The word beat connotes either the pulsating rhythm of a musical piece or the exhaustion resulting from defeat.  The first definition puts us in mind of a fun-filled frenzy while the second brings on images of imminent collapse.  The contrasting styles of Ernest Concepcion and Nikki Luna parallel this duality.  Yet, as this exhibit at the Lopez Museum shows, when deftly handled, Ernest’s humorous illustrations and Nikki’s pleas for the oppressed can both make for one powerful show.

As always, the splendid Lopez Museum collection provides the artists with choice pieces to interact with.  Aside from ensuring a treat for viewers, these rarely seen gems from Philippine art and history serve as counterpoints to the newly commissioned pieces and add a different dimension to the newer works.

In Gallery 1, Ernest built his drawings around three treasures.  He weaves his komiks-like renditions, Hidalgo, the super-multidimensional time bandit, to serve as backdrop for the J. Elizalde Navarro wooden sculpture A Flying Machine for Icarus. Enamel paintings on canvas create landscapes that wonderfully complement Alfonso Ossorio’s Faineants (Loafers) from 1945, a surreal scene in watercolor that would look right at home in Juxtapoz.  On one wall, Danilo Dalena’s Jai Alai series: Talo serves as the starting point that inspired more of Ernest’s drawings on the gallery wall.

Nikki has taken over Gallery 2.  She has recently made a conscious decision to express her activism through her work, and for this show, turned her attention to the plight of those fighting for their land.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that tenant-farmers who tilled the sugar fields of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac had the right to own the parcels of land their families have worked on for generations.  This issue had simmered for two decades, and spawned violent protest actions, even death.  Nikki’s installation, Precious and Fertile, tackles this highly emotional controversy.

White porcelain batons seem to float over a triangular patch of earth. Nikki commissioned them to resemble both police truncheons and sugarcane stalks.  They crisscross each other, as though parrying hits.  They are spread out throughout the room’s ceiling, their shadows cast on two videos that play continuously on the wall behind.  She travelled to Tarlac to record the film clips on the day that the high court came out with its decision.

“I wanted to use bone china for several reasons,” Nikki explains. “First, because it’s perceived to be precious.  Second, the material has elements of colonialism:  you use it for high tea service, a tradition that has connotations of class divisions.”

Nikki’s two other pieces in the room, Azucarera and Embellished Earth, underscore the preciousness of the crops harvested in communities like Hacienda Luisita.  Both works utilize varnished wooden display cases, similar to antique armoires, to hold Nikki’s small sculpture:  white and brown sugar shaped like diamonds for Azucarera and rice grains and munggo seeds made from real gold for Embellished Earth.

Hanging in the vicinity of Nikki’s three pieces are two Juan Luna paintings, chosen for their images of ordinary folks:  Una Franchuta from 1892 and the undated El Borracho.

The room leading off from Gallery 2 contains Nikki’s only other work in the show.  7 Lupa: Kibawe-Bukidnon, Maramag-Bukidnon, Opol-Misamis Oriental, San Fernando-Bukidnon, Ramain-Lanao Sur, Dalwangan-Malaybalya, Misamis Oriental is a series of tall and narrow display cases that contain a cup of soil from disputed tribal lands.  Two Onib Olmedo paintings, Bar Scene and Prey, hang juxtaposed against Nikki’s installation.

The last two sections of the exhibit feature more of Ernest’s drawings rendered against more pieces from the museum’s collection.  He did the most amusing ones in the Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo room, adding a baby wailing as its stroller tumbles down the steps from under El Asesinato del Gobernador Bustamante y Su Hijo and a robot lying fallen beside slain Guardia Civil. Ernest’s work do not detract from appreciating the masterpieces of Hidalgo.

The room also holds two of Hidalgo’s undated versions of Ophelia, drawn in charcoal and chalk.

Other wonders brought out from storage and included in the show:  Sanso’s prints from 1929, Arturo Luz’s painting Trumpeters from1960, Pacita Abad’s Recluse made in 1994 from patched fabric, Bencab’s Recuerdos and Kabuki/ Geisha from 1985, and an early Sanso painting, Joyride, 1957.

Beat runs from 16 May to 17 November 2012 at the Lopez Memorial Museum, GF Benpres Bldg., Exchange Road cor. Meralco Ave., Ortigas Center, Pasig City.  Phone (632) 631-2417/ 6315-9545 or visit www.lopez-museum.org or https://www.facebook.com/Lopez.Museum.Library