PAST EXHIBITIONS
2019
Drift | January
Brave Singh
Drift is Brave Singh’s sixth solo exhibition. It is a contemplative and nostalgic exhibition which is deeply personal, but at the same time, speaks of what social commentators popularly call the Philippine diaspora. Eight works, comprising of three portraits and five still lifes with framed landscapes paintings juxtaposed above them, make up the exhibition.
Bautismo | February
Martin Honasan
Bautismo, the exhibit, is a continuation of my existing practice of exploring damage-based modes of production, creating work that is weathered, beaten, distressed, and using the physical language of painting (brushstrokes, manipulated surfaces, selected hues) to come up with a portrait. My aim is to highlight nature’s inherent tendency to move from an ordered state towards disintegration as it struggles to retain its form.
In Habit | January
Alee, Bam & Nina Garibay
Inhabit as an exhibit, has a definite point of view. Those of the original inhabitants with a stake on what is happening to their community, concerned with how it has changed with the development that is happening in the province, and, in extension, with the country as a whole. Ecology, interpersonal and communal relationships, as well as themes relating to the unequal access to resources are highlighted. It is a poignant call to criticality about the quality of development we subject ourselves to, as we hurtle along with ever increasingly globalized economy. It asks us to pause and take stock of what we might lose, when we obsess on what we try to gain.
Gap | February
Jonathan Dangue
In Dangue’s works, the entire brass sheet, which he has manually folded, bent, twisted, and cut; only appears to be the medium which supports the gaps which appear in them. In short, the entire work is premised on the holes which are on it. The gaps are more important than the entire brass sheet. Although rooted in the idea of suffering, Dangue turns the concept on its head, and uses the holes to create individuality, volume, and substance. It is an echo of creation, where something was created out of the void.
Exclusive Access to New Works | January
Aj Abelardo, Jerome Aspiras, Efren Carpio, Jep Dizon, Gerecho Iniel, Rafael La Madrid, Edwin Martinez, Alvin Paraguison, Marvin Quizon, Kim Santiago, Jukus Sepada & Jay Torres
“Exclusive Access to New Works”, thirteen up-and-coming Filipino contemporary visual artists entitle viewers to the rare opportunity of experiencing their new works born from reflections on everyday living and a multitude of life events that celebrate the resilience of the human spirit.
Tåy-og | March
Arel Zambarano, Jason Delgado, Jeanrol Ejar, Jirah Labanza, Jonas Siva, Joebert Gayoma, Joemel Mirabuena, Jzy Tilos, Marvin Dalisay, Michael Delmo, Noel Elicana, Orland, Rommel Garde, Roland Llarena, Sabrec & Tyrone Espinosa
Tay-og presents a critical resistance between the discriminating tastes of the commercial public combined with the lofty artistic ambitions of the young. Even as they are open to more raw approaches to art, they still value that paintings should be created for its social function and not lost in “painting for painting sake.”
For You Caravaggio | January
Kiko Marquez & Ynah Baltero
For You, Caravaggio is a tribute to the master of shade and shadows, Michealangelo Merisi da Caravaggio by partners Kiko Marquez and Ynah Baltero. Caravaggio employed careful observation, to paint his subjects as realistically as possible. Focusing on both the body and the subject’s emotional state, he highlighted his compositions with dramatic lighting and shafts of shadows, to evoke a tension-filled mood. Such is what the two artists are attempting to do.
Laman Loob | March
Kendall Colindon, Christian Culangan, Kim Gaceja & Clark Manalo
The environment we live in molds us into becoming who we are and contributes to every perception, perspective and opinion we make or will make. These sets of ideas slowly turn themselves into conclusion. Justified, it grows to become a form of concrete judgment, concrete judgment if rationalized and made into action feeding the perception, becomes a tangible irreversible resolve.
Can we build a complete idea out of nothingness?
