hitting reality of living in a dark society. Through his works, he courageously critiques the power and poverty inflicted on communities, as well as children who are often the unwitting victims of corruption, violence, and an unfair justice system. Dela Cruz’s works depict the powerlessness, faithlessness, and hopelessness of those caught amid revolution, war, terrorism, or an unfair justice system. His art conveys the pain and destruction marginalized populations face, illustrating the violence, inequality, and trauma of the political climate while acknowledging the strength of the human spirit despite suffering and despair. At the root of Dela Cruz's oeuvre is a passionate desire to uplift the plight of vulnerable children victimized by human and governmental selfishness. He challenges the status quo through his art and offers a nuanced perspective on the world that is both socially conscious and thought-provoking. His works ultimately implore us to open our hearts and minds, and combat structural and repressive systems to ensure a better future for all. Kevin Vila's works delve into metaphysics, ontology, and mythical fantasy, explaining the features of reality that exist beyond the physical world and our immediate senses. He also explores Philippine mythological stories and creatures, drawing parallels between their distinctive behaviors and human behavior, social problems, and present-day issues.

Paniniwala Manny Garibay March 1 - 11, 2025 Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image 1/12 PANINIWALA: Faith, Power, and the Struggle for Freedom What do we believe, and why do we believe in it? Paniniwala explores the evolution of faith as a cultural force, and how it has been shaped, institutionalized, and even weaponized throughout history. In this exhibition, Emmanuel Garibay dissects belief not as an abstract ideal but as a lived reality influenced by socio-political factors. His works challenge the ways by which faith has been used to impose identity and mold public consciousness. Belief, according to Garibay, is not always freely chosen—it is often conditioned. In Kumbinsi, faith is forced through rhetoric, authority, and ritual captured in the act of coercion. The Spanish friars of the colonial era framed conversion as salvation, Throughout Spanish colonization, friars convinced Filipinos that salvation required abandoning their indigenous gods. The Church’s approach was presented as a path to redemption, but in truth, it served to establish control. Over time, the colonized not only accepted the foreign religion but also internalized inferiority. If persuasion initiates, Kolonya depicts its consequences. The work primarily echoes how colonial rule defined Western civilization and Christianity as superior, conditioning an entire people into self-erasure. Through compulsory baptisms, renaming, and education, faith became an instrument of submission that (mis)aligned Filipinos with foreign ideals at the cost of their native identity. Today, traces of Kolonya still persist in the worship of European and American cultures over our own. The narrative of domination concludes in Dakip, which means captivity. A stark image of a white man gripping the severed head of a brown man, while holding a book with a red apple on its cover. The apple, a symbol of both knowledge and temptation, underscores how American colonial education was designed not to empower but to separate Filipinos from their indigenous roots. By capturing minds, colonizers did not just control the land but also our stories, and hence, our being and belonging. The process of indoctrination reaches its peak in Doksolohiya, which exposes belief as a spectacle that is no longer about spirituality, but about obedience and institutional preservation. The Trinity meant to embody divine power is reduced to a dysfunctional hierarchy: the Father sits in silence, the Son surveils rather than saves, and the Holy Spirit is burdened by the weight of absurd authority. The cathedral, once a place of worship, is now a grotesque circus where faith is manipulated for political interest and economic gain. Santa Claus, transformed into an arms dealer, relates to the commercialization and militarizationm of religion, revealing how institutions co-opt belief. Yet even in persuasion, domination, conditioning and captivity, resistance is possible. In Tawid belief shifts from submission to action, depicting its reclamation as a force of liberation. The work portrays a lone protester standing on a bridge leading to Malacañang, holding a placard partially revealing “IBAGSAK” or overthrow. The image echoes a recent revolution, where faith in justice ignited a movement that toppled an oppressive dictatorship. This indicates faith in justice and the power of resistance as sites to overcome the