The West Gallery in Glorietta at the Ayala Center in Makati presents Kris Soguilon in an exhibition of new works from August 29 to September 10.
Entitled Buhay-buhay, the exhibit is Soguilon’s second solo show, following the artist’s first solo exhibition billed as Revel held at the Prism Gallery in Kalibo, Aklan in 2000.
Prof. Ruben D.F. Defeo, chairperson of the department of theory of the UP College of Fine Arts (UPCFA), curates the exhibit.
The works in the collection take liberal potshots at the contemporary urban life of Filipinos, taking the cue from the manner by which photojournalism captures them in pictures, but done in the visual idiom that Soguilon has been consistently known for–bold and highly expressive figural painting.
The paintings chronicle various types of people in the city engaged in separate activities, which Soguilon has observed personally in his peripatetic ramblings in the city while on a lookout for probable themes for his art.
They include a portrait of a husband and wife shown with their child that neither looks like any of them, a couple of young lovers amidst a public crowd kissing each other, a public school teacher astride a crowded tricycle on the way to school, or a peeping gay in a public toilet, or a pimp doing his trade, among others.
Centerpiece of the exhibit is the winning entry of Soguilon in the 2001 Art Association of the Philippines Painting Competition entitled One big, big not so happy fa-male-ly executed in oil on vinyl tiles.
The 3 x 4 feet work, which won Soguilon second prize in the oil painting category, shows a large family with 13 male sons, thus the title. It captures them in their crowded house, showing the father unperturbed by such reality as he scans through his favorite girlie magazine, while the 13 offsprings are engaged in their own nook in the house–the baby in his crib, several still asleep, one ransacking the ref with only a salted egg inside, with the martyr mother preparing the table while the rest of the brood eagerly awaits the meal for the day.
Soguilon obtained his bachelor of fine arts from the UPCFA in 1994. A three-time finalist in the Shell National Student Art Competition and the Metrobank National Art Competition, he has participated in numerous group exhibitions held in leading art venues in the country. He is an active member of the artists’ collective known as Ikalawang Palapag.
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