Galeria Paloma exhibits ‘Parallel’ for this 2023 edition of Art Fair Philippines, jumping off the connections between the real world and web3: The metaverse and the physical universe. Augmented reality and the naked eye. In art, traditional and digital mediums. The minds of man and machine.

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella wrote, “The metaverse is here, and it’s not only transforming how we see the world but how we participate in it.” From the factory floor to our social media posts, this change is apparent in the art world. 

Galeria Paloma presents ‘phygital’ work – experiences that cross over physical and digital planes. 

One painting shows a brightly-colored ostrich, created by the world-renowned 10-year-old NFT artist Sevi Agregado. We open up the Artivive app and face the camera to the painting. In a second, the ostrich’s head pops onto the screen, does a little jiggle, and moves around the room. This is just one of the gateways to augmented reality that you can enter at this tenth anniversary of Art Fair Philippines.

The new media artists

Galeria Paloma will be exhibiting carefully selected artists, noted for contributions to new media in the Philippines and abroad: Skye Nicolas, Luis Buenaventura, Bjorn Calleja, Jopet Arias, The Alarcon Brothers, Carlos, Wyn-Lyn Tan, Raymond Lauchengco, AJ Dimarucot, Aswang, Sevi Agregado, Isaiah Cacnio, and Sheila Ledesma. 

Carlos creates idyllic scenes meant to inspire a sense of delight. He stands out as an artist from the baby-boom generation who dares to dive into the digital. Just last 2022, he launched his first NFT collection for his 72nd birthday. His works for the art fair will feature a layer of augmented reality, as the skies in his paintings change in a time-lapse from daytime to evening.

Remember the Sony WM-F17? Highly anticipated New-York based, Filipino artist Skye Nicolas creates powerful works that compel viewers with a recurring “Induced Nostalgia” theme. He will be presenting his very first Walkman readymade and paired with an NFT. 

The Art Fair Philippines program has special exhibits in store by digital artists. It will be curated by pioneering Filipino crypto artists Bjorn Calleja and Jopet Arias. They will also present their own work in the Galeria Paloma booth. Calleja will render his instantly recognizable humanoid characters into tiny-scaled sculptures – accompanied by NFTs in file formats that let you view it as a 3D model. On the other hand, CryptoArtPh founder Jopet Arias will exhibit paintings charged with spiritual themes and layered with augmented reality. 

Keep an eye out for the work of other talented artists. Luis Buenaventura, the highest-selling crypto artist in the Philippines, will show digitally native work to start conversations on how Ai lacks the creative capacity of human hands. Singaporean painter Wyn-Lyn Tan will reveal generative work from thousands of images by artificial intelligence. 

Anonymous illustrator Aswang will feature intriguing NFTs. Be sure to enter the “Portals” in Isaiah Cacnio’s collection – a mirror of the doors opened by the metaverse to many realities. While the artworks will be digital, collectors will also receive a physical rendering with the NFT. 

Samsung The Frame

You might have already come across Samsung’s “The Frame”. You walk into your friend’s living room, acknowledging the painting of a field in the corner of your eye. When suddenly, the Netflix “Tudum” resounds from the wall where the painting was a second ago. This is likely Samsung The Frame, a television with the features of an extremely smart TV, but with an appearance that changes the game – from the streamlined design, matte non-reflective screen, and art frame bezels, the TV can double as a display for your art pieces. 

The Frame has become more relevant and necessary with the dawn of digital art, especially with the rise of NFT acquisitions. For Galeria Paloma, they found the solution for their art displays in partnership with Samsung The Frame. With the multiple digital art exhibitions in Art Fair Philippines, this new digital frame marks the beginning of the highest quality displays of fine digital art in the Philippines. 

Parallel exhibition in Milan

Galeria Paloma is going beyond the borders to show how traditional art can be transformed. Their exhibit for Art Fair Philippines will be exhibited simultaneously in another physical site in NINFA Labs in Milan, Italy. 

Adding to the meaning of ‘Parallel’, the exhibition will expand Galeria Paloma’s reach internationally, while showing that technology has the potential to show original works of art in two (or more) locations. 

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Isn’t everything parallel? Connected in some way? Galeria Paloma seems to recognize how digital art offers a different way of seeing. 

With a rising presence in the digital art scene, Galeria Paloma keeps growing through discussions, lectures, and meticulously curated exhibitions. With a vision for education and empowerment, they have mounted projects in areas with high foot traffic like malls or public spaces, aiming to make art more accessible and start one-on-one conversations. 

As they dare to expand the community and culture of CryptoArt and NFTs, we are going straight up to their booth at Art Fair Philippines, which remains the most prestigious art fair in the country. 

‘Parallel’ will be held at Art Fair Philippines on 17 – 19 February 2023 at The Link, 6/F, Booth 27-A.

Visit Galeria Paloma at https://www.galeriapaloma.com/ 

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