ARTIST STATEMENT

The idea for this series of work is derived from my coming across the philosopher, Heidegger, and his concept of being and time. Our absence in normal societal functions during an unfortunate event such as a pandemic leads us to question our own identity and our relation to the larger world. There is a sense of displacement and a feeling of being immobilized in the confines of our own space. The works are an attempt to claim freedom within our own constraints. The very act of creating, whether it is derived from life or imagination, is an active strife to overcome nothingness, and an assertion of our imprint in this temporal time and space.

BIOGRAPHY

Born in 1987. Lives and works in Manila, Philippines

As an artist, foreign objects play a pivotal role in the construction and retention of my personal identity. My work attempts to visually articulate the romanticization of identity by using archaic objects and museum images as a primary subject matter. Objects of memory are either exalted, preserved, or led to obsolesce according to how the present perceives its value. Using my background in decorative illustration, I use ornamentation and design in order to romanticize subjects of my choosing. By manipulating museum displays—objects held in high regard by scholars or the people who own them, I acknowledge man’s fallible nature of keeping and translating memory into object. As objects move through time, its location is transferred, it is replicated, and it loses its original purpose and meaning. Its viewer changes and its physical material degrades. Some objects become purely antiquarian or decorative, just like how it is used in my own home, yet it still remains relevant as it is capable of elevating or changing identity.

EDUCATION / RELATED WORK

2014       Studio Member, Brooklyn Art Space
2013       Studio Assistant, Erik Jones
2013       Continued Education, New York Academy of Art
2010       BA Humanities, University of Asia and the Pacific, Philippines

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020       Telephone Game, Underground Gallery, ALT Philippines
2019       Ellipses, Pinto Art Museum, Philippines
2019       Vestiges, Underground Gallery, Philippines
2016       Recent Works, Secret Fresh Gallery, Philippines

FEATURED IN

2018       Quand l’illustration Rencontre Le Portrait, Pratique Des Arts 138
2016       Recent Works at Secret Fresh, The Philippine Star
2015       Valerie Chua, story feature, Purveyr Magazine
2015       Anatomy of a Muse, Preview Magazine
2015       17 Brilliant Artists To Follow When You’re In A Creative Slump, Buzzfeed
2012       DPI Magazine Taiwan, cover feature