I swung by Pablo in the middle of one afternoon, almost as an afterthought. I actually had no previous intentions to do so.  I happened to drive by and suddenly remembered that I received an invite for a show opening that evening. I caught Ivan Despi just as he had ironed out the last kinks of Glass Feathers, currently on at Pablo’s space at the Fort.

Ivan Despi, "Belief Bluff 1", video still

Ivan and Pauline Vicencio run The Acid House, a production company that does commercial work for television networks and advertising projects. This exhibit allows them to channel their talents into video art, a project they worked on with four colleagues.

Ivan Despi, "Monocot", video still

The exhibit presents two videos, both very manageable at loops of six and seven minutes each.  Each video shows a montage of images that represent thoughts and memories from the subconscious.  One work puts together what Ivan describes as “good thoughts”.  The more engaging piece, I felt, was the other one, the one that looped their “bad thoughts”.  I especially enjoyed it for the animated segments that I later learned Ivan himself had created.

Dale Dellosa, "Glass Shards", video still

I also liked how they chose to mount their videos.  “Bad thoughts” had been projected onto a wall of pillows in the gallery’s main space.  This made the images appear distorted, less intimate. Viewers have no choice but to watch the piece while standing around the area.  The more pleasant, “good thoughts” piece, on the other hand, had been set up in the gallery’s upper landing.  To view it, one may opt to lie down on a similar set of pillows, arranged on the floor. Here, the artists’ attempt to put their audience in a relaxed mode, and hopefully, imbibe some of the good vibes into their own subconscious.  Both pieces play to a soundtrack composed by Pauline especially for the show.

The other artists of The Acid House:  Ikil Muya, Claire Ganzon, Nark Sese, and Dale Dellosa.

Exhibit installation

Glass Feathers runs from 26 March to 16 April 2011 at Pablo Fort, Unit C-11 South of Market, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.  Phone (632) 5060602 or visit http://www.pablogalleries.com

Pauline Vicencio, "In A State of Gas", video still

Nark Sese, "Salty Air", video still