Maxine Syjuco Reconstructs Constructions

When cross-disciplinary artist Maxine Syjuco started conceptualizing her piece, She May After Drinking You Sink Quickly Or

Maxine Syjuco, performance photo collage and papier mache dress from her installation, " She May After Drinking You Sink Quickly And Drown"

Drown, she shuttled between two construction sites.  Outside her bedroom window she would track the progress, and hear the inevitable noises, that came with building a small structure, one that would eventually house a studio for her parents, artists Cesare and Jean Marie Syjuco.  At the same time, the space that had been earmarked for her work, what had just been designated as the new gallery space of The Picasso Boutique Serviced Residences, was also in the process of being refitted.  It would open just in time for the Syjuco family’s exhibit at the hotel.

By Maxine Syjuco

Maxine’s installation recreates the construction site of her parents’ studio inside the newly opened gallery.  She uses it as remembrance to both what the gallery space had just gone through, and what had been a constant presence in the vicinity of her personal space.  She recycles materials salvaged from the site in her home and transforms them, thereby reflecting and continuing the creative process that went on before in both places.

Waste materials have been given new life:  the coco-timber used for the studio’s scaffolding has been reused here; they form

By Maxine Syjuco

the structure that anchors the entire piece.  Maxine fabricated long and flowy dresses from the paper sacks that had contained gravel and cement.  She finishes these dresses by scribbling lines from her poems that she had previously

By Maxine Syjuco

rejected as not being good enough.

Maxine hangs several photographs within her interactive piece.  She describes these black and white pieces as recycled artworks.  To put them together, she started off with old photographs of her performance pieces salvaged from albums that had been damaged by flood.  She took new photos of these damaged photos, and then superimposed them on new photographs taken of the construction site.  It is from these images of herself that the patterns of the papier mache dresses have been taken from.

Photo collage from Maxine Syjuco

The title of this installation echoes the process that these photographs had gone through. Previously drowned photos have been drowned again in the process of redeveloping them.

Maxine’s artist statement injects a tribute to the overseas worker within the piece.  I thought that added  unnecessary complexity to a piece that already contains so much food for thought.  On its own, it already delivers a visual punch.

Inside Maxine Syjuco's installation

The Syjuco family exhibit, Left of Center, is spread out over all the public areas of the hotel.  The photo collages of patriarch Cesare, with its hilarious lines and witty images, grace the hotel’s entrance and lobby, as well as the elevator lobbies of all floors.  Jean Marie has an installation piece at the lounge area. Also at the main lobby, by the elevators, Michelline Syjuco resurrects her embellished wooden horse from the 2009 Sungduan exhibit at the National Museum. It is her commentary on globalization as a Trojan horse for developing countries.  Trixie’s (Beatrix) video plays on the second floor lobby’s main wall.

Maxine and Michelline Syjuco

While Maxine’s piece is undoubtedly the major work in this exhibit, you can’t help but imbibe the creative energy of this talented family. They often work together, and it shows in how their pieces gel.  Their household must be so much fun!

At the main lobby, Cesare AX Syjuco, "Weird Birds"

Left Of Center with Cesare A.X. Syjuco, Jean Marie Syjuco, Michelline Syjuco, Maxine Syjuco, and Beatrix Syjuco  runs from 24 September to 24 October 2010 at The Picasso Boutique Serviced Residences, 119 LP Leviste St., Makati City, Philippines.  Phone (632) 828-4774 or visit http://www.picassomakati.com or http://www.artcabinetphilippines.com

Michelline Syjuco, "Globalization: A Trojan Horse"

Maxine Syjuco, "Self Portraits"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw0gIXtrhnY


The 2010 Ateneo Art Awards

Just like everybody else in the audience, I eagerly awaited the announcement of winners for this year’s Ateneo Art Awards.  The

Shattering States: The Ateneo Art Awards 2010 Winners: Pow Martinez, Leslie de Chavez, and Mark Salvatus

Ateneo Art Gallery staff kept the final results under tight guard, even to us jurors.  Thankfully, they paced this year’s awards night programme so that none of us had long to wait. Continue reading


Super Sungdu-an at the National Musuem

View of Sungdu-an Installation

View of Sungdu-an Installation

While other countries regularly mount their biennials or triennials, our Sungdu-an is the closest thing we have to a nationally

Christine Sicangco, "Thou Son's Cranes"

Christine Sicangco, "Thou Son's Cranes"

organized visual arts event.  Continue reading