Umå | March
Paul John Cabanalan
In Uma, his solo exhibition at Art Cube Gallery, Cabanalan once again brings his lavish attention to this place of beginning, of childhood, of continued existence—the teeming farmlands (uma is a Hiligaynon word meaning “farm”) which evoke multiple meanings for the artist: “the place where we get our food and livelihood,” “the place where I work from elementary to college to support my studies and family,” “the playground where I learned so many things.”
Rise of Nation | May
Jeff Salon
Rise of Nation is part of the continuing saga in Salôn’s body of work that lends visual narrative to history. Embedded in his paintings is not merely a desire for concrete representation but something urgent and significant, especially in these dark times we are living in, and that is hope. Rise of Nation proposes that hope to be a collective strength.
Karne ng Patay na Diyos | March
Doktor Karayom
Kolab | May
Arnica Acantillado & Dondon Jeresano
The title of the exhibition, Kolab, while it points at this welcome collaboration between Jereseno and Acantilado, also sounds as “co-love,” which signifies to a sharing of this deep, human emotion. Indeed, love and art can mix, often resulting in immense pleasures and glorious compositions. The viewer stands in awe at the works of these two artists who have expressed their commitment not only through being partners but through the brush making strokes on the expansive space of the medium of painting—a vow made visual.
Volume 2: Birds on Honeycomb | April
Clairelynn Uy
Birds on a Honeycomb: Volume II deliberates upon Clairelynn Uy’s interest in the potential of the image not merely as a form of description of what is familiar to us in the world but a way of examining the complex labyrinths of the perceiving eye and mind. For in this suite of large-scale works, the artist quotes and subverts the illusionistic faculty of painting by doubling a side of an image, presenting only half a story or, rather, making the repetition itself as the story, resisting the fullness of disclosure in what is otherwise hyperrealistic figuration
Paradox of Silence | May
Renato Habulan, Guerrero Habulan & Proceso Gelladuga
Paradox of Silence examines the gaps of the stories we tell ourselves about the world and our future within it. Will we go with a bang or whimper? Will we have been good stewards of the Earth? Who will we be in the culmination of civilization? Certainly, the future—if not the end—of man will be a complex scenario of decisions made, unmade, and not made. In the aftermath of history, human silence will become speech.
City of Traitors | April
Dave Lock
In his recent collection of works, Dave Lock explores the subject of the human condition in a more emotional perspective. The works featured in this exhibition are portraits of people around him, or possibly those he have met at some point in life. In this show the artist dives deeper into the abandoned cavities of the human condition in where man’s darkest, most self-sustaining sentiments thrive, like bottom-feeders lurking on an ocean’s abyss. These things take root deep, but they hide beneath the outer mask of human decency because they fear exposure.
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Journey | June
Sal Ponce Enrile
Journey takes its title from the lone semi-figurative symbolist work in the collection of thirteen paintings which make up the show. The other twelve are abstract expressionist works with titles which seemingly describe her art (such as Ethereal, Cosmic, and Celestial); what she has had because of it (Stamina, Endure), or what her art has done for her (Comfort, Redemption). And these are apparent in the works that combine her luminous works, accented with wisps of gold, which seem to have the flashing rainbow play-of-color of opals.
Transformations | June
Jay Yao
In the thirteen photographs comprising Jay Yao’s solo exhibition, the theme of transformation is apparent. Whether it is the the breaking down of dead wood into soil to give way to new life in a forest, or how a plant withers just as its berries ripen by the foot of tree stump, or how water from the sea evaporates to clouds; we see nature transforming from one form to another. We see life lose its shell to come back again to its primal state – how a tree becomes a seed, becomes a tree again. To live is to transform.
Self. Shadow. Surface | August
Kiko Urquiola
For this particular exhibition, he further explores that metaphor of the innocence (self) and the helplessness (shadow), which when dissociated become prey to what is truly dark, violent, and evil. Pushing his creative boundaries, he presents unsettling figurative portraits of unparalleled beauty and unrivalled technical skills. Baring his figurative subjects and leaving them only with the most basic of clothing, he paints them with powerful gazes, intriguing movements, inviting flesh, and pensive expressions that are all too raw, poignant, and profoundly honest.
