Eight graduates of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts will come together later this month for a group exhibition to showcase their student theses and distinct creative styles.
Carmela Dagdag, Maisha Dela Cruz, Gale Encarnacion, Carzen Esprela, Donna Go, Venus Mar, Nicole Tee, and Aileen Viñas all hail from the UP Studio Arts program batch 2016.
The “8 Questions” exhibit, which will run from August 13 to August 31 at the Tin-aw Art Gallery in Makati, will feature works across different media like video, photography, sculpture, installation, and painting.
“Blow Me” by Gale Encarnacion, depicts the fragility of human life through chewing gum manipulated to resemble flimsy guts and flesh, presented in laboratory specimen jars. Also complementing the art is a video of the gum as a breathing organism.
Large sculptures of food made from parts of plastic dolls tackle both consumer culture and the confusion that ensues in the battle of needs versus wants in Carmela Dagdag’s “Idolatry.”
The contrast of urbanization and ecology is seen in Aileen Viñas’ “Merger,” which depicts wooden structures that look like skyscrapers with live plants.
Carzen Esprela’s “Bag in a Boat” tells the story of his journey from South Cotabato to Manila through a boat with five pairs of protruding hands and a headless boatman.
Nicole Tee, on the other hand, uses audiovisual immersion to show the themes of serenity and chaos in her work “Quiet Punctuations,” which aims to show how commercialization has disrupted peaceful neighborhoods.
“Time Management is an Oxymoron” by Venus Mar tackles the effects of excessive use of social media, leading to users’ urgent sense of fulfilment, which could only be satisfied by endless hours of browsing online.
Racism is discussed in Maisha dela Cruz’s work “Contra Color,” made from layers of medical gauze painted in various skin tones, symbolizing the wounds that discrimination inflicts on members of various races and nationalities.
Donna Go questions traditional gender roles still enforced in this modern age in “Si Malakas ay Maganda” where she juxtaposes signifiers of femininity with archetypal depictions of masculinity.
The gallery is located at the upper ground floor of Somerset Olympia Building, Makati Avenue, Makati City. The exhibit will open on August 13. Czarina Fernandez, INQUIRER.net trainee/KS