It’s often said that art offers a mirror of the world; with that, the shuttering of galleries worldwide could not have been a more literal reflection. That was three months ago, the world didn’t shut down the way we thought it would, and any expectation, however grim, can frustrate when missed. After all, in a time as uncertain as this, how do we model our days looking forward? How, there, does art contend?
Silverlens Gallery’s Anticipating the Day is one such art show that creates the opportunity to reclaim and ponder on such an idea, and present with it a variety of angles for approach. A culmination of artworks from the gallery’s #athomeseries, which began as early as March 28, and pieces made during the lockdown, the gallery’s online-only show boasts a 21-strong artist roster.
Hosted alongside the artworks are writeups from the artists, through which they discuss their works through anecdotes, reflections, and notes on their time in lockdown. The exhibition title comes from Nicole Coson’s, who created blinds works shortly before the pandemic hit full force. As the works are installed in the artists’ studios, in situ, it offers an exclusively virtual and personal take, “showing a more raw, but also more alive and organic part of the process,” as co-founder Isa Lorenzo writes in her introductory essay.
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And it’s the processes that especially resonate, regardless of setting. In the video “Tarong,” Martha Atienza acquaints us with the persistent Rodgie Malagad, a Bantayanon compressor diver whose relationship with the sea entails both swimming against and with the lapping waves. Hanna Pettyjohn’s “Anastomosis” collage pictures a life of errancy, and how the separate elements of home come together. Bernardo Pacquing’s “1-Beta Chain” series and Eric Zamuco’s “Anong Ginagawa Mo?” find, among others, creative variance and alterity in their daily routines.
What else to do but make something of it, and with no bated breath. As we anticipate the day when things settle into balance, the hopes of the show are a “new civility, flourishing respect, and deeper appreciation for what we all do in our daily lives, at work and at home.”
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The show is now on its second week and continues at the Silverlens Galleries website until June 20, 2020.
The full roster of artists are Frank Callaghan, James Clar, Chati Coronel, Nicole Coson, Corinne de San Jose, Patricia Perez Eustaquio, Dina Gadia, Gregory Halili, Mit Jai Inn, Pow Martinez, Wawi Navarroza, Elaine Navas, Renato Orara, Gina Osterloh, Gary-Ross Pastrana, Hanna Pettyjohn, Norberto Roldan, Ryan Villamael, Martha Atienza, Bernardo Pacquing, and Eric Zamuco.
Anchor photo: Wawi Navarroza, All The Luck You Need (XXXX), 2020, archival pigment print on Hahnemühle, cold-mounted on acid-free aluminum, 32h x 48w in, 81.28h x 121.92w cm.