Smoldering Refuge | September
Isko Andrade, Lawrence Cervantes, Rafael La Madrid & Tony Mercado
News of war, terrorism attacks, racial violence, refugee crises, collapsing economies, increasing marginalization and poverty, and the rise of authoritarian governments with their concomitant abuses, have continuously mounted and relentlessly continue unabated. We no longer live securely. It is a dangerous time to be alive. This precarity is the essence of the group exhibit “Smoldering Refuge,” featuring works of four young figurative artists, who are among the most sought after in their genre.
Out of the Depths | October
Kristone Capistrano
“Out of the Depths” reveals the beauty and fragility of human mortality; the contrasts in black and white, darkness and light, correspond to the struggles and challenges of humanity. In this exhibition, we become enthralled by the fact that the drawings in front of us are charged with tales of people not too different from ourselves. In the artist’s words, the people behind these portraits speak and ask us, “Look at me. I am here. I am waiting.”
Walk that Walk | November
Lui Manaig
Walk that Walk may be seen as a metaphorical mirror through which the viewer can gain access to what makes him different from the rest and, in realizing this, feels encouraged to embrace, cultivate, and enlarge it. No thumbprints are identical, and so goes with people who are endlessly changing, growing, and projecting different combinations of self. In presenting a discourse in body positivity, confidence, and individuality, Manaig dares the viewer to see difference as divinity
Morphogenesis | July
Erick Villarruz
For Morphogenesis, Villarruz trains his eyes indoors, to the private domesticity of a home. Each work is a woven tableau of a receiving space, with a combination of a cushion sofa, chairs, and/or drawers, with an occasional view of a window or a door. What is present among them is an explosion of greenery: indoor plants that can thrive with minimal supervision.
Being Human | August
Gian Miroe Surban
In Being Human, Surban presents a gritty, ghoulish and unwholesome introspective take on mental health using a language beyond the written and the spoken. Without glamorizing the already stereotypically discussed matter, he wishes to transgress multiple dimensions on what is truly happening in the lives of the victims and the preys when nobody is watching over them, and hopes to illicit dialogues between his art and his viewers.
Sentiments | September
Kim Santiago
Sentiments is a thoughtful exercise in figuration, of how to convey transparency to the eye with the use of pigment. But more important, the show reveals the relationship of human beings with objects whose purpose is not merely utilitarian but offers protection, nourishment, and illumination.
Father Figure | October
Daniel Coquilla & Kris Soguilon
In this two-man exhibition, Father Figure, Dansoy Coquilla and Kris Soguilon shine a spotlight on the father as subject matter, whose deeds and sacrifices are usually unsung. Both fathers who work during the day and create art during the night while still carrying the responsibility of being the head of their respective families, the artists feel compelled to essay the vital roles a father plays—from performing non-conventional tasks at home to doing their jobs with passion and integrity
Nonlinear | November
Renato Habulan, Benie Cabrera, Jess Santiago, Adi Baen Santos, Neil Doloricon, Fred Liongoren, Alvin Sales, Steven Natal, Mel Cabriana, Marvin Quizon, McCoy Lazaruz, Don Bryan Bunag & Lawrence Cervantes
Fearful of their fate as witnessed in Non-Linear, these artists ponder in each of these works as one has been healed and honed further. Each has abled to paint some more in whatever life has to offer. With their tired manual hands outstretched in struggle, in these paintings they have emerged more conscious with fervor, as they uplift our people.
You Sea What You Want to Sea | July
Pogs Samson
You Sea What You Want to Sea is meant to be an eye-opener, as what we currently choose to see is not aligned to the crisis of the times. Certainly, long-held cherished beliefs which inform our ways of thinking and seeing are hard to let go. But if we are to ascertain our continued existence as individuals and as a species, Samson engages us to root out the true evils that stalk our lives.
