In “Wonder Wander,” artists Demi Padua and AR Manalo’s powerfully imaginative works take viewers off the beaten path with depth and detail.
Village Art Gallery and Art Underground banded together to highlight two talented Filipino artists in a show that they aptly titled Wonder Wander. Featuring the works of Demi Padua and AR Manalo, the exhibition calls attention to the beauty of wandering.
In a fast-paced world, some might see the act of veering off the beaten path or leisurely exploring one’s surroundings as a frivolous pursuit without much returns. Yet through works that contain immeasurable depth, layers of meaning, and intricate details, Padua and Manalo remind viewers that it is through wandering that one may find the wonders of life: new perspectives, hidden truths (about others and ourselves), and unexpected encounters that liberate the mind.
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AR Manalo
The Worlds Within
A contemporary mixed media artist, Manalo always wanted to be a creative, but his path was not a straightforward one. He worked odd jobs, helped with his family’s small business, briefly took up nursing, and entered a stable corporate job to pool together funds to pursue his art practice. With both solo and group shows throughout the years, he has come a long way since his art journey began in 2007.
He credits his series of “book” works for having been his breakthrough. Since the COVID pandemic yielded limited resources for the artist, he made do with whatever was available at home, utilizing books as materials for sculptures, canvases for drawings, and pieces for more conceptual installations. His works for Wonder Wander still use books, but in a different way. “It has always been my dream to work outside of the canvas. The only thing I realized I did not get to use in my previous pieces were the illustrations, or the vintage illustrations [inside the books],” he explains during a press preview.
Viewers can see this interesting mix of vintage illustrations in his newest works. The artist scans (sometimes re-inks) and intricately cuts each one, before placing them within canvases of his charcoal, graphite, acrylic, and watercolor drawings. Reminiscent of old photographs, his textured black and white illustrations depict people interacting with a variety of animals.
It’s a menagerie made up of an elephant, ostrich, brown bear, turtle, and rhinoceros, among others, one that plays with depth in interesting ways, much like a three-dimensional diorama. There’s a mix of nature and industrial machinery, pre-colonial Filipinos and Western characters, all of which Manalo seamlessly combines to create hidden worlds that draw viewers in.
A Father’s Love Letter
While Manalo’s elements seem grand and eclectic, they actually tie together to tell an intimate and heartwarming story. A new father to a two-year-old daughter, the entire series is his “love letter” to her, one that carries his hopes for her future.
“She will have friends or people in her life who will guide her and be there for her when she grows up eventually,” he explains. “I am assured and I pray these companions will help her become a decent human being, that’s why there are animal companions in every piece.” Elephants are also his daughter’s favorite animals, which is why he considers the work “My Big Love” to be the series’ centerpiece.
For the artist, the Western working class figures “look dignified” no matter what their professions are, a kind of self-assured dignity he hopes his daughter will carry when she chooses her own career in life. Meanwhile, Filipinos are a nod to heritage, and a reminder of where they come from. “I also love to highlight indigenous Filipinos because these are my roots,” he states. “I wouldn’t be here without them.”
The balance between natural and industrial elements is purposeful, echoing Manalo’s belief in the necessity of their coexistence—something he also hopes he can teach his daughter and help her come to understand as she grows. “We need some kind of harmonious relationship with everything,” he states. “The industrial aspects of these pieces also represent my daughter’s future or career, but the natural ones remind her that she will always have a family, a peaceful life to return to.”
Demi Padua
Trick of the Eye
Demi Padua has cemented himself as one of the most sought-after contemporary artists in the local art scene. A Fine Arts major in advertising from Far Eastern University, he kicked off his career in 2005 through his first solo show OVERVIEW under Galerie Astra. He has since had a number of solo and group shows throughout the years, with both local and international exhibitions.
Collectors and appreciators recognize the artist for his portraits of people, rendered in stunning detail with collage-like effects. While Manalo creates depth with layered paper cutouts, Padua paints everything on a flat surface, playing with perspective, gradients, and pops of color to create life-like subjects.
“I compose my work by mixing and matching images like collage. I am using the Trompe-l’oeil technique [which involves rendering an object so accurately that it deceives the viewer] to achieve the 3D effect,” Padua explains in an interview with Lifestyle Asia. “You can see the depth here as if you can touch each layer. I want to trick my viewer’s eyes.”
His assemblage of visually-stimulating elements transcend the acrylic portraits on canvas, extending to the very frames that hold them.
“I love framing. One day when I was in a frame shop, I saw lots of beautiful frames hanging on the wall. I didn’t know what to buy so instead of buying one or two, I bought a lot including their scraps,” he expounds. “I would love combining so I combined different designs and the result was amazing. The good thing about this is that it fits my work and he has become a part of it.”
Layers Of Faces and Hidden Facets
The rich layers present in Padua’s faces are in some way representative of how the artist perceives himself and his artistic career. “My life has passed through many stages. Stages like layers that give substance to my image as a person,” he shares. “It is like a collage of experiences. From failure to success, the layer grows.”
For him, optical illusions are ways of showing that there is always more than meets the eye. What appears to be three-dimensional is in fact two-dimensional; a woman can be made up of many things, a man too. Faces are obscured, made into kaleidoscopes of color and shapes. As the artist states, the frames add more to this, being different kinds of things at once and warping reality in the same way the paintings do.
“I just want to prove that not everything we see is real,” Padua adds. “Prove that people can easily judge based on appearance. That sometimes what you see on the outside is different from what you see on the inside.”
Padua and Manalo’s works naturally invite viewers to wander into complex worlds so captivating, they probably would not mind getting lost in them, if only for a little while.
“Wonder Wander” is open for viewing from July 17 to July 30, 2024 at Art Underground from 10 AM to 7:00 PM (Mondays to Saturdays). Find the gallery at the second floor of Mabini180 at 180A Mabini Street, Addition Hills, San Juan.
Photos courtesy of Art Underground (unless stated).
