Mac Valdezco and Her Terrific Sci-Fi Adventure

Mac Valdezco, "Cloud Gatherers 2"

Does Mac Valdezco ever underwhelm? If we go by her solo exhibit now running at Avellana Art Gallery, apparently not. She manages to exceed my expectations each time she transforms the most banal and nondescript accessories into fantastic organisms. In this show, she has extra-terrestrials on her mind, and uses science fiction as inspiration for the work she has created to fill the entire gallery.

Tiny Vessels hang in a row in the ground floor hall. Enclosed in clear medium-sized plastic food bags, each vessel nestles on a fiberfill pillow. The vessels are pieces of paper folded into boxes and printed with patterns from thread. Embellished with colored pins, beads, and tassels, they resemble tiny Japanese gifts—although Mac intended for them to simulate galactic transport. The sparse installation in this main exhibit space ensures that viewers gravitate towards the bright red room in the corner. Here, thousands of clothing tag pins form Factory, a giant web–like construction suspended from the ceiling and walls, crossing the entire area.

Mac let even more of her imagination loose in the gallery’s second floor. She turned black jacket stoppers and more fiberfill into an infestation of cloud gatherers: a wall of crawling insects that hoard fluffy particles into an open bag. Colored bag handles have been entwined with rolls of black plastic net for Blast Em and the Strange Passenger series, her version of space vehicles, one mother ship from which several auxiliary vehicles bay.

To me, Blast Em resembled coiling sea serpents pulled along by a large manta ray more than it did the Starship Enterprise. And I thought that each of the four pieces called Strange Passenger depicted other undersea creatures as well. I suppose Mac stimulated my imagination too.

Because her art does not lend itself well to storage, and work best when made for a specific site, Mac remains largely underrated by the commercial art scene. Her pieces belong in a museum, and unfortunately, we don’t have a public institution that actively acquires contemporary art. A pity. An artist like her who continues to come up with such wonderful work from the most meager of resources deserves more of our notice.

Sci-Fi runs from 12 June to 14 July 2012 at Avellana Art Gallery, 2680 FB Harrison St., Pasay City. Phone (632) 833-8357 or visit www.facebook.com/pages/AVELLANA-ART-GALLERY/150699800364