For Bea Alcala, Francis Commeyne, Cian Dayrit, Paola Germar, Lou Lim, Martin De Mesa, Archie Oclos, Caroline Ongpin, Mark Sanchez, Louie Talents and Marija Vicente, the group exhibit Xing E. Jacinto, is probably their last group show together as new graduates of the UP College of Fine Arts, located at E. Jacinto St. of the Diliman campus.
Encouraged and guided to pursue their individual visions, their works, which come in a plethora of approaches and media, occupy all dimensions of the proverbial cubic space of the modern art gallery. Consider these ruminations as overarching themes: anxiety, the body, institutional critique, selfhood meets the world, the model and archetypes.
As act, Xing E. Jacinto is transitionary in the same manner that crossing a street is one of the horrors of early childhood – what with the distraction of intersecting traffic, the cacophony, strange smells, of people, engine and other modes of transit – the very foreign-ness of every thing.
Transitions are never comforting. With amniotic fluid expelled from the lungs, the newborn takes its very first breath, and squeals in distress, awakened and banished from the peace and contentment of the womb, with a slap on the butt. This narrative may well describe the tentative internal state of these artists, but it hardly reflects the exuberance in and of their works; exuberance, which to poet/artist William Blake, is beauty.
Curated by Leo Abaya, Xing E. Jacinto will open at Tin-aw Art Gallery, Upper Ground Floor of Somerset Olympia, Makati Avenue, on 3 June 2011, with opening reception at 6 p.m.