Diabolic Charm | August
Reynold Dela Cruz
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty” is a line from a poem written by the English Romantic poet, John Keats. It speaks of looking beyond what our eyes can see and understanding that the manifestation of beauty is valid if it is the truth. Reynold Dela Cruz’s latest one-man exhibition, “Diabolical Charm”, depicts beautiful women who are dressed and poised in a display of elegance and authority. Their heads are kept high without a hint of self-doubt or confusion but with condescending sneers, which command power to graciously invite their prey.
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:) | September
Michael Villagante, Kenneth Santiago, Pisssquidhead, Wyndelle Remonde, Nissa Tayle, Lynyrd Paras, Gori, Josef Lauzeano, Somar, Doktor Karayom, Ata, Gus & Pau, Reen Barrera, Max Balatbat, and Arley Carig
Under the ambit of the smiley, these artists come together to exhibit their works as a show of force and solidarity. For a few, this will be their first time to showcase their works. For some, this is just one of the many that they have participated in. No walls, however, segregate them. They occupy the same space of power and visibility. Like a big smiley spray-painted menacingly on the surface of the world, they will not be silenced.
Romancing the Inevitable | October
Vincent Padilla
Vincent Padilla renders an urgent social concern by way of sculpture for this project. The composition is an installative collection of a hundred half-heads and five five-footer sentinels which give us as an instant sensation that reels from our soles. Our eyes actually are the first ones to feel this fizzle or current, as the impending suddenly becomes visible even without all other apertures of a mise-en-scène of a disaster.
Magtanim ay 'di Biro | November
Mark Lester Espina
Magtanim ay ‘di Biro extends Espina’s sense of appropriation to homegrown works. For some time, he has been depicting works from the Western canon. The choice of Amorsolo may have emerged from a sense of affinity, as both Espina and the master are notable portraitists. This connection notwithstanding, the exhibit proves that Amorsolo’s legacy is inexhaustible.
The Divine Comedy | July
Tiffany Lafuente
In the works of Tiffany Lafuente, a sense of menace always haunts privileged domestic interiors. It is her way of exposing the complicated and complex layers of human behavior: we may conduct ourselves as prim-and-proper and respectable on the surface, and yet we cannot escape our inherent animalistic drives and instincts. Everyday life is one tangled mess of various impulses if we only care to look.
Renaissance | August
Darby Alcoseba, Mark Belicario, Rainer Duhaylungsod, Crispin Bobier, Renulo Pautan, Maria Francisca Andraianne Juarez & Orley Ypon
Renaissance celebrates the gains of the Italian masters and those who came after them through refreshing takes that make us look at the world around us in new ways. As what these artists show, figuration is still an important tool to tell the story of men and women whose dreams, hopes, aspirations, and struggles are never-ending. There are no new stories, only new story-tellers. The artists of this exhibition are telling us these age-old stories in profound, moving ways.
Memento | September
Martin Maturan
Maturan chooses to slow down, and focus on familiar objects that are deeply personal, and charged with both emotion and meaning; and use them to express his insight into contemporary life. In his previous exhibitions, these were cameras, picture frames, and worn out toys. He would choose these objects to imply a critique. A camera for example, can be about the addiction to selfies, which in turn can be seen as the need to standout, to be recognized, to have a moment in the spotlight. He uses objects from the past to zoom in on the present condition. In Memento, he focuses on the carousel.
Aninag | October
Paolo Icasas
The light that used to lie in wait in Paolo Icasas’ paintings has started to creep. Like smoke, like whispers, it gently diffuses, weaving itself into what once were twilit landscapes. Now one could somehow make out the edges of the grass, the underbrush, the thicket; now one could see the crisp of where that light made its way through.
Boundaries Without Borders | December
Year- End Exhibit
The exhibit aims to bridge the gap between the gallery, the artists, and the audience where there’s an encouragement of discourse and putting value to questions as a response to today’s situation. This is the power of art: to object by asking questions, to go beyond boundaries.