‘In Excess’ at Gajah Gallery
11 artists from the Philippines
By Rica Estrada
‘In Excess’ is a show over a year in the making, and is the first all-Filipino group exhibition presented by Gajah Gallery in their Tanjong Pagar Distripark space in Singapore. It runs from 23 September to 22 October 2023, and is part of this year’s Singapore Art Galleries Weekend, and the first stop in the annual Art Trek of the Philippine Embassy in Singapore.
Working closely with guest curator Joyce Toh, the gallery, which specialises in contemporary Southeast Asian art, is presenting an exhibition featuring 11 artists who come from different generations of practice. There is Imelda Cajipe Endaya, who first started making work in the early 1970s and recently had her retrospective exhibition at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Charlie Co and Mark Justiniani hail from the south of the Philippines and started making a name for themselves through their politically charged art in the 1980s and 1990s. Victor Balanon, Annie Cabigting, Louie Cordero, Marina Cruz, Leslie De Chavez, Geraldine Javier, and Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, most of them graduates of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, emerged in the early 2000s when Filipino artists were breaking into the global market. And then there is Maria Jeona Zoleta, who was a recipient of the Thirteen Artists Award, a state award given to young promising artists, in 2015.
Geraldine Javier, ‘Food,’ 2023, preserved leaves, imitation gold-leaf, threads, rust, on mono-printed fabric, table mats: 50 x 50cm each, table runner: 222 x 32cm, table cover: 250 x 145cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Gajah Gallery.
Another unique aspect of the exhibition is the variety of artistic concerns, aesthetic styles, and material choices. Entering the expanse of the gallery, the wall-based works of Zoleta, Ramilo, Endaya, Co, Balanon, Cordero and Cabigting surround the monoprinted fabric work of Javier, titled ‘Food’ (2023), found at the centre of the gallery. To the left in a corner are the works of Cruz and De Chavez, and in a darker enclave, the immersive pieces of Justiniani. With a range of artworks that include charcoal drawing, painting, sculpture, video, installation, and mixed media, the exhibition provides a wide lens on Philippine art, in all its multifariousness.
The exhibition is titled ‘In Excess’, and the question of why “too much” is never enough came about from a conversation between Toh and a Filipino artist ten years ago. This is something she remembered while considering curatorial starting points for the exhibition. Working with artists from the Philippines is not new to Toh, who was in charge of building the Philippine collection of the Singapore Art Museum in her time there as Senior Curator from 2007 to 2020. “‘In Excess’ isn’t merely about how a work may look,” says Toh. “It’s about the plethora of ideas and concepts that are opened up. I was keen to work with artists that could, and would, respond in a range of ways to the theme: aesthetically, conceptually, emotionally, socially.” And the artists responded as such. In the exhibition, each artist finds his or her own way around the conceptual prompt of “excess.”
Leslie De Chavez, ‘Seeds’, 2023, cast lead, installation size variable; 1.2 x 1.2 x 1cm each. Photo by Rica Estrada.
Leslie De Chavez presents excess in the context of history, devotion, fanaticism and the collective. His suite of three large textile paintings, titled ‘Mater Piedad: Fernanda’ (2023), ‘Mater Superior: Imelda’ (2023), and ‘Mater Dolorosa: Luzviminda’ (2023), echoes religious tapestries and iconography. But it is his miniature sculptures that stand out in the sea of large-scale works. Made of lead and exhibited in a small mound on a pedestal, while also strewn across the gallery walls, the symbolic clenched fist is is depicted using the left hand. De Chavez explains his choice of material, saying, “When you translate this into the lead material – there’s another layer of association that you can take away from that, lead being a poisonous metal but also something malleable.” He adds, “I think that work can be related to that idea of the collective—if it’s too much, and if it’s too little, it could be poisonous or dangerous, or volatile.”
Imelda Cajipe-Endaya, ‘Bagong Nobena Kay Isidro Labrador’, 1988, oil, collage, and sawali on canvas, 125.5 x 367.5cm. Photo by Erik Liongoren. Image courtesy of the artist and Cultural Center of the Philippines Visual Arts and Museum Division.
Connecting to De Chavez by way of the artist’s home in Lucban is Imelda Cajipe Endaya’s ‘Bagong Nobena Kay Isidro Labrador’ (1988). Isidore the Labourer is the patron saint of the renowned Pahiyas Festival, held every May in the province of Quezon, a few hours drive from Manila. Endaya elaborates on her work, saying, “Plants, buntings and the famous multicolored kiping of the Pahiyas festival in Lucban, Quezon, are collaged like a festive curtain over a drab, if not solemn planting scene.” She adds, “The huge, ornately dressed patron saint of farmers, San Isidro stands in stark contrast with the small, stooping figures of peasants. Other farmers are shown at the processional, hands clasped, beholding a bright light in the distant horizon.”
Charlie Co, ‘Contemplation’, 2023, acrylic on modeling paste on canvas, 122 x 122cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Gajah Gallery.
Also commenting on the glut and self-indulgences of faith and society is Charlie Co through his acrylic on canvas works in signature dark shades. In the work ‘Contemplation’ (2023), the crucified figure is portrayed against an expanse of midnight blue. The work is quiet, even minimal, yet poignant and robust. It is an unexpected choice for a show about excess.
Annie Cabigting, ‘superfluous,’ 2023, 18k gold nail, oil paint, plyboard, and plexiglass, with 6.4cm gold nail, 45.7 x 30.5 x 10.2cm. Photo by Joyce Toh.
Another extraordinary piece in the exhibition is Annie Cabigting’s small unassuming work titled aptly as ‘superfluous’ (2023). A single eighteen-karat gold nail is the centerpiece of the oil painting encased in plexiglass. A spotlight hits the acrylic, casting an elongated shadow. Departing from the artist’s well-known ‘Museum Watching’ series of 2018, the minimalist work makes the viewer think twice about their own perceptions of excess.
Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, ‘PUZZLED,’ 2019, handmade paper made from torn posters of Rirkrit Tiravanija, 31.8 x 31.8 x 5cm each, 19 pieces. Photo by Rica Estrada.
Ramilo enters into excess through her use of material as well. She sourced the components of her works ‘Endless Days’ (2018) and ‘PUZZLED’ (2019), from construction sites and remnants from an exhibition of Rirkrit Tiravanija held in the Philippines. She expounds on her process in making ‘PUZZLED’ (2019), saying, “It’s one of the rare works that I’ve done that I had some intervention—normally I don’t touch the materials that I use. I use it as is, or with very little intervention, but this one—I sort of transformed the posters. So it’s obliterated. So the work has to do with its source. Authenticity is also part of the work.“
The struggle to find authenticity in the excessive landscape of both the Philippines and the art world is something the artists in this exhibition have proven mastery over, time and again. A conversation among Toh, Cabigting, De Chavez, Co, Ramilo and Justiniani on 23 September 2023 drew further connections across the artworks. Titled ‘More is More’, the speakers spoke about the multiplying effect of excess, which generates additional points of entry and exit. This creates a space for complexity in thinking about artistic practice as well as its relationship with history and contemporary society.
‘In Excess: An Exuberance of Philippine Art’ is on view from 23 September to 22 October 2023 at Gajah Gallery, Singapore.
About the Writer
Rica Estrada has been working with museums in the Philippines for over a decade. She is currently doing an MA in Arts and Cultural Leadership at the Lasalle College of Arts Singapore and is a board member of the Museum Foundation of the Philippines.