shackles of control – pushing forth the nature and essence of history. Here, it is clear that belief alone is not enough and it must be paired with the struggle for truth, often initiated by the lone voices willing to take a stand and become the embodiment of choice in between oppression and freedom. At its core, Paniniwala questions what we choose to revere and who benefits from that reverence. As much as it dramatizes the ironies, distortions and fragmentations of our current systems of belief, it also departs from what bounds us and to step into the possibilities of the unbound. '-BG Manny Garibay Emmanuel Garibay, was born in Kidapawan, North Cotabato, Philippines in 1962. He is known as much for his expressionist figurative style as for the content of many of his works, which often express a keen social and political consciousness. He completed his Fine Arts degree at the University of the Philippines in 1989 and was part of the art group called Artista ng Bayan (People’s Artists). After a stint as an education officer in a cultural division at the Malacañang Palace, he commenced work as a full time artist in 1990 and began his studies at the Union Theological Seminary in 1992 completing a Master of Divinity in 1995. A prolific and internationally established painter, his work as organizer is an often overlooked but constant passion even when he was still studying at the University of the Philippines. He has headed various art and cultural organizations ever since, spearheading art projects with advocacies such as Tutok Karapatan (artists for human rights, 2006-2008), Kritikal Katoliko (art festival tackling Religion’s impact on Philippine society, Quezon City, 2008), Project Bakawan (campus-wide Environmental Arts Festival, UP Diliman, 2013-2015), and the Paghilom Arts Festival 1-3 (Regional Arts Festival, Cavite, 2016-2020) among others. He is currently chairman of Artletics, a non-stock, non-profit organization that empowers young artists to transform communities through art education. Garibay believes that art can be an effective medium for awakening consciousness. He believes an awakened consciousness through art can help people pull themselves out of their despondency and feeling of powerlessness to bring about empowered change. 1/1

Paths, Found Rocks, and Moss Rafael La Madrid March 9 - 30, 2024 Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image Add a Title Describe your image 1/12 Finding Life, Surprising Paths, Found Rocks, and Moss by Rafael La Madrid invites us on a journey through the unforeseen interplay of nature and its elements. With a piece of rock, the artist realized how mysterious life truly is. One of the models for his lifelike oil paintings is a mossy, craggy rock with just the tiniest bit of green leaves sprouting. A wonderful story to tell behind the image is that the central object within started dry and smooth, yet curiosity and the artist’s restless spirit compelled him to water the rock every day, not knowing what to expect. Surprisingly, after a few months of doing this repetitive activity, life sprouted. Through his masterful strokes in rendering this moment in oil, La Madrid shows his viewers the intricate connections between life, renewal, and the inherent beauty in both the organic and inanimate. Each brushstroke from La Madrid unveils hidden stories of growth and transformation. His canvases depict interior and exterior scenes where the boundaries between the natural world and human viewpoints blur. Through meticulous attention to detail, he captures the essence of new life taking root amidst the rugged landscapes: a copse of trees reaching deep into the soil, hidden passages amidst layers of rock, a view from within a cave looking out into the light, overgrown tree trunks, and exposed roots. With breathtakingly detailed pieces, he references larger forms of nature, such as mountains, to refer to their smaller-pieced parts, dwelling not only in their magnanimity but also in the elements that help life grow, such as water and sunlight. The artist's compositions draw us in, inviting us to wander along winding paths that suddenly appear, trace the intricate patterns of moss-covered stones, branches, and fully grown trees, and marvel at the resilience of life emerging from unexpected places. He also draws inspiration from literature, specifically The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, or more memorably, that of two roads diverging in a narrow wood. Viewers are transported into vistas of wonder and inner contemplation as they are pulled into the image and invited to engage with La Madrid's works. The intentional labeling of his artworks integrates text into the image, adding another layer of meaning and reinforcing the artist's seeming impulsion to further draw us into awe. Paths, Found Rocks, and Moss challenges us to reconsider our perceptions of beauty and growth and show us how light illuminates each minute surface it touches, giving not only gravitas to the frozen moment but also hope and luminosity despite darkness. As La Madrid's exploration of the unexpected reminds us of nature's ability to thrive in the most unlikely of environments, given an artist's loving care, he also encourages us to embrace serendipitous moments of discovery, finding solace in the ever-unfolding cycle of renewal. Kaye O'Yek 1/1

