A spirit of boundless play permeates Yasmin Sison’s A Mubble in a Pubble, brought by a wide variety of works that seem to have spilled out of a child’s toy box.
With a takeoff from Ruth Krauss’s classic 1950s children’s book I Can Fly, where a young girl asserts how she can be anything she wants to be: “A cow can moo, I can too… Pitter pitter pat, I can walk like a cat,” viewers are allowed to participate in her process with dialogues of freedom and looseness; color and form; softness and hardness; and abstraction and figuration, made tactile by collages meant to be finished by viewers.
Can is the operative word in this exhibition: like paper cut into various shapes, viewers are allowed to layer themselves as participants—each personality distinct from the other but coming together to make an image. Each can interact with many of the pieces in the space, specifically intended to be played around with. This place right here brings the circus to town and tickets are free.
Can is a word that denotes potential, an inherent possibility, as if anything imaginable may come into existence out of sheer desire. Grammatically, it is meant to differentiate what is humanly possible (I can do that!) versus what only exists in dreams (That cannot be true!). What is a “mubble?” What is a “pubble?” What are they but made-up words that sound like real words but may not mean the same as those real words? What does it matter as long as these words are able to do what they are meant to, like start a playful conversation?
Like all potential, individual decisions determine the validity of “can,” someone may only really “can” if they choose to. Of course, this leads us to questions of who wouldn’t want to be capable? (or the nuances between can, may, will, shall, etc. but we can have that in a different discussion) Here, the works not only allow play but they also present an option: “I can, but do I want to?” Preferably do, but some only do so much, and there will always be those who choose to live that way.
Through collages, movable paintings, sculptures, shaped objects, fabric works, and paintings which come together with much whimsy, Sison continues to cherish childlike wonder. At the same time, she encourages her viewers to play alongside her, to fly with their imagination, to recapture that part of everyone that only needs their intuition to overcome limitations.
About the Artist
About the Artists
Yasmin Sison (b. 1972) graduated from the University of the Philippines, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Humanities and then in the Fine Arts, Major in Painting. She was a member of the collective Surrounded by Water, and is the recipient of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists Award (2006). She was also shortlisted for the Ateneo Art Awards (2007).
Sison has shown in both solo and group exhibitions locally and abroad since 1996, in spaces such as West Gallery, Valentine Willie Fine Arts in Malaysia, Artesan Gallery in Singapore, Artinformal, Manila Contemporary, Silverlens Gallery, Blanc Gallery, and the Owen James Gallery in New York, to name a few. She has participated in international group exhibitions in Belgium (2000), Singapore (2002), and Italy (2009).
Related Exhibitions
About the Artists
About the Artist
Yasmin Sison (b. 1972) graduated from the University of the Philippines, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Humanities and then in the Fine Arts, Major in Painting. She was a member of the collective Surrounded by Water, and is the recipient of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists Award (2006). She was also shortlisted for the Ateneo Art Awards (2007).
Sison has shown in both solo and group exhibitions locally and abroad since 1996, in spaces such as West Gallery, Valentine Willie Fine Arts in Malaysia, Artesan Gallery in Singapore, Artinformal, Manila Contemporary, Silverlens Gallery, Blanc Gallery, and the Owen James Gallery in New York, to name a few. She has participated in international group exhibitions in Belgium (2000), Singapore (2002), and Italy (2009).
Related Exhibitions
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