You don't have to be Bart to love the Samsons.
Painters and brothers Jerson, Julio, and Jaypee Samson mount a three-man show this month at Kaida Gallery. But unlike the dysfunctional and comical family glorified in American primetime animation, the Samsons are anything but goofy and trivial in their representations of contemporary Philippine society.
Jerson Samson himself as a 'taga-masid' (observer) or 'taga-kwento' (story-teller) of everyday realities, from the mundane to the bizarre. At a time when stories tend to revolve around the centers of power, Jerson Samson chooses to represent stories from the margins of society. These, such as urban poor slums, are spaces often hidden away from the view of tourists or dignitaries, sites occupied by most of the nation's rural poor population.
Julio Samson delivers a more scathing critique of societal ills and excesses in a series of paintings depicting contemporary personalities as half-human and half-animal. The artist appropriates traditional and historical animal symbolisms--often predator species which denote a variety of vices or unsavory qualities--and juxtaposes these with human figures whose attires similarly denote the dominance in the political, economic, military, and religious hierarchies of our contemporary times.
Jaypee Samson exhibits in this show a series of works articulating the woes of the present Philippine public education system. He pays tribute to a familiar though often overlooked figure: the public school teacher, steward of the nation's future. Aware of the increasing dearth of educators, either forced to leave their vocations or find jobs overseas due to economic exigencies, Samson quietly pays tribute to what he terms as the 'new heroes' of this generation: teachers who strive to educate their students at all costs and through whatever means, in spite of the crisis facing
The three Samson brothers all completed their degrees in Fine Arts (major in Painting) at the University of the Philippines (UP)
A consistent Finalist in the 27th, 28th, and 29th Shell National Students Art Competition, Jerson Samson went on to win the Juror's Choice distinction in the 1997 Representational Category of the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) Annual Art Competition. He was a Finalist in the 2003 Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards, and the 2000 and 2001 Metrobank Foundation Young Painters Annual. He was also included in the Top Five of the 1999 Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards.
Julio Samson is currently taking up his Masters in Fine Arts, also at UP and has completed units in educational teaching at the Marikina Institute of Science and Technology. He is a Semi- Finalist in the 2006 Philippine Art Awards sponsored by the Philip Morris Group of Company, the Metrobank Art and Design Competition (Sculpture Division), the 2003 Art Association of the Philippines and The Philippine Olympic Committee "Sports on Canvas and Paper Painting Competition", the 2000 Metrobank Young Painter’s Annual Painting Tilt, and the 1997 Pilipinas Shell National Student’s Art Competition.
The youngest of the three, Jaypee Samson is a triple Grand Prize awardee in the 2005 Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS) Painting Competition (Student Category), the 2004 Metrobank Art and Design Excellence (Oil-Based Medium on Canvas Category), and the 2004 18th Visual Art National Competition for the PLDT-DPC Telephone Directory Cover. He has held two solo exhibitions since 2006.
The Samsons opens on 28 October, 6 p.m. (Sunday) and runs until the 12th of November 2007 at Kaida Gallery, located at the 2nd Floor,
Jerson Samson • Julio Samson • Jaypee Samson
KAIDA GALLERY
28 October – 12 November 2007
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