Pusyaw | July 1-23, 2023 Pusyaw Nic Navarro July 1-23, 2023 1/4 View Catalogue Video Press Release Pusyaw Nic Navarro’s latest exhibition, Pusyaw, extends and amplifies the visual vocabulary we have known of the artist. Navarro's previous works have often depicted a frozen world, where time stands still, giving rise to an eerie and surreal ambiance within ordinary interior spaces. However, in this current body of work, Navarro delves into the nature of time itself, contemplating its relentless passage and embracing the concept of breakdown and entropy. With Pusyaw, Navarro sets out to explore the passing of time, particularly in relation to the lifespan of a human being. This introspective journey was sparked by the artist's personal experience of providing care for his mother, witnessing firsthand the transformation of her once vibrant body into one marked by frailty and change. The inevitable process of aging, which begins during youth with dying cells rapidly being replenished, gradually slows down as we grow older, leading to a poignant reflection on the nature of mortality. Within the highly symbolic realm of Navarro's creations, uncertainty looms. Eggs crack, unveiling the fragile vulnerability of life, while a seemingly innocuous toy house becomes shadowed by the presence of a headstone angel. These visual representations embody the transience and fleeting nature of existence, evoking a sense of contemplation and introspection in the viewer. The artworks themselves mirror the theme of the exhibition, appearing faded and drained of color. This deliberate aesthetic choice serves as a metaphor for the coldness and solidity of stone, reminiscent of the passage of time and the inevitable effects it has on all aspects of life. Even the sky, portrayed as a seeming slab of marble, emphasizes the ever-present weight of time and its impact on our existence. In essence, Pusyaw invites us to confront the relentless march of time, exploring its significance through the lens of human mortality. Through Navarro's masterful artworks, we are prompted to reflect on the fragility of life, the inevitability of change, and the impermanence of our existence. This exhibition serves as a poignant reminder to cherish the present, embrace our own journey through time, and appreciate the beauty that can be found within the transitory nature of life itself. Carlomar Arcangel Daoana

Koleksyon | June 8 -29, 2024 Koleksyon Neil Pasilan June 8 -29, 2024 1/8 View Catalogue Video Press Release Koleksyon shares with us Neil Pasilan’s personal compilation of his own works; an anthology of stories in the fringe of his grand narrative. Much like objects in a museum, they are likewise preserved, cared for, and revered. They represent fragments of his imagination and forms of expression. The pieces are remnants of pursued visions and completed endings since they were made of leftover paint and used palettes. We find meaning in the materiality beyond what was prescribed, complemented by the artist’s confidence in the dynamic behavior of color. As a self-taught artist, artmaking for Pasilan has become an extension of his life when painting was organically integrated in his routine. Nevertheless, the mundane that is illustrated is not mediocre nor indifferent. There is a group of people rendered as black figures, certainly dim but not tragic. An angel is against a sea of blue, adorned with a single tree. There are a few lone characters who appear messianic with the light they bear. Some persons seem nomadic. The image and format of the landscape is disrupted in the collection: by a black and white textured portrait that is imposing with its puzzling wry face; and a collage work depicting a sword piercing a frame, the sharpest point at the end is held by an outreached hand. The familiar communities and characters reflect the consistency that was developed and nurtured in the artist’s practice. The crudeness of the edges of the picture plane implies there is more we can uncover; the artist paints and will paint some more. We might think that this is because of the persistence of excess, but in fact it is working within limitations that drives his creativity. Perhaps, this is a conscious diligence in creation–to fulfill his purpose of being. -Con Cabrera