Everything Towards the End A Solo Exhibition by Andres Barrioquinto
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed”
-Mahatma Gandhi
We have always dreamed of the skies, and never, amidst all odds, be it human or divine, shall it stop us from the inexorable desire of conquering it. From the creation of Babel ’s colossus of bricks and asphalt, to the first ascent of Icarus to the clouds, and even to the construction of metal plated ships to soar the divinity that lies beyond the endless void of space, humans have not changed. The sky is actually an earthly symbolism of God, and it is God’s enigma that man wants to grasp and comprehend. It is only but a thin line that separates Lucifer the light bringer and God’s children, for both have been poisoned by the venom of greed. One desired to be God, and the other craved to know what God knew. And it is in this circular philosophy of insatiability that Andres Barrioquinto was inspired to generate a one man show entitled: “Everything towards the end”.
Focusing on a somewhat nihilistic concept of inevitable human destruction, Barrioquinto believes that the end is completely inescapable and everything existent is unknowingly marching towards their final moment of devastation. Whether they like it or not, no matter how much they try to improve their lives towards perfection and beauty, despite all the material things purchased to deceive themselves in a state of delusory bliss, everything else will wither into the orifice of nothingness, taking everything that they once owned into death and silent fading. It is within this reason that Barrioquinto rendered his paintings with simulated geometric patterns and realistic imagery depicted in a solid, cubist manner. Geometry is all about perfection, and basically, technology is our desperate bridge towards it. While on the other hand, the representation of his figures in an almost human manner is a way of redefining humanity through its flaws andimperfections. Therefore, the entirety of his works speaks for the marriage of humanity and artificial perfection. What results in is a bridge that stands to unite him to the outside world again. Technology, that is. And that link shall be his sole passage to the Tower of Babel ’s second birth. However, this time, man is not aiming for the skies. He is aspiring for what’s beyond it. But as the artist strongly believes, all this vain effort shall only be consumed by death in the end. Everything will fall, just as broken stones of Babel had fallen into wreckage. Everything will fall, like the shattered pieces of blue toned triangles regurgitating from and going into the open screaming mouths of his images. Everything will fall, even the intensity of colors into the dead tone of blue. Everything will fall, and everyone will.
As they say in Tibetan philosophy, Sylvia Plath sense of the word, we are all dying.
"Yes, we are all dying, but there is something beyond mortal death." Barrioquinto says. By this he means that something else exists behind the absolute closures of nihility. Something that is way beyond the compact reaches of human comprehension. After all, everything falls into the boundless circle of death and rebirth. So, in this death, we are only returning to our place of birth...the sole haven for God's eternal reward. Paradise, that is. And through good deeds and actions shall we reap this lost patch of land again. After all, the end has always justified the means, so if we have lived a life of good between existence and void, then another life of good shall be rewarded beyond it.
Everything Towards the End opens on Wednesday, October 8, 2008 6PM at the blanc compound 359 Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong City. For More information please call/sms 752-0032/0920- 9276436, email info@blanc.ph or visit www.blanc.ph.
