FOR the 2nd edition of The Manila’Bang Show that opens on Thursday, December 8, Art Elaan (@artelaan) presents three super-sized, genre-classified group exhibitions, featuring top Filipino artists.
A figurative showcase offers the works of 13 artists, while six pop surrealists converge for a candy-colored presentation. There’s also a strong display by 12 abstractionists.
Manila’Bang 2022 will run until December 11 at Festival Mall, Alabang.
‘Right Into the Soul’
FIRST in the trio of group exhibitions is Right Into the Soul, a figurative group exhibition where eyes are everywhere. Subjects dart gazes right back onto the audience—each one telling a story through a mere glance.
The featured artists in this display include Lydia Velasco, Pilo Medina, Toti Cerda, Gerry Joquico, Ryan Marquez, Jojo Barja and Maxine Syjuco. Part of the fold as well are Fil Delacruz, Gino Nagret, Marko Bello, Jun Impas, Brendon Dinglasan and Grandier Bella.
Three women gossip about their observations in Velasco’s piece. Meanwhile, the surveying proves ceaseless by the multiple heads and personalities that share one body in the artwork of Medina. In the dramatic scenes of Cerda and Joquico, everyone appears preoccupied, save for one who breaks away from the scene, and with it, the fourth wall, to return the look to the viewer.
Marquez and Barja deliver symbolisms through crumples and stains, as Syjuco, Delacruz and Nagret present surrealist realms. In Bello’s piece, a woman turns her back, while men fight to the end with death in their eyes in the artwork of Impas. Lastly, hyperrealism captivates in the pieces of Dinglasan and Bella.
With eyes from all directions in this showcase, the audience is not the only spectator. They, too, are being gazed at right into the soul.
‘Saccharine’
FILIPINO pop artists dish up sweet, vibrant pieces in the group exhibition, titled Saccharine.
Norlie Meimban, Alburoto, Bryan Yabut, Nikko Pelaez, Christian Tamondong and Kobusher offer honeyed flavors of familiarity and a hint of nostalgia through artworks that bear their signature styles.
Meimban lets his doodles run wild on famous characters, fictional or otherwise. Alburoto brings to the fold his droopy-eyed characters, while Yabut recreates the iconic Abbey Road crossing, except in the stead of The Beatles members are Charlie Brown, Lucy van Pelt, Snoopy and Woodstock of Peanuts.
John, Paul, Ringo and George make another appearance in the psychedelic, cubic painting of Pelaez, while Tamondong presents a somber tone in his universe of geometric forms. In Kobusher’s artwork, the artist deforms pop culture characters once again. This time, it’s Popeye finally understanding how his crushed and twisted spinach cans feel.
‘In a Tensive State’
ROUNDING out the presentations is a purely abstract exhibition featuring 12 artists.
Coeli Manese, Grae Joquico, Valen Valero, Dale Bagtas, Louie Ignacio, Ronnie Lim, Niccolo Jose, Sam Penaso, Meneline Wong, Lara Latosa and Naomi Banal offer their respective brand of non-figurative art. Each one is marked with a sense of tension, palpable and moving.
Manese’s faith-based abstract expressionism, for instance, draws in the viewer to embark on a journey of introspection. Joquico also moves the audience to another place, as Valero sharply cuts spaces and thoughts with a striking abstraction.
Bagtas cultivates a microscopic ecosystem. Ignacio inspires life that branches out and blooms. Flora is also presented by Lim, albeit in a cooler tone, while Jose makes wood dance with the softness of swaying flowers. Then Penaso’s painstaking piece scratches the viewers’ mind, which is then soothed by the flow art of Wong. Latosa brings her own waves and Banal sets colors for collision.
Additional information about the sets of shows and more is available on www.artelaan.com and www.manilabangshow.com.