Exhibits 2018
An exhibit of Tuklas 2018 mentees Genavee Lazaro, Ben John Albino, Billy Bagtas, Cedrick Dela Paz, Dennis Jimenez, Josh Palisoc, and Marko Bello.
-Karen Tesalona
“Bones and Blooms” draws resolute attention on death’s perplexing appearance and role in the natural world. Taking this in full regard and in close scrutiny opens the possibility for human beings to enter an existential wonder of something that may be actively missing in their lives – of that which fills the gap that makes purposeful of the quintessence of life; the certainty of temporality.
-Karen Tesalona
Case in point, in Eskinita Gallery’s current exhibition titled La Lune, the works of participating artists Krisitine Caguiat, RC Caringal, Annie Concepcion and Shannah Orencio have shared elements that can be read as pointing to a feminist discussion: all of the artists are women and the female form features prominently in all of the works.Is it really the case? At this point it might be helpful to look at each work more closely.
-Ioannis Sicuya
Admiration is born with our first gaze. It is the delight in one’s beauty precisely because it speaks volumes of harmony. Entering the exhibit Distant Blue Mountains manifests this exact feeling.
-Karen Tesalona
Suddenly, she woke up from a deep slumber. “That, for me, was the loveliest feeling in the world,” she notes, as she wishes to have that instilled in her memory.
-Gwen Bautista
“Encroaching Behavior” dwells on the uncanny similarities of human behavior with the ways of termites: how they both facilitate the destruction of nature.
-Gwen Bautista
Suddenly, she woke up from a deep slumber. “That, for me, was the loveliest feeling in the world,” she notes, as she wishes to have that instilled in her memory.
-Karen Tesalona
The works of Aldron Anchiges, Archien Ruga, Macj Turla, and Edwin Martinez bring our attention to an apparent and yet unnoticed dilemma--how do we check what is real and unreal? Is it even important?
-Gwen Bautista
Artists Aileen Dela Cruz, Anne Lacaba, Leny Leonor and Tokwa Peñaflorida come together in a group exhibition titled “Phosphene”. The title refers to a visual phenomenon wherein the eyes detect or see rings or spots of light brought upon by stimulations other than an actual light source.
-Ioannis Sicuya
Poverty is a reaper that harvests what’s in every single one of us — it leaves us empty, and numbed that we may endure all the darkness of the present. Denmark clinches on this idea, and is asserted in the overall outlook of his works.
-Karen Tesalona
All human beings are blessed with the gift of spirit – an essential being or an inner self. And oftentimes, we are confronted with challenges to go deeper into the mystery of it. In Michelle Ballesteros’ Embed, faith in religion fostered the pathway to this discernment.
– Karen Tesalona
Artist Mark Harry Gonzales is known for his cold-cast marble sculptures with forms that call to mind fantastical sea creatures fused with familiar imagery. For his first solo exhibition titled “Sea of Meaning” however, he elevates the conversation by also exploring the theme of spirituality, of the soul’s journey from suffering to redemption, and of divine salvation.
-Ioannis Sicuya
Come close, inspect each work, and what you will see is a palimpsest, layer-upon-layer of imagery peeking through the holes of what seem to be ribbons of paper, overlapping and interpenetrating, asserting their figuration, their ghostly imprints.
– Carlomar Arcangel Daoana
In love, we experience ecstasy. We lose control of ourselves and tend to do things that are beyond our comfort zones. In the works of Reynold dela Cruz, we find this overarching theme with the persistent usage of elements to tell stories and to seek understanding of this love that we speak of.
-Karen Tesalona
Herwin Buccat is known for and is in full-display in his first solo show, Nesting Ground, represents at once an allegory and archetype. This is the figure depicted variously in art history as the Cosmic Woman, the Mother Earth, the Life-Bringer, without whose ministrations life on the planet would not be possible, the eternal provider of all our vital needs.
–Carlomar Arcangel Daoana
Brenda Fajardo, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya, Anna Fer, and Julie Lluch have witnessed many monstrosities in their history and society. And their bodies of work have sensitively and diligently registered the presence of the various forces of distortion that make these monstrosities possible.
-Patrick D. Flores
Among the contemporary Filipino artists working today, Pogs Samson and Jojit Solano are perhaps two of the most fearless examiners of the national id, laying bare the bones of our collective failure and moral decay.
–Carlomar Arcangel Daoana
In the three-man show, Ama, Anak, by Renato Habulan with his son Guerrero Habulan and son-in-law Pro Gelladuga, identity is the overarching theme in their works, a powerful signifier on how one conducts oneself in the world.
-Carlomar Arcangel Daoana
In his exhibition, Ang Polonpolon mula sa Limurya, William Gaudinez demonstrates the importance of restoring age-old symbols in order to experience and inflect new context to conceptions of origin and destination.
–Carlomar Arcangel Daoana
In the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, “anemoia” is described as “nostalgia for a time you’ve never known.” As a collection of works in a gallery, Anemoia is an exhibition that allows the viewer to enter a space of recollection, recalling places he has never seen and a time in which he has never lived.
-Carlomar Arcangel Daoana
In her first solo exhibition titled Off-Center, of Center, artist Arvi Fetalvero invites the viewers to temporarily gaze away from the center, to look at the side lines, to see what happens in the periphery.
–Ioannis Sicuya