I’m finding it hard to believe

November 13 – December 5, 2020

Modeka Art
20A La Fuerza Plaza 1, 2241 Don Chino Roces Avenue, 1231 Makati

I’m finding it hard to believe is the latest iteration in a series of curatorial initiatives by Gary-Ross Pastrana.

Previous versions of this extended project were formulated alongside in-person discussions, field trips, and site visits.

The current exhibition presents a collection of projects resulting from a weekly online seminar – which began in early March – that was devised to explore how popular conceptions of magic could be used as a prompt for new artistic inquiries.

Over the course of months of research, participants encountered magic in various registers and contexts, ranging from the historic feats of figures such as Harry Houdini and Georges Méliès, the trade of snake charmers and false mediums, the realm of witchcraft and alchemy, to the tangential fields of transmutation, data mining, the purpose of the ritual, and the possibility of raising the dead.

These projects are joined under the conceit of magic, all oriented toward examining points of convergence between magic and art-making, emphasizing parallels between the artist and the magician, utilizing strategies vital to the execution of any successful magic trick. The magician must exercise control over concealment and disclosure and maintain a heightened awareness of the audience and their vantage point for a trick to work; a mistimed movement or misplaced prop is tantamount to failure. Magic is lost when the veil is unintentionally lifted, when the inner workings of the trick are prematurely brought to light. It would seem, then, that the artist works within or around similar conditions; the artist plays in front of and with the audience, performing a balancing act, vacillating from concealment to revelation.

Featuring artworks by Jan Balquin, Jed Gregorio, Jel Suarez, Lesley-Anne Cao, Miguel Lorenzo Uy, Veronica Peralejo.