UNTITLED

Kaida Contemporary Gallery
December 12 Exhibitions

Sam Penaso unveils "Untitled", his nth solo exhibition to date. In his recent works, Penaso continues his exploration of texture and form, with embossed letters and numbers that signify today’s text messaging overdrive and communication systems. His colorful pieces present the jumbled text he likens to sensory overload cluttering our lives, with some letters even spilling out from the surface of his paintings into the ground. With his Neon Lights series, he draws inspiration from the city’s night views and the bright lights of billboard advertisements, arcs cutting through the shadowed recesses of his pieces and punctuated by glowing flecks of neon paint.

Sam Penaso is a Boholano artist now based in Manila. He has been a part of numerous painting exhibitions both local and abroad, such as the Asian International Art Exhibition in Indonesia, Philippines-Thailand Artist Exchange Residency in Bangkok, the Korea-Manila Fine Art Biennale in Seoul and Young Art Philippines in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany. A Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate from the Technological University of the Philippines, Penaso also took courses in sculpture in the Philippine Women’s University. He has won various art competitions, most notable of which is a third prize placing in the Metrobank Painting Competition in 2001.

Angelo Tabije presents his first solo exhibition in the white hall of Kaida Contemporary Gallery on December 12, 2010. Titled Minikaniko ni Moniko ang Makina ni Monika, his pieces show vibrant, machinated conversations produced in male and female relationships. His characters, humans of seeming ethnic costume with headdresses and accoutrements of engine parts, are likened to contemporary couples connecting, living and producing families, with different components that fit each other seamlessly through the travails of modern life. They become hybrids of fans, carburetors, gears and pistons melting into human flesh, sourcing the force that help them exist in a horsepower-driven world. Cast on barren landscapes, they exist in a post-apocalyptic era where their very personalities are laid bare with the twisted pipes, spares and windmills they carry on their heads.

A graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts BFA program, Angelo Tabije was a finalist in the 38th Shell National Art Competition in 2005 and won the Grand Prize in the 6th Art Petron National Competition in 2006. In 2007 he was hailed as a finalist in the PLDT-DPC Telephone Directory Cover 21st Visual Art Competition and was Runner-Up in the Oil/Acrylic Category of the 7th Art Petron National Student Art Competition in the same year. He has been participating in group exhibitions in Manila and Singapore since his student days.

Kaida Contemporary Gallery exhibits Minikaniko ni Moniko ang Makina ni Monika and Untitled from December 12 to 30. Artists’ reception opens at five thirty in the afternoon on the first day. For more details, please contact +639279297129 or email aidahysg@yahoo.com. Kaida Contemporary Gallery is located at 36 Scout Santiago St. corner Scout de Guia, Diliman, Quezon City