Eight Thomasian artists showcased their “individualized world views” in a group exhibit of mostly acrylic-on-canvas artworks in Autopilot vs. The Iron Sky at Arts in the City in Taguig from April 12 to May 27.
Jood Clarino, Jie Adamat, Nicol Mesina, Bernard Peña, Reinald Laurel, Ezra Reverente, Nonie Cruzado and former Varsitarian artist Djinn Tallada displayed works that ran the gamut of genres, from portrait to street art.
Clarino’s works all had one subject in common: a faceless hooded figure. “An outsider, an observer who survives in resilience,” as how he depicted it, nearly effaced by spray paint. Clarino is the lone artist in the exhibit to use another medium other than acrylic.
Mesina’s monochromatic works had fellow participating artist and best friend Laurel as model, shown shirtless, his hair covering most of his body, and his heart visible and his face looking upward. “Viva La Dreamer” is inscribed at the top of the work.
Meanwhile, Laurel uses dark colors to portray brutality and poverty. “Reaching the Sky” showed a skinny young boy, his clothes covering most of his face, save for his eyes that gaze in a purple haze.
Peña got his inspiration mostly from comic books and cartoons. In “Sound Proof,” a half-faced child clown with an earplug smiles as sound frequencies try to enter his ear. The painting was complementary to “Tough Love,” which showed a half-faced adult, screaming with sound frequencies coming out of his mouth. The diptych created a colorful picture of frustration and delight. Peña is a freelance book illustrator and he sometimes works in animation.
Adamat is into interior design and said she treats her artworks as an anthology of her life. In “The Dreamer,” a girl stands with a pinwheel as the sun sets behind her by the sea. The subject’s hair is being carried by the strong wind but the pinwheel remains steady.
“The painting is related to my life at the present because I seem to counter everything, that’s why the pinwheel doesn’t move,” Adamat said.
Reverente’s “Come to Me When You Feel Empty and I Will Give You Rest” shows a mouse in an empty, gray and tarnished room that looks up to the light coming in from the window door.
“It represents the artist, who also knows how to pray,” Reverente said.
Tallada’s “This is Not the Blue Period” shows a family of five in a blue background, with blue complexion and the parents looking like the characters of Star Wars, Darth Vader and Princess Leia, with a light saber resting in the middle.
Cruzado’s fascination with extremes and disparities were clearly depicted in “Fly Boy’s Dream,” showing a child with air goggles almost hiding his eyes, and two fishes swimming above his head.
“When we graduated, we took our separate ways,” said Cruzado. He explained the exhibit was an opportunity to reunite and touch base again with one another.
