So. It’s the end of the month and you’re feeling the blues. You might’ve thought that the Holy Week break would reinvigorate you for work, but it’s only made you drag your feet to the office harder (‘Is it possible to have a vacation hangover?’ your incongrously tired body asks).

Before you start fantasizing about dropping your life and drifting aimlessly across the country à la Agnés Vardas’ Vagabond, here are some art exhibits happening this week that might just put some spring back into your step. After all, art is its own form of therapy. (Read: Feeling sick? You might just need to go to the museum)

1. Rustan’s For The Arts 2019
3F Rustan’s Shangri-La, EDSA cor, Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong
Mar. 26 to Apr. 30

Every year, the shopping conglomerate holds an art exhibit “For The Arts” in partnership with Filipino artists. It’s held within one of their department stores, making the artworks more accessible to the public. This year, Rustan’s is partnering with National Artist for Visual Arts Arturo Luz and his granddaughter Paulina Luz Sotto, who both specialize in abstract and geometric art. At the exhibit, you can also find lunch boxes and serving trays bearing Luz’s art on them.

2. A Glassful Of Ocean, Vinyl on Vinyl
2241 Pasillo 18 La Fuerza Compound Chino Roces Ave, Makati
Apr. 11 to May 2

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. . In “Metro Manila,” Poeleen Alvarez appropriates the form of a Monopoly board to show the disparity in population and the availability of resources in Metro Manila – where people from all over the country supposedly take a shot at wider horizons. The game board features central business districts and residential areas in the Metro arranged according to their respective living expenses, where situated on each tile, are human and house toy figures that correspond to about 27,590 people and households – in actuality. . Paoleen Alvarez’ Metro Manila piece is part of the A Glassful Of Ocean group exhibition on view at Vinyl on Vinyl.

A post shared by Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery 🇵🇭 (@vinylonvinyl) on Apr 16, 2019 at 12:26am PDT

“A Glassful of Ocean” is an exhibit featuring works by eight artists: Teo Esguerra, Poeleen Alvarez, Yana Ofrasio, Rene Bituin, Jobert Cruz, Iori Espiritu, Jacob Lindo, and Eva Yu. All young artists, they employ various kinds of mediums, from Alvarez’s Monopoly-inspired board game, Espiritu’s ceramic installation, to Teo Esguerra’s found objects.

**3. Pag-alala sa Hinaharap, Eskinita Art Gallery**

2F Makati Square, Chino Roces Ave, Makati
Mar. 30 to Apr. 23

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“Guazon’s sharp commentary on the fascist past and authoritarian present, for instance, is keenly visualised and articulated… “Camouflage” overtly appropriates hues and patterns of combat uniforms with protest paraphernalia and toy figures to simulate the conduct of war games, where one must take sires or be caught in the middle. But it also references a numerical symbol—the artist and his father’s birth month—and how their lives, too, have been caught up in between these years of war.” . “Camouflage” by Eric Guazon# “The Spectral Present” written by Lisa Ito . “Pag-alala sa Hinaharap,” a solo exhibition by Eric Guazon, runs until April 23, 2019 at Eskinita Art Gallery. #ArtGalleryPH #ArtPH #ArtGallery #EskinitaArtGallery | #InstallationPH #Installation | #Painting #PaintPH #PaintingPH #Painter #PainterPH #MixedMedia #MixedMediaPH #EricGuazon | #Camouflage

A post shared by Eskinita Art Gallery (@eskinitaartgallery) on Apr 7, 2019 at 5:10am PDT

“Pag-alala sa Hinaharap” is a solo exhibit by visual artist Eric Guazon. The pieces zero in on the brutality of war and Martial Law, and act as a sharp criticism on the country’s past and present experiences of war and dictatorship. The name of the exhibit carries a double meaning: pag-alala as a remembrance of the hardships of war and fascism and of the work of his father, a political activist, and pag-alala as a call to start worrying over the country’s increasing return to a dictatorship.

