In his latest one-man show, sculptor Reg Yuson examines and defines one’s experience of a given space. Simply titled Site + Works, the exhibit features Yuson’s new installations using sheet metal and wood strips of vinyl. They are on view at the West Gallery and at The Sculpture Room (Mary Santos Artcade, West Avenue Quezon City) from October 4 until October 22, 2005.
Yuson has allowed space to become a major part of the creative process going to the gallery as often he could prior to the exhibit opening to make sure he was at ease with the gallery’s dimensions as if it were in canvas “Sculpture is all about space“ he says . And he has made necessary adjustments, often revising his original ideas on creating an interior landscape. In Site + Works, he uses simulated wood strips of vinyl of conceptualize and construct complex forms in relation to and coupled with sheet metal. Yuson notes, “This very same ambivalent treatment of layering sheet metal with the same material as the gallery floor has rendered these objects to be perceived as to whether they are in fact mere objects in space or architectural structures that somehow redefine the gallery space.
To him, sheet metal was the ideal material. Like a sheet of paper, it is both flexible and rigid. Adds Yuson, “Having a great affinity for sheet metal. I was immediately drawn to make circular structures- which, to me, are the soundest mathematically and geometrically configured structures around.”
Yet, to Yuson the visual experience is not only limited to the installed pieces, but on the directness of the illusory nature of the spaces created by the objects. It is also why he prefers creating freestanding floor pieces, to make them more accessible to the viewers. He himself was never sure of the outcome until he decided how the objects were arranged just before the exhibition, seeing the physicality of the works and the vision of the space come together. He admits that you can never plan it too well or be too spontaneous, but he has found a middle ground, allowing himself to play around many compositional possibilities.
The viewers can join in the experience, too by directly interacting with the object. They can even move them around. Yuson sees it as a prelude to creating a sculptural playground one day realizing in hindsight that all of his works were all related somehow, regardless of medium.
One of the country’s finest young sculptors, Yuson took up sculpture at the University of the Philippines’ College of Fine Arts.
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