One could say
that one has seen and experienced something for the first time when one will
completely loses oneself to place or a moment. Riel Hilario’s “Perro Amoroso” x
“It was a paradisical state: The body was allowed to be a body” completely
caught me off guard when I saw his installation pieces scattered inside portion
of Ateneo de Manila Art Gallery for the Art Awards 2012.
The first
installation (Perro Amoroso) consists of a portrayal of a domesticated dog with
a face of a woman, with other elements such as dismembered hand, a shoe, and
another body which appears to be a headless canine. On his artist’s statement:
“Perro
Amoroso is an attempt to portray a pet dog, if she were given a human persona
(and a face). In this case, my objective was to explore the relationship
of projection that exists between pet and owner, and between canine with its
territory, then bring these to a symbolic expression of a portrait. In my
presentation, the dog Frida becomes a being, almost human in sentience, who is
watchful yet relaxed, assured of her place and her significance in the
household.”
The second series of variable sized wooden
sculptures entitled “It was a paradisical state: the body was allowed to be a
body” coherently features odd looking hybrid creatures, with several bureaus
which contain either a ball of dried grass or just left empty. A winged muse
stands beside an almost leafless tree perched upon by birds with human faces.
Perhaps it was a dream that took the artist to this premise or the snippet of
dream molded and pieced together this idea for him to carve wooden sculptures
which are both disarming and disorienting.
Getting the
artist’s visual cues from the two creatures with written texts on their bellies:
Locus Amoenus + Perdido Eden, Riel Hilario might be presenting a visual that
expresses to oppose the ideal (place): Eden is the locale where Adam and Eve do
not live within process of time and mortality, but here we feel that they are
saying goodbye to it –with an urgency, like instant self-expulsion.
These images
forwarded a particular position in these ever changing times, where traditional
sculpture does not remain as it is. The idea of reality reflects reality is now
submerged with subjective truth and personal interpretation. For that, it
presents a new dimension of familiarizing of what is real and unreal, what is
good and what is evil, bordering towards subconscious that originates from
personal experiences, readings and historical exposure – ultimately giving us a
different perspective as to how we could participate or react on these altered
truths.
This is now a
tell tale of three dimensional pieces dug out from our collective memories;
hence it surfaces our association with our individual beliefs and values,
provoking our own judgment, and calls for evaluation of this enigma. By doing
so, this becomes an impetus of a hush hush discourse inside our heads or may
well be deliberated with friends around a coffee table. On the whole, the piece
itself does not demand a tug of war between opinions but rather urges us to
stand and remain within the uncertain, which does not necessarily entail any
sort of redemption.
No comments:
Post a Comment