Origins

Recently checked out in Artinformal in Karrivin Plaza one of its latest exhibition – Eclipse: The Strange & Familiar. Curated by the genius multi-hyphenated artist Stephanie Frondoso, this captivating collective presents the masterful works of illustrious and celebrated artists Raena Abella, Salvador Joel Alonday, Victor Balanon, Monica Delgado, Christina Dy, Jason Dy, SJ, Jacob Lindo, Lui Medina, Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, Emmanuel Tolentino Santos, Luis Antonio Santos, Tatong Torres and Constantino Zicarelli.

Am no expert nor a critic of art but I can, with my modest knowledge, tell and discern the ok, good and best. I am floored by the captivating and arresting curation concept anchored on the relevance of earlier works. Love how Stephanie Frondoso spotlights this impressive assembly of early (perhaps pre-famous) masterpieces. She says “There is great value in regularly peering back at artists’ earlier bodies of work. Programming often unceasingly looks ahead on what’s new and what’s next, sometimes undermining a slow reflection of what has come before. “

Pure, untainted and pre-evolutionary, these past reflections are pretty much growing pains (gains) during their genesis phase. The curator says,

“An artist’s work is a progression, an evolution that gleans from what was learned in previous investigations and moves forward as part of that growth. By focusing on the monochrome, we can bring these artistic advances to light, extracted from the numerous distractions of a robust and busting art scene.”

The installation is a reminder of the purity of our untouched lands void of any influence - a total eclipse. There’s always that yearning from learning the keeps the world within and around us rotating. Stephanie ends, “Artinformal highlights the educational aspect of art, as it has done since the gallery’s origin, by considering artists as more than incessant producers, and instead by inquiring more wholistically on how artworks had imperceptibly come to be.”

Eclipse: The Strange & Familiar runs until 1 August at Artinformal, Karrivin Plaza, Chino Roces Avenue extension, Makati city.