8 Must-See Art Exhibits in Manila to See this June
A pulsating energy of fervence for climate justice, stamina for traditional craft, and a recalling of reverence for life and light reverberates through the shows across Metro Manila galleries. Here are eight of them to see this June.
Radiating, Fusing, Dissolving: Various Artists at The Drawing Room
Artist-curator Dominic Mangila brings together a roster of young painters to investigate light, an enduring beauty of nature that artists have aspired to translate onto canvas, and lately, to an electrifying element that powers graphic images in screens. This exhibition is not short of names that have recently garnered attention from collectors despite their nascent launch into the scene: Matina Partosa, Gelo Cinco, Gia Luistro, Bianca Pe, and Joanno, amongst others.
Up to July 11. For more information, visit The Drawing Room’s Instagram.
Interpsychic Colony: Louie Cordero and Kawayan de Guia at MO_Space
Even in their individual practices, Louie Cordero and Kawayan De Guia share a long-occupation with the absurd and how one might create a collage interspersing it with elements from reality. This led to a merging not only of symbols from the tangible and from their streams of consciousness, but also their process for the show.
This show is for the comic geeks who frequent hole-in-the-wall hubs like Cubao Expo, Greenhills, and Makati Cinema Square with their vintage imports and retro sensibilities.
Up to June 28. For more information, visit MO_Space’s Instagram.
Munininop: Randy Gawwi, Dehon Taguyungon and Gail Vicente at MO_Space
Cobbling traditions in craft, rituals, and the domestic, the three-person show of Randy Gawwi, Dehon Taguyungon and Gail Vicente resists the shadow of post-pandemic apprehensions in matters of creating sanctuaries.
Showcasing embroidered and sculptural works, this show finds the sacred in the mundane and sheds a light on what it means to be a villager in order to keep a home. The home is sanctuary, a site for collective dreaming of the future.
Up to June 28. For more information, visit MO_Space’s Instagram.
The Coconut Tree Methodology | Silverlens
In Martha Atienza’s long-running mission to make clear the atrocities on earth, sky, and sea implicated by its “nurturers”, this exhibition zeroes in on the coconut as the harbinger of coastal erosion that has been unfolding in the Bantayan islands of Cebu. Atienza puts into the spotlight the systemic failure of the political network to serve the fisherfolk, to hear the voices of our indigenous brothers and sisters, and to counter the degradation of ecologies that protect their homes.
Up to July 11. For more information, visit Silverlens’ Instagram.
Echo: Pam Quinto at Underground Gallery
Pam Quinto is an artist in pursuit of the complex-self, its relations to the world outside it, and its metaphorical manifestations in things like caves, which figure in Echo. In this show, the artist draws from a recent spelunking experience that led to an awakening: Before the construction of houses borne out of a more stable grasp of nature, life was once sheltered by something as primal as caves, unpolished and simply found.
Up to July 1. For more information, visit this link.
Confluence of Her: Various Artists at Modeka
To say that women through history have been flattened to the point of erasure is almost no argument today, and many women artists, poets, scientists, and entrepreneurs, among other occupations, have to remind society of their multiplicity as beings. Such is the raison d’etre of the artists in this show where their distinct voices echo, free of obligation, summarizing to its viewers what it means to be a woman in their personal, specific ways.
Up to July 4. For more information, visit this link.
Bridging the Gap 2 at Provenance Art Gallery
ProvenanceProvenanceThe documented history of an object's ownership, origin, and authenticity, particularly important for classic cars, watches, art, and wine. Strong provenance can dramatically raise an item's value, and collectors andGo to Provenance Glossary brings together a total of 80 contemporary Filipino artists in the second year of their annual rotational show, Bridging the Gap. Under a single banner, the works of the participating artists will be displayed in rotation, bringing together pieces from a mix of emerging, mid-career and established practitioners for a set time period. For its June rotation, needleworks by Marionne Contreras, Maricar Tolentino, and Jan Sunday join the ensemble along with works by painters Jericho Moral, Gene Paul Martin, and Gelo Cinco. Also in June: three-dimensional pieces by Ioannis Sicuya, Pete Jimenez and Cianne Xavier.
Up to August 31. For more information, visit this link.
Looks Cute But Nasty: Maria Joena Zoleta at Bunso Gallery
Maria Joena Zoleta’s practice runs on the convoluted ties of motherhood which, as this exhibition shows, is also unavoidably tied to marriage and its historical roots in state and religion. In her collection, the artist channels shocks of angst in her use of pink, coupled with neon and pastel applications to make images that are anything but innocent. Through her works, she glares with unrestrained irreverence at the unification of church and Philippine state that withholds freedoms (like divorce) to women.
Up to July 2. For more information, visit this link.