Movies and popular-media culture and self-idealization are tackled by Reybert Ramos in his fourth solo exhibition “Recoil,” opening May 20 at Galerie Stephanie.

Ramos plays with the idea of reflective gratification: Are movie fanatics who look up to figments of fiction aware of how less of themselves they really become even when they pattern their lives and philosophies after others?
“Recoil” also treads on two roads—paradoxical and ironic. It is paradoxical when the audience of his artworks are imitators of lifestyles and fully acknowledge themselves as a “secondary identity”—that their real self is to be another. It is ironic when one considers one’s true self as the mere reflection of a character and nothing more—that they are themselves but of another being.

With famous film characters like James Bond, Indiana Jones, and The Man With No Name, situated within a noticeable outline of shooting targets.
Ramos aims to have his viewers answer why people relate to these characters more than they do with real people.

With 20 artworks to support this philosophical attack, Ramos again leaves his audience with the thirst of a story about to be discovered that lurk in the eyes of Jackie Chan, Fernando Poe Jr., Bruce Lee and Harrison Ford, who are trapped in the bull’s-eye of classic hero-worship. Are these the people we aim to be?

Ramos’ sociopolitical consciousness was shaped by his education at University of the Philippines Diliman.
He has exhibited at Galerie Stephanie and Art Stage Singapore 2016. He works as artistic director at GMA Network. —CONTRIBUTED

“Recoil” runs until June 3 at Galerie Stephanie, 183 E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave., Quezon City.