Written by Mikaela Zulueta
The wall at Artinformal reads: ”What a surprise and pleasure it is to bump into the ‘real’.” This, to me, ends up funnily ironic when you consider that stepping into an art gallery is much more like falling into wonderland rather than climbing out of it. Art treats us to worlds beyond the one we live in, to worlds beyond anything we can imagine. It takes the innermost expressions of ourselves, and turns it into something tangible. Maybe that’s what makes it ‘real’. Or maybe I’m reading too much into a simple statement, and should just learn to enjoy the view.
Other Things In The World: Curated by Nilo Ilarde
And you know what? There are no rules when it comes to appreciating art. Look at the work, take a photo with it, spend a while observing or spend eons attempting to achieve the perfect angle; it doesn’t matter. Art is understood and digested in a myriad of ways, so who are we to dictate what’s right and what isn’t? How one person acts or reacts towards art is not going to be in the same way that you do, and generally, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Reg Yuson’s “Territories” lay deconstructed on the floor
The work above is an embodiment of this open attitude towards “art appreciation”, unpretentious in its request of treatment – or lack thereof. Disassembled like a jigsaw puzzle and scattered on the ground, people are invited to do as they like with it. Admire it, photograph it, touch it, or even step on it; anything goes.
There are no restrictions when it comes to art itself, either. The entirety of the exhibit illustrates this as an amalgamation of various techniques and media. Amidst the numerous debates populating the web of what constitutes as art, anyway, these works pose the question of what doesn’t?
Nice Buenaventura’s works done in pencil
Van Tuico utilises cement as his medium of choice in this particular work
From a brick wall replicate constructed with actual tar to an installation involving plywood shavings contained in a chest, it’s one of those shows that has you tilting your head and going (tongue-in-cheek, of course) “ahrt.”
An actual brick wall and its painting, both done by Jan Balquin
Juni Salvador suspends a chest in between two shaved plywood boards
Being in the middle of what can be called a culmination of the non-linear, non-figurative, abstract line of art it’s impossible to quash down the urge to question. So, while surveying Lubin Nepomuceno’s works of textured paint, curiosity forced out the queries of “What is it supposed to be? What does it mean?” This prompted his response: “It can mean whatever you want it to mean.”
A close-up of Lubin Nepomuceno’s work using dried layers of acrylics and oil paints
Admittedly, venturing to ask was futile from the beginning. Depending on who you ask, the meaning and function of art could go about a hundred different ways. Sometimes, art is about how it makes you feel. Or about the thought that’s gone into it. It’s about what the works stands for; but other times, it’s about how it doesn’t stand for anything at all. And sometimes, or most times, art just is.
Nicole Tee’s manipulation of her canvas
Artinformal’s trademark fishball cart
Artinformal
The exhibit runs from February 24 to March 25.
277 Connecticut St, Mandaluyong
