Similarly Renato Orara’s (whose work is included in variouscollections including the MoMA) had an epiphany when he took the photograph “Untitled photograph of an ice cream man and his friend.” (1977) previously exhibited at the CCP. Holding up his camera, he noticed how they staged their poses for him, this caused him to realize that his actions and art could influence actions in others. This photograph is paired with his newer “Library Bookworks” (2018) series, wherein Renato drew inside books taken from public libraries from around the Philippines and then returned them. These prints allow for cross-referencing—an intervention on the library system that turns the gallery into a library and the library into a gallery. With this network of photographs and hidden library books, this public art installation serves as a pilgrimage or a treasure hunt.

Discovering the connection between the artist and their surroundings, Nilo Ilarde brings us back to his years as a student of the influential artist/teacher Roberto Chabet, restaging a work from class “Water Work” (1980s/2024). The assignment was “water”, in which Nilo presented the daily weather report stating a forecast of rain. It rained later that day, completing the work.

The concepts explored by Gerry Tan, who represented the Philippines at the Venice Biennale in 2022, combines science, religion, and colonialism into a glimmering cultural narrative. His work “Phosphorescent Salvation” (1996) uses luminous glow-in-the-dark statuaries in a cabinet lined with mirrors. This is shown alongside a recent painting “Beach Scene” (2023), from a series based on photos of illegal border-crossers taken by police using night-vision cameras, of green glowing figures coming towards us.

Also exploring new visual forms while utilizing traditional materials and processes, Neal Oshima, award-winning photographer known for documenting Philippine culture, focuses on the physical materiality of his practice by using the cyanotype method to print directly onto the cotton gloves used to handle photographic prints. This is shown alongside a series of photographs of Waldorf School students’ hands, presenting the physical potential of the next generation.

And finally, it was with great coincidence in the mid-‘80s and early ‘90s that my family, the only Filipino family in this area of rural Wisconsin, was visited by Gus Albor. At the time he was married to the daughter of my father’s coworker. When the couple would visit her family in the US, they would also come to see us, the only other Filipino family in the area. I was a child when I saw him sketching my family’s house. He gave this and other drawings to my parents on his visits from 1981 – 1994 (exhibited here alongside a new sculptural work). My family, despite the circumstantial connection to Gus, had no real involvement or exposure to the arts (neither Western art in the US, much less Filipino art). So it’s serendipitous that I grew up with these hanging in my house without realizing who it was until very recently, after I had finally moved to the Philippines myself, now as a practicing artist.

In fact, it is Gus’ work and his overlapping timeline with me and my family growing up in Wisconsin, that creates a giant narrative arc spanning 45 years. This exhibition continues a series of shows (my own exhibitions and ones I’ve curated[3]) created since moving from New York to Manila over three years ago, the purpose of which was to genuinely understand the concepts, aesthetics, personal and communal aspects of what makes us Filipino.

I was particularly interested in these artists because they formed their practices before the collective memory of the internet set in. And just as it was important for me to move to the Philippines, it was important for me to personally connect with each of these artists to learn more about the early stages of their career and the scene here. Accordingly, the selection of works in this exhibition were done through individual conversations and studio visits with each artist.

Art is a form of communication that is generated from the psyche of each artist, which in turn is developed through their own experiences, the conversations they had, the places they studied, and the environments they developed their practices in. Here we present these artists whose practices remain active and relevant today, and we find ourselves woven into, and branching from, the timelines and narratives of their work to depict the wide spectrum of Filipino art today.