Silverlens presents a new show by Eric Zamuco, titled Working on the Mountain, taken from the title of a book of essays by N.V.M. Gonzalez. In this series of works, the mixed media artist ponders on the metaphor of geologic accretion and formation found in ancient temples and applies it to objects in the thick of instability and ruin.
Each assemblage called Templo is a self-contained compound of metal rods inserted through overlapping glass panels and wood, like acupuncture points marking a body. Zamuco makes use of a collection of odds and ends stocked from his studio, widely diverse in their material. In one work, shards of a glass bottle are encased like precious emeralds. In another, a black-and-white image of decapitated fish heads printed on a glass panel surprises, as the viewer is left to guess its connection to the other objects in the grouping.
The works link by way of the painted brushstrokes done separately per piece which are shorthand or cursive codes detailing a medical diagnosis or procedure. This is an artistic decision influenced by living in the context of the pandemic with its anxieties about health and disease. One remembers that objects are the base signposts of a stable life: your favorite coffee mug, a kitchen rag. The arrangement of the objects found in the assemblages where accrual is concentrated at the top and tapers at the bottom speaks of a world upturned on its foundation yet holding it together.
Eric Zamuco is a widely exhibited artist in the Philippines and overseas. His show Working on the Mountain at Silverlens Gallery is on view until November 13.