Decision Rapida

“Wrong place at a wrong time.” “Accident waiting to happen.” “Deus ex machina.” These are just some of the expressions people use when referring to the sudden appearance of an unforetold event, whose effects, especially when they are devastating, are always chalked up to Divine Providence, destiny, or sheer unluck. The influence of human element is sometimes minimized if not eliminated, consciously or unconsciously, in order to shape a narrative that no one could have predicted something that is so unsettling from happening, which is a direct opposite of how people would readily take credit for success or a good fortune, even if much of it is about being in the “right place at the right time.”

That there are no accidents is the premise of Decision Rapida, a solo exhibition of Bembol dela Cruz. In a suite of paintings and bocetos, the artist presents the resulting evidence of a decision gone horribly wrong: the metallic shell of a car severely dented or crushed, their wheels and engines no longer visible. Either the theoretical driver of the car (or of another vehicle) has made a wrong turn, swerved, or bypassed traffic signs, which has led to the unfortunate outcome. Totaled and essentially useless, the car is an indictment against a wrong decision made.

This decision, done in the heat of the moment (or rapidly, as the title suggests), amounts to something that is at once ghastly and irrevocable. Set against a black background and removed from any context, the car nonetheless prompts the viewer to imagine the precipitating event and the ensuing aftermath: the violent turn of the steering wheel, the flash of light, the deafening collision of metal. What happens to the driver and the passengers is offered as a conjecture to the viewer. What is undeniable is the evidence of the force of human effort, no matter how inconsequential it may seem at the onset, as it ripples out and escalates a series of unfortunate events.