Skull Overload at Secret Fresh

By Jigger Cruz

The skull must be to us as the peace sign was to the hippies and rebels of the 1960s and 70s. We see it everywhere, on everything. The visual arts, especially, has adopted it an all manner of works. Damien Hirst’s For The Love of God counts as one of the more notorious ones in recent history, platinum cast and encrusted in diamonds, priced at close to $100 million dollars. Unfazed by the controversy created by the sale (or non-sale, depending on which report one subscribes to), the artist made another one, this time using the cast of an infant’s skull, to inaugurate the Gagosian Gallery’s Hong Kong branch early this year. He called this second version For Heaven’s Sake.

Undaunted by its ubiquity, or perhaps, intent to play it up, Secret Fresh has mounted a group exhibit centered on the skull. Sixty artists embellished 100 resin skulls, working with paint, paper, shells, metal studs, what-have-you. Bembol dela Cruz wrapped his in skin-toned leather, while Marc Gaba encased his in stamps. Igan d’Bayan turned his into a pastel pink carabao; Goldie Poblador fabricated one out of glass, a receptacle for one of her scents. We see skulls on the walls too: in paintings, and drawings, and photographs.

According to the exhibit notes, Dia delos Muertos, the exhibit’s title, harks to the Mexican celebration of All Soul’s Day, their version of our Araw ng Patay. Obviously, using skulls as symbols of death, reminders of our mortality, smacks of cliché. But when you witness the variety spread out in the gallery, you can’t help but enjoy the spectacle. After all, death, like life, can’t be taken too seriously.

(And for those interested, the prices of the pieces in this exhibit do not come close—they’re not even a jot—to that of a single flawless diamond from the 8,601that sparkle in Damien Hirst’s original version.)

Dia delos Muertos runs from 23 October to 18 November 2011 at Secret Fresh, Ronac Art Center, Ortigas Ave. (near Santolan), Greenhills, San Juan. Phone (632) 570-9815 loc. 7 or visit http://freshmanila.blogspot.com/