MAMUSA GALLERY GUIDE offers the eight exhibit for this year – the solo show of Mark Nativo.

Mamusa Gallery was opened on September 21, 2018 by a group of Ilonggo artpreneurs. Its modernist concept with a commingling function of a resto and bar on the ground floor and a fine art gallery on the mezzanine exudes the artistic ambiance that quickly associated Iloilo with modern and contemporary living.

Read: Mamusa Gallery exudes Iloilo’s contemporary art ambiance

The Mamusa Gallery is located at Festive Walk Parade (beside ILOMOCA) at the Iloilo Business Park of the Megaworld in Manudurriao, Iloilo City. For inquiries about the exhibit and the works that are available for acquisition, look for Maia Amo, Gallery Assistant.

TWO PLACES AT ONCE
Katelyn Miñoso
July 12 to August 5, 2023

Two Places at Once presents a series of works that she painted when she got back in Manila after being away for more than two years because of the pandemic. The exhibit is inspired by her struggles when she was back in Metro Manila. During the pandemic when she was in Iloilo, she was able to appreciate her small province and the simple and little things that compromise it. But now that she is back in the concrete jungle, she somehow feels lost amidst the noise.

A person so passionate and intentional with what’s in the moment, has somehow felt disconnected with the real world around her. She finds herself disassociating and daydreaming of places she wishes to be. To cope with this, she spends most of her time in places that remind her of home. But later on she realized that home isn’t necessarily Iloilo, but rather a state of mind.

Katelyn Ann Miñoso (born March 2, 2000) is an Ilonggo self-taught artist ever since she started painting when she was nine years old. She recently graduated from Assumption College San Lorenzo Makati with a bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts Major in Advertising and Public Relations. She is also the talent and arts ambassador of Kindred Hearts, the official volunteer group of the Social Development Center in Pasay, wherein she spearheads a recurring event since 2019 entitled “Art of Giving” wherein it serves as a platform for children to express themselves through art.

During the pandemic in 2020, she started joining art competitions wherein she was top 3 in the National Quincentennial Art Competition under the theme of Legacy in 2021. Other competitions include the NRCP Kabataan Painting Competition 2022 (Top 20) and Shell’s 53rd and 54th NSAC (Finalist). She has also previously shown her artworks at the National Museum of Fine Arts, UPV-Iloilo, MoCAF (Art + Discoveries), and others under galleries and groups such as Gallery Nine, Hugpong Panay, J-studio, Art Verite Gallery, and others.

JUST A LOVER
Barry Matthew Namo
June 14 to July 8, 2023

Where there is love there is life. 

In Just A Lover, the debut solo exhibition by Iloilo-born and based artist NAMO, his collection of recent works invites audiences to immerse themselves in a journey of love and growth, exploring the profound impact that its energy has on our lives. Through the lens of NAMO’s artistic vision, we witness a character spurred to grow, much like a plant flourishing in a pot.

NAMO’s lowbrow art, in all its utter simplicity, captures the essence of human emotions and the transformative power of love despite pain. In each piece, we become witness to how his character undergoes change, in a visual narrative that invites viewers to delve into the depths of their own experiences, relationships, and personal growth.

NAMO’s illustrative pop surrealism style evokes both familiarity and intrigue. The central theme of this collection revolves around growth and the profound impact of love on our lives. NAMO uses the visual metaphor of a plant growing in a pot to illustrate the character’s transformative journey. He goes through a gamut of emotions while finding himself in the same vessel, finally breaking free as he gains the will to stand on his own two feet. Just as a flourishing plant requires nurturing, nourishment, and the right environment to thrive, so too does love provide the impetus for personal growth. The paintings depict the character’s evolution, showcasing the intertwined relationship between love and self-discovery.

Euphoria, excitement, exasperation, and the eventual evolution are all captured by NAMO, as he delves into the complexities and challenges that arise along the way, offering a glimpse into overcoming obstacles with a simple showering of sprayed-on symbols that remind us of the innate, very human powers that keep us alive. With works titled For the love, his Voyage to Nirvana and Mad Lover series, The taker and giver, and You’re the sweetest thing I’ve ever had, there is no doubt what is topmost in this artist’s mind. With every stroke of the brush and layering of aerosol paint, NAMO emphasizes the importance of embracing vulnerability and allowing love to be a catalyst for personal development, as he admits that, after all, he is just a lover, never a fighter.

