"Strands II: Filipino and Filipino-American Contemporary Artists Encounter Textile, an exhibition of contemporary art connected to the craft and history of indigenous Philippine textiles"
Exhibition Dates: August 18 to October 28, 2018
PINTA*DOS Philippine Art Gallery is pleased to present the second of two exhibitions highlighting textile traditions of the Philippines with Strands: Filipino and Filipino-American Contemporary Artists Encounter Textile, an exhibition of contemporary art connected to the craft and history of indigenous Philippine textiles. The textile form is imbued with history, describes community, informs geography, and embraces the body. Strands presents drawings, mixed-media, installation, sculpture, and garments by artists Cirilo Domine, Christine Morla, and Aze Ong, all of whom have been influenced by textiles indigenous to the Philippines. Strands is co-curated by contemporary artists Maryrose Cobarrubias Mendoza and Joseph Santarromana.
The Strands exhibition introduces new work by artists of Filipino descent Cirilo Domine, Christine Morla, and Aze Ong in drawing, mixed media, installation, sculpture, and garments influenced by the fibrous textiles of the Philippines.Domine responds to a yellowed and crumbling woman’s camisa and a man’s camisa de chino, circa 1920s, that he discovered on his last trip to Manila, creating in these pieces a kind of mapping, layering, or excavation of history. In addition to this new installation, a showing of Domine’s multifaceted garments will be displayed in a performance garment show on Thursday, September 6, beginning at 7:00 pm.
Drawing and weaving techniques have long been a signature of Christine Morla’s contemporary art practice. Inspired by the Philippine banig (a handwoven style of mat used in East Asia and the Philippines for sleeping and sitting) Morla will exhibit recent mixed-media drawings that explore depth and Modernist painting, and an installation made up of hundreds of small weavings of colored paper and found materials. Through these labor-intensive works, Morla appears to be mapping landscapes, simultaneously expressing a longing for identity by attempting to merge disparate selves.
Manila-based Aze Ong is perhaps best known for her large-scale fiber installation projects, performances, and sculptural forms. In Strands, she will exhibit two small, crocheted sculptures she refers to as “Bathalas,” and a large ceiling-mounted mandala form. Ong’s brightly colored, labor-intensive work highlights the textile traditions of her heritage as it negotiates the contemporary space.