Kaloy Sanchez mounts his first solo exhibit, titled Hint:eye, at West Gallery in West Avenue, Quezon City. On view from September 9 till October 15, Hint:eye features his new paintings done in acrylic, depicting the art of waiting.
“Hint:eye romanticizes waiting-when everything that surrounds you begin to grow or break down and you become trapped in stillness, enjoying the wait,” says Sanchez. While most people hate waiting, whether it is waiting in line, or waiting for someone, Sanchez sees a brighter side, and how it is not a waste of time at all. He came up with the title as a pun on the vernacular term for waiting, “hintay.”
“Waiting is an opportunity that people usually ignore. It is a time to be aware of things around you and appreciate their existence. Waiting should not be frustrating.”
Sanchez also wants to show “how he kills time and enjoys waiting,” even if it takes hours. “I sit across an empty chair and stare at the reflection of plant shades and smoke cast in the water, where, under the heat, the secret life of shadows become shapes placed upon shapes. This is how I wait: I do not wait.”
So in his works, the figures are drowned in the imagined worlds of monochrome. While motionless and camouflaged, the setting is marked with drips, curling clouds, three-colored rainbows and lonesome chairs. “I wanted the figures to be unimportant in the compositions so that the surrounding elements would be more dominant and visually enticing, taking you to the paradigm of waiting.”
Kaloy Sanchez majored in studio arts at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts.
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