Sometimes We Don’t Need To Believe

Jobert Cruz & Geremy Samala

October 25 – November 9, 2020

Kaida Contemporary
Sct. Madrinan, 1103 Quezon City, Philippines

To be in a standstill is to witness a change of phase of several things. Just as a walking person would have his face shown in his initial approach, then his profile as he walks past, and finally his back as he heads towards what to his observers is an unknown. What they would arrive at is a description wrung out of several perspectives that would paint a multifaceted caricature of the observed. Therefore, it is imperative that to see the details is to also consider the movement. This applies too in situations or circumstances that warrant a concurrence of statements. To stand back and see the entirety of the image in order to reach a conclusion that is ultimately attuned to what actually occurred and not just of mere manipulated concoctions.

In a way, each has their personal version of truths that directs such movements. Jobert Cruz opted to illustrate sequences of dance to give a glimpse of these points. The figures in his paintings are the same individual in a constant transition from one step or form of dance towards the next; or so it can be interpreted as such. As he stated that each figure could be a different person that moves in harmony to a tune or involuntarily convulsing to a noise that only they can hear, so it can also be said that the figures are one and the same, each forming a different set of movement depending on the tune that befits his agenda. Thus, the dance is seen as a metaphor of interaction towards people, situations and circumstances. Whether the dancer himself is in sync to the music of a mutual and honest exchange or just creating a masquerade of distractions to deceive and hide a lack of substance is upon the observer’s discretion but the natural rhythm would be undeniable.

Geremy Samala, on the other hand, minces no words and directly employs the canvas as the ground of an ecstatic outpouring. What he chooses to show is not exactly a metaphor but the literal scheme of colors, smudged and/or randomly controlled and accumulated in layers, with floral and still life elements serving as adornments. The energy of the action of painting. Or to be more precise, the overall energy of his disposition. The kaleidoscopic accumulation of hues that liquefies into a scenery, which he insists does not hold any deeper meaning, somehow manifests a contemporary portrayal of a generation’s propensity for an acerbic, self-deprecating and even hopeless humor that is born out of the chaos and foreboding doom that makes itself evident from day to day. A coping mechanism perhaps, or even, a defiance.

At the very least this becomes an exchange between the two sets of works by Cruz and Samala. To be skeptical in the observed motives of people at large and to be assertive in one’s personal capacities to substantiate his internal truths. In these era of fabricated stories and fake narratives staged by the manipulative and the scheming, to declare unequivocally where one stands amidst this tide is an affirmation of the self.

(NR)

To view the virtual exhibit: (best on desktop)
https://www.artsteps.com/view/5f8fec097e72742f16f66c0e

To view a slideshow of the works:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rSmd21B5KssO3L6Vl4fxte9Qyz-UIUMu/view