Barry Matthew Namo started painting seriously in 2015, after taking up units in University of San Agustin’s Interior Design program. Before fully embracing lowbrow art, he was known for his pop surrealism takes with faithful renditions in monochrome overlapped with colorful text earning him semifinalist mentions in the Metrobank Art and Design Excellence in 2021 and 2022. In the past, he has also played with layering texts of song lyrics he finds profound on selected landscapes. Aside from one of his works finding a permanent home at the Taliambong UPV Art Gallery, NAMO has participated in group exhibitions in Molo Mansion (organized by Eskinita Art Gallery), Museo Iloilo, and Mamusa Art Bistro in Iloilo, and The Artologist, Cevio Art Haus, Space Encounters, J Studio, Art Verite, and Pinto Museum in Manila.

POTPOURRI FOR A MADHOUSE
Manuel Ocampo
May 17 to June 10, 2023

The Potpourri for a Madhouse features the recent works of Manuel Ocampo.  Ocampo has been a vital presence on the international art scene for over twenty-five years, with a reputation for fearlessly tackling the taboos and cherished icons of society and of the art world itself. Now based in Manila, the Philippines, he had an extended residency in California in the late 1980s and early 1990s and continues to spend significant time working in both the US and Europe. Ocampo was featured in the Philippine Pavilion for the 2017 Venice Biennale, with a selection of paintings from the 1990s in dialogue with his recent work. The pavilion exhibition, entitled The Spectre of Comparison, was curated by Joselina Cruz, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila, and also featured installation works by Lani Maestro. This marked Ocampo’s third showing in Venice following the 1993 and 2001 biennials.

Ocampo’s first solo exhibition, which took place in Los Angeles in 1988, set the stage for a rapid rise to international prominence. By the early 1990s, his reputation was firmly established, with inclusion in Documenta IX (1992), the Venice Biennale (1993) and the seminal exhibition Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1992). During the ’90s, Ocampo was noted for his bold use of a highly charged iconography that combines Catholic imagery with motifs associated with racial and political oppression, creating works that make powerful, often conflicted, statements about the vicissitudes of personal and group identities. His works illustrate, often quite graphically, the psychic wounds that cut deep into the body of contemporary society. They translate the visceral force of Spanish Catholic art, with its bleeding Christs and tortured saints, into our postmodern, more secular era of doubt, uncertainty, and instability.

Manuel Ocampo (1965) lives and works in Quezon City, Philippines. He is known for his frequent and strategic stylistic drifts in response to new contexts and subject matter. His shows are often constructed around contradictory tendencies, elaborating discrepancies between what a painting appears to be and how it behaves in relation to the structures that legitimate its appearance. He always embraces sudden shifts of style and emphasis. He paints, but doubt is created as to whether any particular medium is the solution.

Most Wanted
Wapo Susvilla
April 19 to – May 13, 2023

Eyes that pierce deeper than flesh and bone—Wapo Susvilla’s newest collection, “Most Wanted” depicts the desire of being sought-after and the crushing price it demands. He showcases the bearings of devotion to one’s goals, along with the hardship this spotlight shadows over.The collection is influenced by expectations molded by one’s own hands. It explores the concept that every person is free, yet it is he whom puts himself under the eye of judgment to constantly improve. “Most Wanted” explores the peak of potential, wherein a person can grasp their inspirations into reality. People will offer blood, sweat, tears, and soul for what they want; it is human nature to offer sacrifices to the temple of their future. This collection is an artistic depiction of humanity’s desire for recognition and success, as well as the difficult path it takes to get there.

Wapo Susvilla utilizes acrylics on canvas in his paintings. His unique contemporary style has pops of vibrant colors, contrasting with the gloomy expressions and themes in his art. Street-style and graffiti are found in many of the works, taking inspiration from their rough nature. The use of fangs, horns, tattoos, and piercings are prominent and reoccuring symbolisms.

PORNOGRAPHIX
Job Hablo
March 22 to April 15, 2023

How we depict images, simple or intricate, affect how we perceive it. The collection “PORNOGRAPHIX” explores Hablo’s unique perspective on undressed builds. A visual language of contemporary culture that conveys the elements of raw identities, the essence of physique, and emotions portrayed by movements.

