There is liberation in ugliness. On some occasions, whether visually, conceptually, and even politically—we are compelled to confront the ‘ugly truth’ before we make our own assertions and continue any course of action. And on most occasions, this liberating power of ugliness only presents itself through time, and where most of the time, the process requires the act of looking carefully.

Norman Crisologo, in curating the group exhibition, PPP (Palapit Palapit Papangit), acknowledges this complex relationship between art and ugliness. Here, he invokes a little-known street adage uttered in Filipino slang that shows the complexities involved in perception—whether through time or distance—in finding out that there is ugliness in beauty, and how conversely, it might also state the opposite: where anytime an object or art work present themselves as ugly, beauty emanates after paying close attention.

Featuring 10 Filipino artists, the show is a homegrown meditation on the label ‘ugly art.’ Taking its cue from the emergence of ‘bad paintings’ and outsider art in the early 60’s, ugly art has followed the same path towards aesthetic provocation. It undermines our expectations of what is visually pleasing on the one hand, while making a case that experiencing the unsightly can also be sensuously pleasant on the other.