4. Circa, Kaida Contemporary

45 Scout Madrinan, South Triangle, Quezon City
Apr. 11 to 27

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Circa, a solo exhibition by Lui Gonzales, will run from April 12 to 27 at the ArtistSpace Gallery. Drop by if you have the time!

A post shared by Kaida Contemporary (@kaidacontemporarygallery) on Apr 11, 2019 at 3:18am PDT

For visual artist Lui Gonzales’ second solo show “Circa,” Gonzales uses “layers of torn paper” to comment on the “fleetingness of memory.” By presenting “bits and impressions of occurrences, snapshots of episodes that were once part of a larger experience,” through these torn bits of paper, she is able to evoke a “sentimental familiarity” within the viewer.

5. Underbelly, Calle Wright

1890 Vasquez St. Malate, Manila City
Mar. 22 to Jun. 23

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Most drummers know of a cymbals’ sonic component called wash, a sustained sound which follows the initial attacking crash and ping, and lasts until its ultimate release. Wash is also accompanied by other sounds, such as ring which is in the high end of the sonic spectrum, and hum which occupies the lower end. All these sounds are delicate, complex, dif cult to record, and often overlooked. –Robin Rivera ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Robin Rivera’s “Wash” reverberates across the whole space of Calle Wright, seeping into each room of the house. Visit Calle this weekend to hear it for yourself! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Underbelly Nap Jamir II, Robin Rivera, and Tapio Snellman 22 March – 23 June 2019 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ REGULAR HOURS Friday to Sunday, 12nn – 7pm ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #Underbelly #NapJamirII #RobinRivera #TapioSnellman #CalleWright #ContemporaryArt #ArtPH

A post shared by Calle Wright (@calle.wright) on Apr 3, 2019 at 10:17pm PDT

Unlike the other exhibits on this list, “Underbelly” at Calle Wright is as aural and spatial as it is visual. Created by Robin Rivera, Tapio Snellman, and Nap Jamir II, the exhibit makes use of the entire four corners of the Calle Wright house. One room only contains Rivera’s “Wash” installation, consisting of speakers that blast the sound of cymbals and drums which reverberate around the house.

6. A Mubble in a Puddle, Mo_Space

3F MOs Design Bldg, B2 9th Avenue, Bonifacio High Street, BGC
Apr. 27 to May 26

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Opening on 27 April, Saturday, 6 PM, at MO_Space Main Gallery! A Mubble in a Pubble Yasmin Sison 27 April – 26 May 2019 A spirit of boundless play permeates Yasmin Sison’s A Mubble in a Pubble, brought by a wide variety of works that seem to have spilled out of a child’s toy box. . With a takeoff from Ruth Krauss’ classic 1950s children’s book I Can Fly, where a
young girl asserts how she can be anything she wants to be: “A cow can moo, I
can too…Pitter pitter pat, I can walk like a cat,” Sison allows others to participate in
her process with dialogues of freedom and looseness; color and form; softness and
hardness; and abstraction and figuration, made tactile by collages meant to be
finished by viewers, as well as movable paintings and sculptures. . Together with shaped objects, fabric works, and paintings, Sison continues to
cherish childlike wonder, and at the same time encourages her viewers to play
alongside her, to fly with their imagination, to recapture that part of every person
that only needs their intuition to overcome limitations. . –Koki Lxx . . . #YasminSison #AMubbleinaPubble #upcoming #MainGallery #MO_Space

A post shared by MO_Space (@mo_space) on Apr 19, 2019 at 8:59pm PDT

“A Mubble in a Puddle” by Yasmin Sison is a decidedly childlike exhibit, featuring works that were seemingly “spilled out of a child’s toy box.” Sison, known for her abstract expressionist works portraying children in all forms of emotions, presents movable sculptures, paintings, and collaborative works that are meant to be “finished” by the viewer.

Featured photo courtesy of Visions and Expressions, Inc.

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