10 Art Exhibits to See This January

(SPOT.ph) We've all witnessed the shift that the local art scene has undergone in recent years, as it has consistently gathered momentum and attracted a more mainstream audience. The question now: How do you keep that momentum going? By continuing to go out there to appreciate art, for one thing. Here are the most interesting shows on exhibit this month. 

Watchfire

Ceramics seem to be experiencing a renaissance as creatives continue to explore the potentials of clay as an expressive medium. Realizing that this momentum has built over time, Silverlens gathers five artists who have each made a critical contribution to the development of contemporary ceramics in Asia in a group exhibition called Watchfire. Here, Jon and Tessy Pettyjohn, Joey de Castro, Shozo Michikawa, and Alvin Tan Teck Heng participate in an anagama wood firing at the studio of fellow ceramic artist Pablo Capati III, in the hopes of sparking a renewed interest in the Philippines' ceramic art scene.

Runs from January 12 to February 9 at Silverlens, 2263 Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City. For more information, visit Silverlens’ website.

All the Lonely People

It’s easy to get caught up in the perpetual chase of things as people are logically programmed to search for something in life—be it in their aspirations or their pursuit for a purpose, only to find both void and longing at the end of the journey. In Charico Miranda Cruz’s All the Lonely People, he presents a collection of photographs with hints of solitude and stillness and moments of peace at times of loneliness. The verses of The Beatles’ "Eleanor Rigby" come to Cruz as he clicks the shutter in wonder: "All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong?"

Runs until January 27 at Altro Mondo Gallery, 3/F The Picasso Boutique Serviced Residences, 119 L.P. Leviste Street, Salcedo Village, Makati City. For more information, visit Altro Mondo’s website. 

Devoted

A peculiar subject comes out in the shadows of conventional themes in Joel Vega’s Devoted. In this solo exhibit, he explores the rituals of grief and remembrance that border on nostalgia and fetishism, a concept which stems from the African material culture of attributing inherent value or powers to an object. Devoted, ultimately, is a forthright exploration of memory and its links to sentiment, obsessive recall and personal devotion.

Runs from January 12 to February 9 at Artinformal, Karrivin Plaza, 2316 Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City. For more information, visit Artinformal’s website.

A Paradise Lost

Ryan Villamael continues to explore the core of our identity and our country's history of our country. His fascination with the subject began when he came across archaic world maps that bear rough sketches of the Philippine archipelago, depicting our country's fraught relationship with its Western colonizers. This got Villamael wondering about our lost links to our pre-colonial origins which, even today, remain elusive.

Runs from January 12 to February 9 at Silverlens, 2263 Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City. For more information, visit Silverlens’ website.

Steel and Skin

Steel and Skin is a two-section exhibit featuring the recent works of props maker Johanna Lietz, along with tattoo artists Sophiya Franchesca and Neil Tanaleon. Lietz presents her line of post-apocalyptic hand-held weapon props, "The Lietz Armoury," a reimagination of her childhood fantasy to be born and raised as a warrior. Meanwhile, Franchesca and Tanaleon will showcase their signature tattooing styles—gothic and feminine for the former and tribal and Oriental for the latter—in a Flash Tattoo Festival on January 12 and 14.

Runs from January 9 to 30 at Gallery in the Gutter (GIG), Eurovilla Condominium 1, 142 Legazpi Street, Legazpi Village, Makati City. For more information, follow GIG on Facebook.

Lake Predicament

Curious figures dance to life in Krista Nogueras’s ceramics and sculptures depicting the human body in its primordial form. With Lake Predicament, she attempts to create an environment where one becomes heavily sensitive to a specific situation, responding to a stimulus drawn from our perception of images.

Runs from January 12 to February 9 at Artinformal, Karrivin Plaza, 2316 Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City. For more information, visit Artinformal’s website.

Don’t Sweat the Technq Domnq

There exists in the eccentric city of Brussels a thriving contemporary art scene set against the backdrop of Art Nouveau architecture. It is a place where New York-based artist Dominic Mangila also found inspiration for his upcoming exhibit, Don’t Sweat the Technq Domnq. The metanarrative behind his recent works talks about "portly Filipino ladyboys with miraculously small waists that parade around the cobblestone streets of Brussels." These group of men are avid fans of Canadian artist group The Group of Seven, and would, from time to time, perform hit songs by hiphop duo Erik B. & Rakim such as "Don’t Sweat The Technique."

Runs from January 12 to February 5 at The Drawing Room, Karrivin Plaza, 2316 Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City. For more information, visit The Drawing Room’s website.

Improvised Exits

Improvised Exits by Gene Paul Martin asks: Can you still feel human connections in a pervasive culture of technology? Here, he straddles both the worlds of abstraction and representation to render imaginative paintings that can easily confound the human senses.

Runs from January 12 to February 9 at Artinformal, Karrivin Plaza, 2316 Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City. For more information, visit Artinformal’s website.

Do We Dream Under the Same Sky

Do We Dream Under the Same Sky is a collaborative installation by Vietnam-born Tomas Vu and Argentina-born Rirkrit Tiravanija. The two artists, who found themselves moving from one country to another while growing up, create an interactive space where guests can immerse themselves in the process of making art. Throughout the duration of the exhibit, they are holding live art sessions on silkscreen painting and graffitti to investigate the layers of resistance that go into street art.

Runs from January 12 to February 5 at The Drawing Room, Karrivin Plaza, 2316 Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City. For more information, visit The Drawing Room’s website.

Afterworld Obliteration

Dexter Sy, recipient of Alliance Française de Manille's Philippine Artist Residency Program in 2017, employs his style of using Persian rugs and combining them with his ink-and-pen drawings to evoke a recent experience in violence-stricken France. He looks into the war against terrorism that pervades on the European continent as well as in the Philippines. 

Runs from January 17 to February 23 at Alliance Française de Manille Gallery, 209 Nicanor Garcia Street (formerly Reposo), Bel-Air II, Makati City. For more information, visit Alliance Française de Manille Gallery’s website.