What a pillow is not (4 Parts)
30 July - 25 August 2011
A Pillow is commonly associated with comfort, sleep and rest. What it is not then is that which is uneasy and disturbing. In this exhibition, the function of the pillow as an object is negated and meaning is made anew through form and concept. It then comes as no surprise that a pillow negatively-defined could conceive piercing and upsetting commentaries about our society.
Eighteen students with eighteen individual statements about "what a pillow is not"; The statements were varied and rich, reflecting the brilliant minds of artists in the making- artists who are able to create with a high perceptive and conceptual ability and heightened social consciousness and sensibilty. What A Pillow is Not is a changing exhibit, with four to five artists showing each week, categorized by the common subtheme of their works. The exhibit opens each Saturday at 6pm on July 30, Aug 5, 13 & 20 at Mag:net Gallery (335 Agcor Building, Katipunan Avenue Loyola Heights, Quezon City; tel. (63) 9293191).
What a Pillow is Not is curated by Katti Sta. Ana.
What a Pillow is Not: DEATH
Opens July 30
Dean Africa, Ralph Barrientos, Cara Gonzales, Jem Jose, Aldrin Olaguer
Sleep and death are two seemingly separate facets of life but are subtly intertwined with one another - "Sleep is the cousin of death", as a famous saying goes. Violence naturally comes hand in hand, as one will see that the soft and tranquil pillow can be used - to the contrary - as a commentary on the dualistic savage/civilized nature of man.
Ralph Barrientos' meat sculpture proves that the grotesque and repulsive are not excluded from the realm of sleep; the remains of an animal put to rest-inspired by news reports of human bodies found chopped up and thrown away. Cara Gonzales' work uses a more subtle approach, akin to holding a crucial piece of forensic evidence, the murder weapon itself. Yet, white and silent, as a pillow should be.
Pillows are altered into balaclavas in Dean Africa's pillows, mirroring cult and historical imagery; the artist and the viewer simultaneously becoming the oppressed and the oppressor. Aldrin Olaguer's bullet shells are more literal examples of how meaning is reversed through material and how narratives and experience are made visible through objects - how fragile peace exists through the remnants of violence. Jem Jose's mass of thorns is a clever commentary on how religion really functions in our lives. Can peace and calm be attained through sacrifice?
What a Pillow is Not: UNREST
Opens August 6
Jazz Gabriel, Ralph Lumbres, Anna Mata, Luis Singson, Isaac Sion
How can one rest in the presence of social inequality and injustice? Ralph Lumbres subtly depicts the gap between the rich and the poor, by showing the difference between what accumulates in a pillow of an executive and a laborer because of their disparate lifestyles, while Jazz Gabriel approaches the issue of hunger from the perspective of the hungry and not the statistician. He presents an edible artwork stating in simple yet no simplistic terms that the poor "fill" their empty stomachs with sleep.
Luis Singson's work is a visual diatribe on the rotten business practice of sacrificing quality for the sake of profit. He prays: "may the stench of their practices haunt them when they go to bed." Isaac Sion's work is straight to the point: some people sleep on bare concrete floors. Anna Mata's pillow is of plywood, a box containing the pain and hardships of everyday life.
What a Pillow is Not: UNCONSCIOUS
Opens August 13
Anna Leah Aldaba, Issay Rodriguez, Alden Santiago, Jocel Yabes
What does a pillow signify? Can a pillow be a physical embodiment of the values a society upholds?
A pillow, however much it signifies comfort, pleasure, rest, relaxation and vanity, is not basic in the hierarchy of needs. However, it has long been regarded as a necessity in our daily human lives. But what is truly basic or essential? Have our values been modified and confused by a "mass" media culture that tells us what we need and what we should desire?
Anna Leah Aldaba focuses on the influence of mass media on those who rest their heads on what glimmers while overlooking its apparent hollowness. Jocel Yabes' pillow pierces and does not lend sleep to members of the upper class who is overly concerned with keeping their wealth to themselves. Issay Rodriguez brings the consciousness of the urban viewer "back to the basics" while Alden Santiago calculates the facts behind that which we rest our thoughts on, our closest confidant- the pillow.
What a Pillow is Not: AT HOME AND PERSONAL
Opens August 20
Rommel Agravante, Paulo Pascual, Maridann Pedro, Tanya Umali
Homes are supposed to be peaceful; places of comfort, just like pillows. A home is one's sanctuary, a safe place to run to when one is troubled. But when does a home cease to be a home? When does a pillow fail in giving comfort?
