Nick Navarro, Oddin Sena, Jone Sibugan
October 4-19, 2020
Kaida Contemporary
Sct. Madrinan, 1103 Quezon City, Philippines
No Tension Like the Present
Under the longest-running enforced lockdown in the world, Nick Navarro, Oddin Sena and Jone Sibugan draw from their experiences to mount “Present Tense,” dwelling on the mental, emotional and financial strain they have lived through in the past almost seven and a half months.
With Respira, Navarro portrays a lonely corridor of statues with some plaster parts falling apart. A snake on a staff lies broken on the floor with a smashed earth, signifying the difficulties of the local medical system in trying to keep up with the rising number of COVID-19 patients. Classical sculpture mixes with a lifesized statue of the Virgin Mary as faith is tested. Sending Failed features the Google t-rex usually seen when the website goes offline. With an artwork hung on display beside a bigger framed piece featuring a TV signoff screen and laptops that are plugged in but do not seem to be streaming properly, the artist takes on the challenges of the lack of connectivity and the dimming of the usual bright vigor of broadcast media. Navarro’s acrylic and calcium carbonate on canvas works are understated and muted, but the meanings they signify are magnified.
Meanwhile, Oddin Sena’s change of profession from artist to a stint in bicycle delivery service has opened him to new experiences that he uses in his most recent acrylic on canvas paintings. Jampacked is a packing challenge, when an order fills his delivery box to the brim, almost spilling out. On the Way showcases the handlebars of his bike, GPS leading him to the next destination. Waiting is the pause between jobs and standing by for the next customer who needs his assistance. Appreciating a different aspect of life as a front liner has led him to reflections on the hard work the vocation entails, safety precautions he needs to take to protect his family and himself, and how some entitled people look down upon, or even mistreat, paid-per-gig workers like him. Finding out the hard way that the pandemic does not render immunity to disparities in economic status and social classes, Sena carries on doing the tasks entailed of him, braving the elements and being of service as long as his services are needed.
Jone Sibugan’s oil on canvas paintings go into introspection as his figures seem to melt into their backgrounds, realities merging and blurring differences in time and space. The pandemic has forced him into diving deeper into his own consciousness and questioning many things, including his sanity, much like a lot of people currently living with unprecedented stresses to mental health. With I am, but not your only Truth, some residue of life remain visible in the framed portraits which include a graduation photo hanging on a wall behind his figure. In Identity Manifestation 1 and 2, the lines blur even further and flow into pools and rivulets of gray, showing identity crisis as one feels him or herself disappearing and melting away into the environment brought about by confusion and uncertainty during these troubled times. Minutes tick away into hours, hours meld into days, days pass into weeks, and weeks crawl stealthily into months, while some give up on even knowing what date it is tomorrow.
Though the todays may appear bleak in “Present Tense,” Navarro, Sena and Sibugan still convey hopes for better days ahead. By clinging onto essentials and forging ahead with producing art that chronicle and portray the signs of the times, the expectation for a safer and more relaxed future remains. Living from one breath to another, one trip to another, and one meltdown to another, the goal is just to survive.
Words by Kaye O’Yek
To view the virtual exhibit: (best on desktop)
https://www.artsteps.com/view/5f7800e3ccd8020d210690f3
For inquiries, please contact the gallery at +639279297129 or at kaida529@yahoo.com.ph.
