Among the interesting exhibits at the ongoing ManilArt 2018 (until Oct. 21 at SMEX, SM Aura, Taguig City) is “Cock Workshop in the Age of Wang Di-dong,” an installation by writer-teacher-artist Jonathan Rondina, which can be seen at vMeme ConteMporary Art Gallery.

The mixed-media installation is assembled from various ceramics “scavenged from ukay/thrift/garage sale/surplus stores,” said Rondina.

The found objects are assembled to form phalluses that symbolize what appears a drift back toward strongman rule in the Philippines.

“We live in dark times, ruled by a discourse of toxic, mysogynist and murderous machismo,” said Rondina. “My tongue-in-cheek work, assembled as a shrine of fragile sculptures, is really a critique of our current socio-erotic fascination for strongmen. Like surplusage, though, these pseudo deities, or poon, are doomed by a legacy of infamy.”

The vMeme art gallery occupies booths E7 and E8. Visit vmemeartgallery.com; tel. 09176879898.