When E Minor Adds 9
Various Artists
Lec Cruz, Victoria Fabella, Is Jumalon, Victoria Montinola
Lec Cruz, Victoria Fabella, Is Jumalon, Victoria Montinola
16 March - 21 April 2024
Curated by
Lec Cruz
16 March - 21 April 2024
When E Minor Adds 9
“Bm-Bm11/E-Em-Em9
Bm-Bm11/E-Em
Bm-Em-C-Em-Em9-Em7-Ddim/F”
-(chorus chords) Lover You Should’ve Come Over/ Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley often uses the same familiar chords any listener would easily recognize but the magic in his music writing can be found in his use of additional notes, in arpeggiating/augmenting the simple structure and seemingly breaking the illusion of simplicity of his chord choices. Much like the somber and dark mood from an E minor chord, it transforms into a beautifully haunting sound when played with its ninth note. The same aural imagery comes to mind when an artwork grazes through the ubiquitous depiction of figuration and landscapes – the sudden or subtle breaking down of the images; the addition of unseeming elements; and the manipulation of its familiarity while embracing its peculiarity.
This group exhibition features artists Lec Cruz, Victoria Fabella, Is Jumalon and Victoria Montinola, whose works try to extend our notion of recognizable figuration and representation by fragmenting the images and recontextualizing their entirety. Their addition or subtraction of expected elements questions the possibility of creating a whole new tonality to once pedestrian and predictable territory. Cruz’ latest iteration of figuration combines his use of found historical online images collaged with Artificial Intelligence (AI) manipulated compositions, the resulting image hints of abstraction that retain a semblance of the initial picture in mind. Fabella’s use of muted colorful palette on her often-outdoor scenes of tableau like compositions captures her personal take on unrealized memories, of one’s longing of missed childhood and adult experiences. Is’ rendition of landscapes fragments the linearity within the image and leaves us with her dynamic moving of visual elements. Each of her pictorial landscapes is a leap into a world between the real and surreal. Finally, Montinola’s fresh take on traditional painterly representation of landscapes is highlighted by her bold gestural strokes and her playful experimentation on color, texture and form. In her hands, the mundane pictorial landscape instantaneously transforms into mediated territories of classical terrains and unexpected colorful forms of painterly strokes and gestures.
Combining all four artists, our unsuspecting eyes are treated with a harmonious blend of all their distinctive take on picture making. Together we witness the visualization of a simple chord like an E minor being played alongside the addition of a variant note, one that changes the tonal or modal interpretation on how representation of the world should and can be.
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About the Artist
About the Artists
Michael John ‘Lec’ Cruz first obtained a degree BA Philosophy at the University of the Philippines, Diliman and later finished a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, Major in Painting at the same university. Cruz is also a freelance art writer since 2015 and commonly writes for galleries’ and artists’ exhibition notes and write-ups for catalogues.
leCruz had numerous group and solo exhibitions both around the Philippines and abroad. Some of his exhibitions were held at NCCA Gallery, UP Vargas Museum, Tam-awan Village (Baguio City), Pinto Art Gallery, Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery, and recently at Our Art Projects (Malaysia) in 2018.
Light, ephemerality, and nostalgia permeate the works ofVictoria Fabella. As an artist, she highlights the fleeting nature of memory.She takes photos of passing moments that she preserves, frozen within theweathered surfaces of her oil paintings. Using an airy color palette anddynamic, impressionistic strokes, she renders these visuals, imbuing them withthe intimacy of past recollections. With her textured brushwork, abstractionand figuration meet, giving her works the appearance of faded, old photographs.The faces of her figures are often obscured, as if damaged by light and wear,inviting a deeper shared connection between her work and viewers. In these reconstructedphotographs is a sense of longing – a desire to slow down the passage of time.Amidst the simplicity of her subjects, Fabella’s works manifest the power ofmemory to allow one to re-experience the brief, treasured instances of theordinary that are often gone too quickly. Fabella completed her BFA in Paintingat the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2020. She has shown her worksin Xavier Art Fest, White Walls Gallery, Fuse Gallery, and Gravity Art Space.
