August 17 to September 18, 2023
Opening reception and catalog launch
August 16, 4 PM
Gateway Gallery | Small Room
5F, Gateway Tower, Araneta City, Cubao, Quezon City, Metro Manila
PANIMULA
Artworks made of unconventional materials and created by marginal artists take centerstage in “Mangha-Likha: Defying Art Conventions.” The exhibit provides a platform for a representative group of Filipino artists, especially those who work outside the boundaries of the gallery system. It gives space to unconventional pieces one will seldom find in art museums and galleries. Mangha-Likha is a celebration of the postmodern attitude towards the unconventional, or going beyond the norm.
There are many Filipino visual artists who use unconventional medium in their art-making. These materials are either organic or synthetic, recycled materials. Some of the Mangha-Likha artists have participated in exhibitions in popular or obscure venues. A few of them have become known through the media because of sheer talent and the novelty or curiosity of their medium and techniques. The values of mangha (awe) and likha (create) are incorporated in these artworks in the same way the earliest artists created from the wonders around them.
Mangha-Likha therefore goes back to the core of what art is and could be. As it combines the marginal and the marginalized in the present environment, the exhibit seeks to relay a strong message on sustainability, inclusivity, equality, solidarity, ecological balance, and recycling, while promoting the values of courage, resilience, determination, resourcefulness, and originality.
In this exhibit, 8 artists from Antipolo, Cainta, Quezon City, Pasig, Plaridel, Valenzuela, and Baguio were gathered to celebrate the values they represent and impart the key positive messages of their art. Mangha-Likha assembles a collection of handsewn and fabric art, tapestries, mud paintings, solar drawings, eco-paintings, artworks on discarded palochina, pull tab paintings, and papercut artworks.
KAALAMAN, KAGAMITAN, KAGALINGAN
The artists diligently collected the materials to transform into exhibition-level works. Mangha-Likha becomes their venue to convey and promote environmental sustainability and protection with the artistic processes of upcycling, recycling, assemblage, etc. The artworks are borne out of experiments, explorations, and desire for something different, surprising, and out of the ordinary. We bear witness to their mastery and knowledge of each material.
The works of our Mangha-Likha artists also involve some sort of co-creation with the community, who directly influences, assists, and supports them in certain stages of artmaking. This is especially true for our artists that utilizes junk and scrap—their communities are more than happy to help them in their artistic quests.
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