Post No Bill at Manila Contemporary

Alwin Reamillo, "Untitled (Crab Eye)", shredded bank notes and mixed media on crabshell in plexiglass

I approach group shows with trepidation, frequently hoping I don’t find a hodgepodge of pieces haphazardly thrown together merely to make up the numbers. Although Manila’s most recent group exhibits (at least the ones I’ve managed to catch) have not given cause for complaint.  Neither does Post No Bill, just opened at Manila Contemporary.

The ten participating artists worked with two parameters.  First, they had to make use of materials that had been previously circulated or seen by the public.  Second, the material should have transmitted information or advertising.  Leo Abaya, Francis Commeyne, Alfredo Esquillo Jr., Mark Justiniani, Joy Mallari, Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, Alwin Reamillo, Jon Red, and Ioannis Sicuya (plus one piece from the late Santiago Bose’s estate) all deliver thought-provoking, insightful work that complement each other and make good use of the gallery’s proportions.

Mark Justiniani and Joy Mallari’s monumental PEACE has been spelled out using sign language, a painting in five parts. Each contains an image of a hand forming one letter of the word.  The couple painted on the reverse side of billboards, originally exhibiting this work in 2005 at the Deja Design Gallery in LA to make a statement against the US invasion of Iraq.  At that time, both artists resided in the States.

Ling Ramilo had several pieces on view.  The ones I liked most employed collaged jars arranged inside wooden cabinets.  She worked on the glass bottles to make them look like their labels had been peeled off. For Mapping Your Geography 1 and 2, the pieces of paper take the shape of the countries where the jars originated.  Gallery 1 and 2, on the other hand, made use of collected art exhibit invitations.

In I Heart Quiapo and Sagrado Ordinario, Alfredo Esquillo slit old calendars to produce his banig paintings.  A laborious process, Eski weaves painted strips of paper (or canvas) like mats to form completed images. This series makes up a significant portion of his body of work.  Here we see one of his oldest banig paintings, Sagrado Ordinario from 2001 side by side with his latest, produced in the weeks before the exhibit opened.

Taking inspiration from insects trapped in amber, Leo Abaya encapsulates various printed materials into clear, palm-sized resin globes.  He set them on one wall to simulate words in Braille. More Than You Care To Understand actually spells out “If you can read this, do something.”

Filmmaker Jon Red wrapped furniture in recycled paper to create settings for his videos.  Francis Commeyne accumulated rubber tires that serve as signs for vulcanizing shops, ubiquitous roadside sights, and arranged them in a giant ring for Wheels of Fortune.  Ioannis Sicuya salvaged a signboard from a suburban village gate to house his Vivarium, an art farm fabricated from saw dust.

Most of the opening night chatter centered on Alwin Reamillo’s loot— literally dirty money massed together in transparent acrylic cases.  Alwin heard about a dump site in Pampanga used by the Central Bank as repository for bills no longer in circulation.  He sought it out, and gathered what he could of the wet and stinking heap. We see them in St. Andrew’s Field Series 1 to 4, Central Riverbank Painting Series 1 to 5, and Untitled (Crab Eye), waiting to take their place in a new series of works still germinating in Alwin’s mind.

Post No Bill runs from 17 March to 15 April 2012 at Manila Contemporary, Whitespace, 2314 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City.  Phone (632) 844-7328 or visit www.manilacontemporary.com

Manila Contemporary has organized the exhibit in partnership with Tin-Aw Art Management Inc.

Mark Justiniani and Joy Mallari, "Peace", acrylic on reclaimed billboard

Another view of "Peace"

Alfredo Esquillo Jr., Sagarado Ordinario, first banig painting from 2001, and "I Heart Quaipo" from 2012. Both from interwoven oil on pelon and textile calendars

Detail

Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, "Mapping Your Geography 1" (in collaboration with Abril Valdemoro)

Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, "Mapping Your Geography 2" (in collaboration with Abril Valdemoro)

Dissecting Leo Abaya's "More Than You Care To Understand"

Detail

Santiago Bose, "Welcome To Baguio", 1996

Jon Red, "Still Lives"

Jon Red, "Coup B'etat"

Francis Commeyne, "Wheels of Fortune"

Ioannis Sicuya, "Vivarium"

Alwin Reamillo., "St. Andrew's Field Series 1 to 4"

Detail

Detail

 

 

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