IS JUMALON, a visual artist, renders the connection between self and the observed world through drawing and painting. Her work examines overlooked peripheries, delicate provocations, and nuanced metaphors, challenging perceptions and interpretations while manipulating subtleties across various mediums—acrylic, oil, charcoal, and pastel. She is keenly interested in exploring diverse forms and dimensions in her art practice.
Is Jumalon has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines-Diliman and presently lives in Manila.
Victoria Montinola (b.1991, Las Piñas, Philippines; lives and works in Taguig, Philippines) subjects her pictorial landscapes and compositions with her well-informed classical painterly technique and her playful use of color and texture. Armed with large brushes, her active and spontaneous brush strokes render her sometimes alla prima and often subdued pictures. She finished her works with more detailed but dynamic colorful textures and gestures resulting in a vivid and fresh take on how to view the mundane and the fantastical in the same plane.
Montinola studied at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and La Consolacion College, Manila. She started her artistic career in 2019 and since then has had Four (4) Solo Exhibitions at The Drawing Room (Makati City), Pinto Museum (Antipolo), Underground Gallery (Makati City) and Mono 8 Gallery (San Juan City). She has participated in various group exhibitions both locally and internationally, including galleries in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Osaka (Japan), and Bangkok (Thailand.)
Related Exhibitions
About the Artists
About the Artist
Michael John ‘Lec’ Cruz first obtained a degree BA Philosophy at the University of the Philippines, Diliman and later finished a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, Major in Painting at the same university. Cruz is also a freelance art writer since 2015 and commonly writes for galleries’ and artists’ exhibition notes and write-ups for catalogues.
leCruz had numerous group and solo exhibitions both around the Philippines and abroad. Some of his exhibitions were held at NCCA Gallery, UP Vargas Museum, Tam-awan Village (Baguio City), Pinto Art Gallery, Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery, and recently at Our Art Projects (Malaysia) in 2018.
Light, ephemerality, and nostalgia permeate the works ofVictoria Fabella. As an artist, she highlights the fleeting nature of memory.She takes photos of passing moments that she preserves, frozen within theweathered surfaces of her oil paintings. Using an airy color palette anddynamic, impressionistic strokes, she renders these visuals, imbuing them withthe intimacy of past recollections. With her textured brushwork, abstractionand figuration meet, giving her works the appearance of faded, old photographs.The faces of her figures are often obscured, as if damaged by light and wear,inviting a deeper shared connection between her work and viewers. In these reconstructedphotographs is a sense of longing – a desire to slow down the passage of time.Amidst the simplicity of her subjects, Fabella’s works manifest the power ofmemory to allow one to re-experience the brief, treasured instances of theordinary that are often gone too quickly. Fabella completed her BFA in Paintingat the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2020. She has shown her worksin Xavier Art Fest, White Walls Gallery, Fuse Gallery, and Gravity Art Space.
IS JUMALON, a visual artist, renders the connection between self and the observed world through drawing and painting. Her work examines overlooked peripheries, delicate provocations, and nuanced metaphors, challenging perceptions and interpretations while manipulating subtleties across various mediums—acrylic, oil, charcoal, and pastel. She is keenly interested in exploring diverse forms and dimensions in her art practice.
Is Jumalon has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines-Diliman and presently lives in Manila.
Victoria Montinola (b.1991, Las Piñas, Philippines; lives and works in Taguig, Philippines) subjects her pictorial landscapes and compositions with her well-informed classical painterly technique and her playful use of color and texture. Armed with large brushes, her active and spontaneous brush strokes render her sometimes alla prima and often subdued pictures. She finished her works with more detailed but dynamic colorful textures and gestures resulting in a vivid and fresh take on how to view the mundane and the fantastical in the same plane.
Montinola studied at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and La Consolacion College, Manila. She started her artistic career in 2019 and since then has had Four (4) Solo Exhibitions at The Drawing Room (Makati City), Pinto Museum (Antipolo), Underground Gallery (Makati City) and Mono 8 Gallery (San Juan City). She has participated in various group exhibitions both locally and internationally, including galleries in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Osaka (Japan), and Bangkok (Thailand.)
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