PAINTING WITH A HAMMER TO NAIL THE CROTCH OF CIVILIZATION

Manuel Ocampo and international peers to nail the crotch of civilization at Manila Contemporary

This is the second time, the first being Julian Schnabel, for Manila Contemporary to host an exhibition of artists outside the region. The curator of this arresting international exhibition is Manuel Ocampo, Philippine contemporary art's most eminent figure.

The participating artists for Painting with a hammer to nail the crotch of civilization: a group show of wall works and tattoo imagery organized by Manuel Ocampo such as Goetz Arndt (Germany), Claus Carstensen (Denmark), Gaston Damag (France/Philippines), Curro Gonzalez (Spain), David Griggs (Australia/Philippines), Dr. Lakra (Mexico), Albert Oehlen (Germany), Pablo Siquier (Bueno Aires), Gerardo Tan (Philippines) are internationally acclaimed and historically relevant in the art of their region. As long-time friends of Ocampo, they were also invited to participate in the show based on a common practice of challenging mediums such as painting and sculpture.

In Ocampo's curatorial notes, he notes the pluralist characteristic of today's art world. He points out the absence of dominant style, hence, the fruitless task of looking for an authentic language in any visual medium. Pluralism seems to be the value of aesthetics now. Looking at this phenomenon in a globalised cultural perspective, the hegemonic tendency of pluralism is also understood as an expectation to return to primitive gesture and societal customs/ attitudes outside the Western cultural sphere. Art, then, becomes an anthropological enterprise. In this vein, Ocampo shows that it is painting that receives the backlash from this pluralism.

The vision of this exhibition is what Ocampo states as “the resistance to the critical denigration of painting [...] by locating it within a historical tradition that is dependent on a practice that is community based and reactive to societal discourse – mural painting and tattooing.”

This vision is being met through technological and reproductive mediums, such as with the aid of computers, projectors, printers, scanners and dissemination of images via email.

These images of the respective artists will be transferred on to the walls and floors of Manila Contemporary and likewise will be part of the tattoo flash available for a limited number of inking sessions to the public. The tattooing component is made possible by Sin City Tattoos. Tattooing will begin at the opening night of the exhibition on November 13 and will run through the duration of the exhibition.

Together with the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines, Painting with a hammer to nail the crotch of civilization: a group show of wall works and tattoo imagery opens on Saturday, 13 November 2010 at 6pm in Manila Contemporary and will be followed by an Artists Talk by Claus Carstensen, Curro Gonzalez, David Griggs, Manuel Ocampo and Gerardo Tan at 2pm on Sunday, 14 November.

The exhibition will run until 5 December 2010. Manila Contemporary is located at Whitespace. 2314 Pasong Tamo Extension, Brgy. Magallanes, Makati City. For inquiries about the exhibition, please contact Sidd at 844 7328 or email to s.perez@manilacontemporary.com.