In his latest exhibition, Blind New Works, Argie Bandoy abandons the confines of mimetic representation and iconic references and engages in the pleasures and anxieties of painting stripped down to its most basic means. Rather than painting pictures of the world, Bandoy creates paintings that are worlds in themselves. It is a re-affirmation of painting as a visual construction that goes beyond simple illustration. By calling them ‘blind,’ he purposely leads us to the unfathomable, the invisible, and the unknowable in art.

Some works are seemingly pure abstraction, with color and texture as their dominant elements. While they may seem like aggressive outbursts of undefined expression, they are also somber reflections on specific material, process, and form. There is deliberate precision, yet it does not point to anything except to itself. The works are somehow caught in between distinction and the intangible. There is no attempt to represent an illusion, perhaps only the elusive.

Even in the work “Built by the Housemartins, Destroyed by the Housemaster,” wherein the image is more familiar, somehow we are still caught in the shadows. Like the walls depicted in the painting, it is not clear whether they are finished, completely built, or abandoned and in ruin. The echoing pattern of the bricks encloses, and at the same time, dissipates into the background. Instead of marking boundaries, they present a loose intersection of color, shape, and line that can unravel at any moment.

Bandoy also incorporates texts such as “Deep Sea Angler,” “Ultimo Mondo Cannibal,” “Sadomasochistic,” and “Forget Painting Lets Party,” but instead of serving as explanations, these words are utilized more as appendages—a layer among many. They need not directly relate to the image nor make any sense, and it is in this dysfunction that they achieve their purpose.

Alongside these paintings, the installation “Collage Party Room” punctuates the exhibition. Haphazardly scattered on the floor, the collages seem to lie in wait, reveling in their idleness. The randomly selected accompanying music provides a mood, complementing the free spirit of collage. It may be an encompassing soundtrack to the works on paper, but it is not definitive. Meaning in art, after all, is a hazy vision. Artists can only hint at it.

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