LOOB | Renato Habulan and Alfredo Esquillo
July 22 – August 22
UP Vargas Museum
Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, Roxas Avenue, UP Campus, 1101 Quezon City, Philippines
The UP Vargas Museum in cooperation with Tin-aw Art Gallery opens Renato Habulan and Alfredo Esquillo’s two-man exhibit titled LOOB on July 22, 2014, 6PM at the GF Lobby and West Wing Galleries of the museum. An Artists Talk precedes the formal opening at 4:30PM.
Renato Habulan and Alfredo Esquillo have been sharing the same keen interest in the Black Nazarene and the surroundings of Quiapo that provide the encounters of devotion. The implications of this interest have informed their works, both as individual artists and collaborators. In LOOB, both Habulan and Esquillo focus on the concept of the core and the innermost. Habulan explores loob as part of the human condition that shapes Philippine religiosity while Esquillo delves into the significance of loob (inside, inner being, soul) and how the meaning of labas (outside, body, flesh) complicates it. Commencing from Mang Lauro, a prophet that becomes an integral part of Quiapo life, the artists interpret the narratives of spirituality rooted in folk Catholic religion and how this intersects with believers in their everyday practices.
Renato Habulan (b. Manila, 1953) graduated from the University of the East School of Fine Arts in 1976. Coming from a working class family in Tondo, he developed awareness of the deteriorating social conditions and struggle of the workers. Regarded as a seminal figure in social realism in the 70s and 80s, he was one of the core members of the group Kaisahan.
Alfredo Esquillo (b. Quezon City, 1972) received his Fine Arts degree major in Painting at the University of Santo Tomas in 1993. He was a Thirteen Artists grant recipient of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2000. He also received grants and residencies from the Vermont Studio Art Center, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum and PROJEK MAGER in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
LOOB runs until August 22, 2014.
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