Read Allyn May Canja: Shifting the Gaze in Job Hablo’s PorNOgraphyX

Read John E. Barrios: Sa pagitan ng nude at p_rn, mga posibilidad sa proyekto ni Job Hablo

Hablo brings these intimate pieces to life from his own constructed digital photographs then converts it into different mediums. The predominantly monochromatic subjects interpret to detach the differences in racial innuendo. It centers on nudity which has been a usual topic of criticism, debating on its purpose. His interests focus on bringing out a distinct context that separates nakedness from pornography and should be deemed to represent the norm of beauty.

Job Hablo (b.1993) is a self-taught artist based in Iloilo City known for his figurative works with impacts from pop culture. Taking influences from his childhood love for music expanded to digital arts and photography being his main means of expression are apparent in his recent works.

Punctum: Wounds of Time
A Sound, video, mixed media installation
Roselle Perez and spaaawn
February 22 to March 18, 2023

“For punctum is also: sting, speck, cut, little hole — and also a cast of the dice. A photograph’s punctum is that accident which pricks me (but also bruises me, is poignant to me)”.

Punctum is a theory introduced by Roland Barthes in his seminal work “Camera Lucida”. It refers to a striking or poignant detail within a photograph that has the power to elicit a strong emotional response from the viewer. Punctum can be something small like a hand, a light specific to a time of day hitting a wall, a noise in the background, or it can be the entire work; it has the ability to create a profound impact that transcends the mere representation of the image. It’s the detail that lingers within us, creating a sense of personal connection and resonance — one that “pricks” and “wounds” us.

Read Eric Abalajon: Pinning Down the Mundane in Punctum: wounds of time

In “Punctum: wounds of time”, Roselle and spaaawn have expanded the idea of punctum beyond photography to also encompass other art forms. Roselle’s still and moving images explore themes of nostalgia, memory, and loss by employing intimate and fragmented imageries that capture fleeting moments of beauty and tenderness. spaaawn’s soundscapes complement Roselle’s visual collages; they reflect the interplay between the natural and the electronic world resulting in an eerie and ominous atmosphere. Both artists use elements in their work that encourage the audience to engage with the subtleties of life.

A reflection on the wounds of time, the works here put together a deeply personal examination of the nuances of life revealed through the passage of time, as well as the sentiments they evoke, their connection to our past, and the past that lives within our present and our future.

Sundog
PJ Cbanalan
January 22 to February 18, 2023″

The ‘Sundog’ exhibition explores the intersection of natural elements and vibrant colors through a variety of mediums. The coconut shell sculptures, with their organic forms and intricate textures, serve as a reminder of the beauty and complexity of nature. The use of colorful backgrounds in these pieces highlights the contrast between the natural and the artificial, drawing attention to the ways in which we interact with and alter the environment.

The coconut shell sculptures on wood further emphasize this theme, as the wood adds an additional layer of organic material to the sculptures, while also serving as a symbol of the natural world. The acrylic paintings in the exhibition, with their bold and dynamic hues, also reflect this theme, particularly the vertical rainbow painting, which showcases the mesmerizing beauty of a rainbow in a vertical composition.

The title of the exhibition, ‘Sundog’, is a reference to a meteorological phenomenon in which bright, colorful circles appear around the sun, often in the presence of ice crystals in the atmosphere. This phenomenon serves as a metaphor for the ways in which light and color can transform our perception of the world around us.

The exhibition invites viewers to consider the relationship between nature and art, and how the two can coexist and influence each other. The use of natural materials in the sculptures and the representation of nature in the paintings encourages us to reflect on the beauty and fragility of the natural world, while also highlighting the potential of art to change our perspective.

The ‘Sundog’ exhibition is a celebration of the power of art to highlight the beauty and complexity of the natural world, and to encourage us to think about our relationship with the environment. It is a call to action to appreciate the natural world that surrounds us, and to consider the ways in which our actions can impact it. The artworks in the exhibition serve as a reminder that art can be a powerful tool for raising awareness and sparking change in our society.

In essence, the ‘Sundog’ exhibition is an ode to the beauty of nature, and a call to action to appreciate and protect it. Through the use of natural materials, representation of nature in a new and unexpected way, and the vertical rainbow painting which showcases the mesmerizing beauty of a rainbow in a vertical composition, the artworks in the exhibition encourage us to reflect on our relationship with the environment, and to consider the ways in which our actions can impact it.”

Paul John Cabanalan (b.1993), is a multi-awarded young artist hailing from Iloilo. He obtained his BS Architecture degree from the Iloilo Science and Technology University but pursued a full-time career as a painter after successfully joining and winning art competitions while he was still a student.