Since the 80’s, painter and now, professor emeritus in the UP College of Fine Arts, Benjie Cabangis, has been known to raise the level of discourse that comes with the processes and materials utilized in abstraction. Throughout the years, it has become a reflection of a distinctive style and approach that would become the trademark of his works: canvases that exude a serene and organic temperament whose layers and colors remain grounded within their relations on the surface material. This inward and introspective approach to art may have laid the foundation to a whole new generation of artists who characterize the same commitment to relatedness: a mindful and ruminative approach to the object and other elements that serve as the receptacle for their art, whether they’d be part of nature, memory, or even found materials integrated within their own processes. In this exhibition and concept, the ‘relatedness’ that is found from within has come full circle in showing works by Cabangis and his own and direct relations—to his offsprings, who have also embraced the vicissitudes in art, just like their father.

The idea of ‘home’ becomes the pillar for this dynamic repertoire on inter-relatedness. ‘Home, as something you go back to,’ as described by Benjie Cabangis. ‘It is the idea–of returning to the self or an actual home—that there is something to which we can consistently go back to, which is an important aspect in the dynamic of art production.’ This concept of going back, as reflected in this exhibition, is not just a possible chronicle of the whole nature/nurture tendencies, but also a significant way to see how art practice moves forward once grounded within the careful considerations of relationswhether nuclear or communal. For more than having close family ties, the Cabangis’ artists have also actively participated in their own roles within their own communities.

In Aaron Cabangis’ works, his close ties to filmmaking, production design, and cinematography become evident in his work’s inter-relatedness. Tied to the idea of home, his works are, in essence, also a return to nature. Using driftwood, plants, and other organic materials, his explorations on their properties are deeply embedded in his exploration on the nature of light and other artificial sources as well. Somehow, the works transcend the related concepts of design, mood, and art. As the union of the natural and artificial becomes evident, the experience of these new objects invites us to observe how connections can organically proceed.

In Benjie Cabangis’ paintings, the interplay between paint and surface has always served as the foundation for his work. The act of layering, texturing, and applying paint for him are processes that shape the finished work, infusing it with the energy of its creation. In this particular series, he explores the tactile qualities found in the interactions of paint with its surfaces. The interaction of colors on these layered backgrounds creates a sense of movement and generates vibrations that can be both seen and felt. These elements reflect the ongoing rhythms of change and transformation that we experience in life, he argues, capturing both its turbulence and tranquility.

While Li Cabangis works are more rooted to the ideas of the dreamlike and whimsical, her ‘going back’ represents the inward relations to the ‘self.’ Her soft sculpture–made from puzzle mat foams—represents the path towards play and imagination, a return and re-connection with the innocence of childhood—to unlearning, relearning, and remembering. She tries to show the importance of being connected with childhood memories. With the repetitive process that she employs, each piece represents a moment of meditation, while the seemingly arbitrary forms portray life as a mixture of different experiences, of both random and memorable moments, not straying too far in its relations to his father’s abstractions.

Zean Cabangis, on the other hand, presents both the explorations he found through painting and sculpture. In a way, he combines almost everything that has been mentioned: nature, abstraction, and even memory in the form of forgetting and catastrophe. His works emanate from the notions of sudden catastrophic events that would leave works to generate a life of its own. As something ‘quite unfinished,’ he points out that in the process nature will do the rest. His works are reminiscent, too, of the layering of materials and other found objects. With geometric constructions more reflective of the industrial labor that remains abandoned during a state of emergency.

In depicting home, the show also displays a rare moment—and seldom explored condition: actual familial ties that contribute not only to artistic practices but also to personal growth. In a manner that is both authentic and uplifting, the show demonstrates, whether on a universal or more personal level, the rare opportunity in art to be vulnerable in displaying the connections, the unsaid emotions, and the experience for longing that are in the core for most of us: of being a family.