A Portrait of A Portrait Show

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Can an exhibition on portraits also be a portrait of an exhibition? We have seen how groups of people are portrayed in art: family portraits, court paintings, conversation pieces, class pictures, team photos and in their most recent form—the (group) selfies, all having the purpose of capturing a multitude of subjects and players who have become part of the scene. We have read and heard about the many explorations on the concept of character study in literature: The portrait of the artist as a young man, the portrait of the Filipino as an artist, and so on…with passages of detailed pictorial descriptions that go beyond the superficial and offer deep insight into an individual’s life. ‘A Portrait of A Portrait Show’ attempts to explore both methods in dealing with the idea of the ‘portrait.’ By showing works of 60 contemporary Filipino artists, the exhibition becomes a multifaceted compendium on new ways to interpret the genre of portraiture, as well as in becoming its own portrait and survey through a gathering of different art practices. 

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In its first iteration, the works span across a younger generation of artists, working between the late 90’s and the present, who represent different styles and medium, and who hold unconventional views on the portrait’s possible forms. As a study on character and its portrayal–it demonstrates the many ways of representing a subject’s persona; and as a group portrait in itself, it arranges within its view the vast outcomes of forms by artists working with different styles and expertise. From painted homages to more abstracted interpretations, from using found materials to more conceptual pieces, from characters out of profound imagination and others drawn from fact and history, from self-portraits using video and family portraits using sound—all have come together to be included within the frame, compressed–as they say, but never constricted. The show as a portrait is a portrait of possibilities.

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From mere representation of the human subject, we can see how the act of portrayal has become a more complex gesture in itself:

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Portrait as iteration of the self. As society has come to know more about the complex nature of personality, tendencies, behavior, and traits–where science, nature, and religion come together, the idea of self has also surpassed what is mere consequential. The self becomes a subject of its own interrogation. With works that either re-imagine the individual or reconstruct its essence, we can see how artists like Wawi Navarozza, Luis Santos, Alvin Zafra, Kawayan de Guia, and Kiri Dalena have explored certain versions of a subject that celebrate the human form and expression through photography, sculpture, graphite, print, and collage.

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Portrait as an extension of the self. Through objects, symbols, or even through whole communities, the meaning of persona can go beyond the artist’s own image and look at the other–inanimate or otherwise, that embodies portraiture through subjects that can serve as avatar or surrogate. We can see it in other sentient beings portrayed, in the form of creatures or beloved pets in the works of Lena Cobangbang, Isabel Santos, and Dina Gadia; or in paying homage to actual objects, like in Allan Balisi, Costantino Zicarelli, and Poklong Anading; and in including other members of the community, like in Nona Garcia’s faceless subjects; Erwin Romulo’s depiction of a family portrait through sound; and Leslie de Chavez’s collective approach to include OFW workers in drawing the dollar-bill.

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Portrait as process. In some works, the idea of portraying a subject puts our attention to open-ended procedures that will define the form. Think of Nice Buenaventura’s three-dimensional reconstructions of sine waves that the actual 3D printer generated; or MM Yu’s collection of artists’ signatures as a study in identity and its relation to art’s value; or Gary-Ross Pastrana’s myth-making concepts by imagining himself as an entry to an iconic art book; as well as in Bea Camacho’s sound recordings of the sitter/subject; and in Gregory Halili, who painted a pearl diver’s eye on a shell to portray the precariousness of such trade. These works entail procedures that reflect a conceptual approach.

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Portrait as pure form. What lies in the opposite spectrum of process is the intense reflection and rumination on portrait as a material and construction in itself, removing all aspects of illusion, history, or even memory. We think about the works of Carina Santos, Zean Cabangis, and Patricia Perez Eustaquio as deep meditations on the painting’s qualities as a character in itself. As well as in Jigger Cruz’s abstract drawings and in Cocoy Lumbao’s attempt at defacement to reduce an iconic bust into pure black form. 

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Portrait as contemporary allegory. Despite these, the portrait will always go back to its original criteria–to depict human nature in all its wonder or grotesqueness. These are contemporary expressions that reflect what the classical style did during the renaissance or romantic period. With attempts at poetry, parody, or humor, these works explore portraiture through an expressive re-interpretation of the self as the subject. We see these in the parodies of Louie Cordero, Pow Martinez, and Robert Langenegger, as well as in the painting of Lyle Buencamino who worked on portraiture derived from film scenes, and Idan Cruz, who used moving image and text to contemplate on the self.

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In joining these works together, with a variety of approaches and processes, the show becomes a portrait in itself. The space is filled with a multitude of characters who come in different shapes, conditions, motivations, and forms. And these are the representations of a community of artists grouped together as they continue to explore the many ways art can be redefined. These are, as well–their images, their likeness, captured in this moment. 

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/CLJ/

View the introductory essay here.