Metrobank Art and Design Excellence (MADE) / Makati City / 2021

Online exhibit can be viewed here


Metrobank Art And Design Excellence (MADE) Semifinalist 2021

A House Is Not A Home, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches, 2021

In Joseph Kosuth’s One and Three Chairs, the work displayed a wooden chair, a photograph of a chair and a dictionary definition of “chair”. It hinged on the question of which interpretation of a chair was the most accurate. To me, it was none of them. I believed the most accurate was a chair that was continuously sat on. On its own, a chair is a chair; lacking in purpose or meaning.

The idea was made ever more evident upon entering my ancestral home, after having received the news that my Amah had passed away. It was a hard pill to swallow, as my relatives and I were still recovering from two other deaths in the family. The ancestral home (yet not so ancestral) is imperfect like any house can be. Yet it is in this house that news is shared, good food and drinks are imbibed, familial love and camaraderie are ever so palpable. But now that Amah, Angkong and Apeh are gone, the house’s enchanting aura has faded, revealing its true nature. The table that once held many celebrations, is just a table and the chair, which accompanies it, is just a chair; simple pieces of furniture transformed to mere objects. What remains are ghostly images of the past, a constant reminder of what is gone.

The indescribable pain became an initial source of inspiration in creating this painting. Yet I did not know that this painting would soon become my release. For it is ironic, that reminiscing the happier times brings one sorrow, yet eventually uplift one from the depths of misery.