February 18 – March 11, 2023
Opening
Saturday, February 18 | 4 PM
Modeka Creative Space
20A La Fuerza Plaza 1, 2241 Don Chino Roces Avenue, 1231 Makati
We enter a dream. It’s made of the soft brushstrokes of enchantment. It evokes flowering plants and drooping vines. It speaks of herbs and thistles, of spices and petals. The spells of nature intermingle with the charms of the muses, and weave gently, deliberately, onto a canvas.
Bacolod has always been known as an otherworldly city. From sugar estates to baronial mansions, from the laps of luxury to the depths of poverty. Mysterious ruins commingle with spanking new concrete piles, and roads pass through kilometers of sugar stalks. Bacolod presents to the unwary visitor an intriguing allure, subtly waiting to be discovered.
The allure of the place lends itself to its people. The fertile soil seems to infuse and suffuse its denizens, resulting in a wealth, a concentration of talent, that is astonishing.
We turn therefore to four Bacolod artists, all known for casting spells on canvas. Moreen Austria and her spritely danseuses. Erika Mayo and her gamine heroines. Junjun Montelibano and his fearless maidens. Jay-R Delleva and his dewy-eyed missies – or heavy-lidded crones.
These Negrense residents, so blessed with innate magic, realize their visions of fecundity upon reflecting pools and midnight gardens. They wield their wands of brush, and call forth a wealth of foliage, of orchards, of haciendas – perhaps mixing a little spell here, or concealing a hex there. The night is fraught with mystery.
Their magic garden awaits.
Curatorial Notes by JT Gonzales
