The Main Gallery and the Walkway will feature paintings and installations inspired by European Modernists. This series of works produced by artist Alexander De Moscoso are entitled Peripheral Revisions. The Collector’s Gallery on the other hand, will house Alvin Zafra‘s Daggers of Thought which includes portraits out of bullets and sandpaper. The exhibitions will open this 20 May, Friday .
ARTIST STATEMENTS:
“Peripheral Revisions”
Alexander Moscoso
Art is my platform for personal and social discourse. It is the product of my struggle and discipline in pursuit of transforming thought and energy into material form. My commitment is geared towards the materialization of ideas and transference of energy in this lifetime. Thus, it has been my resolve to create art as part of my daily practice.Initially, Peripheral Revisions is a body of work that explores art history specificities and how it relates to one’s own practice. It first started as a response to the question of how could one make sense and non-sense of art history and its corresponding artifacts, or rather, art as facts?Peripheral Revisions is composed of paintings that will use reproductions of historically significant paintings as its ground. In this way, I will be able to establish a discourse with a particular work of art, examine its structure, as well as attempt at gaining insights on the technical and conceptual momentum and trajectories of its creator.While working on these paintings, I realized that these are not reproductions of the original works being appropriated per se but in the process has become impressions of the appropriated works and an imagining of the state of mind of these artists. Because of this process dynamics, the current works seem to have transcended the realm of reproduction/illustration and has morphed into an original in itself. Other than that, the original intentions of the works being a personal discourse in art history as well as paintings being phenomenological constructs or channels remain the same.Eventually, the trajectory of the body of work has veered towards works of art as vehicles of perception. The discursive nature of Peripheral Revisions zeroes in on paintings, as well as video art installation, as contemporary phenomenological tools i.e. methods to observe and reflect on one’s conscious experience, or even attempt to access the subconscious. The polygons at the center of the works serve as demarcations of physical and symbolic space. The introduction of colored polygons other than black is an additional parameter I have set to widen the field and likewise as a response to a personal discourse on color theory, art history, politics,philosophy, and psychology which I encountered while working on the first few works. Furthermore, I realized that this set of work is just a start of a long-term topographical project to map existing art-as-facts and its possible relations. Process-wise, these works are finger painted. I had to forego the use of brushes and experimented with the notion of bypassing any mediating object between the hand and canvas in moving paint.In sum, the works that comprise Peripheral Revisions are accessories to an experience. Its relevance lies not on technical or conceptual techniques and/or art history specific issues but on its capability to give its viewers a window to examine one’s self.
Artist Alexander Moscoso unveils his own version of famous modern artists’ works in his new show “Peripheral Revisions”. Utilizing his bare fingers, Moscoso plays around with famousmodern artists’ works and presents them with colored polygon centers and upside down orientations. Moscoso’s courageous play on these works fosters a question on the artworks’ originality and a discussion on art reproduction.The exhibit runs from 20 May to 10 June 2011 at NOVA Gallery, Warehouse 12A, La Fuerza Compound, 2241 Don Chino Roces Ave., Makati City.For more information call 392-7797 or send an electronic mail to gallerynova@gmail.com or visit www.novagallerymanila.com
“Daggers of Thought”
Alvin Zafra
This exhibition is a collection of portraits of known personalities, all of which are victims of gun violence and gun culture. It is a tribute to the pillars of thought and a marker to the violence that persists in history. The portraits were chosen relative to my existence – Gandhi’snon violence mirrors object/medium’s approach, Lean being a fellow UP student and a leader ofresistance, and Kurt’s craft as a big influence on my musical vocabulary.In this series, icons meet their end via a gunshot; bullet and subject are both resurrected into a new existence which is Art.
Etching bullets against sandpaper, artist Alvin Zafra resurrects influential men in his new show “Daggers of Thought”. Zafra reunites these men with the material that has caused their deaths; but this time, these bullets take form as a medium in immortalizing them through a new realm that is Art.
Artist Alvin Zafra brings men back to life in his new show “Daggers of Thought”. The exhibit features portraits of men whose lives were cut short by bullets and gunshots. Zafra however, resurrects these men through the same material as he uses and infuses such in his artmaking.
The exhibit runs from 20 May to 10 June 2011 at NOVA Gallery, Warehouse 12A, La Fuerza Compound, 2241 Don Chino Roces Ave., Makati City.For more information call 392-7797 or send an electronic mail to gallerynova@gmail.com or visit www.novagallerymanila.com.