Rommel Agravante made a pillow out of tree bark which represents the changing moods, conflict and storms that occur within a family. Paulo Pascual's pillow has eyes that watch and guard him all the time--the eyes of overprotective parents. Maridann Pedro's pillow reflects her round-the-clock life as a student-family breadwinner call center agent. Tanya Umali's pillow is full of blood and is stabbed by knives that killed her father.
Opens July 30
Dean Africa, Ralph Barrientos, Cara Gonzales, Jem Jose, Aldrin Olaguer
Sleep and death are two seemingly separate facets of life but are subtly intertwined with one another - "Sleep is the cousin of death", as a famous saying goes. Violence naturally comes hand in hand, as one will see that the soft and tranquil pillow can be used - to the contrary - as a commentary on the dualistic savage/civilized nature of man.
Ralph Barrientos' meat sculpture proves that the grotesque and repulsive are not excluded from the realm of sleep; the remains of an animal put to rest-inspired by news reports of human bodies found chopped up and thrown away. Cara Gonzales' work uses a more subtle approach, akin to holding a crucial piece of forensic evidence, the murder weapon itself. Yet, white and silent, as a pillow should be.
Pillows are altered into balaclavas in Dean Africa's pillows, mirroring cult and historical imagery; the artist and the viewer simultaneously becoming the oppressed and the oppressor. Aldrin Olaguer's bullet shells are more literal examples of how meaning is reversed through material and how narratives and experience are made visible through objects - how fragile peace exists through the remnants of violence. Jem Jose's mass of thorns is a clever commentary on how religion really functions in our lives. Can peace and calm be attained through sacrifice?
What a Pillow is Not: UNREST
Opens August 6
Jazz Gabriel, Ralph Lumbres, Anna Mata, Luis Singson, Isaac Sion
How can one rest in the presence of social inequality and injustice? Ralph Lumbres subtly depicts the gap between the rich and the poor, by showing the difference between what accumulates in a pillow of an executive and a laborer because of their disparate lifestyles, while Jazz Gabriel approaches the issue of hunger from the perspective of the hungry and not the statistician. He presents an edible artwork stating in simple yet no simplistic terms that the poor "fill" their empty stomachs with sleep.
Luis Singson's work is a visual diatribe on the rotten business practice of sacrificing quality for the sake of profit. He prays: "may the stench of their practices haunt them when they go to bed." Isaac Sion's work is straight to the point: some people sleep on bare concrete floors. Anna Mata's pillow is of plywood, a box containing the pain and hardships of everyday life.
What a Pillow is Not: UNCONSCIOUS
Opens August 13
Anna Leah Aldaba, Issay Rodriguez, Alden Santiago, Jocel Yabes
What does a pillow signify? Can a pillow be a physical embodiment of the values a society upholds?
A pillow, however much it signifies comfort, pleasure, rest, relaxation and vanity, is not basic in the hierarchy of needs. However, it has long been regarded as a necessity in our daily human lives. But what is truly basic or essential? Have our values been modified and confused by a "mass" media culture that tells us what we need and what we should desire?
Anna Leah Aldaba focuses on the influence of mass media on those who rest their heads on what glimmers while overlooking its apparent hollowness. Jocel Yabes' pillow pierces and does not lend sleep to members of the upper class who is overly concerned with keeping their wealth to themselves. Issay Rodriguez brings the consciousness of the urban viewer "back to the basics" while Alden Santiago calculates the facts behind that which we rest our thoughts on, our closest confidant- the pillow.
What a Pillow is Not: AT HOME AND PERSONAL
Opens August 20
Rommel Agravante, Paulo Pascual, Maridann Pedro, Tanya Umali
Homes are supposed to be peaceful; places of comfort, just like pillows. A home is one's sanctuary, a safe place to run to when one is troubled. But when does a home cease to be a home? When does a pillow fail in giving comfort?
Rommel Agravante made a pillow out of tree bark which represents the changing moods, conflict and storms that occur within a family. Paulo Pascual's pillow has eyes that watch and guard him all the time--the eyes of overprotective parents. Maridann Pedro's pillow reflects her round-the-clock life as a student-family breadwinner call center agent. Tanya Umali's pillow is full of blood and is stabbed by knives that killed her father.
