SOME 15 local artists collaborated to mount an art exhibit dubbed "Man and Monster" at the Orange Project in Mandalagan, Bacolod City.
The "Man and Monster" by PARA Collective Featured artworks included the works of Lec Cruz, RA Tijing, Ciane Xavier, Kaloy Sanchez, Nix Puno, Martin Honasan, Dexter Sy, Krista Nogueras, Don Dalmacio, Victoria and Jason Montinola.
In this presentation, they are joined by Dex Fernandez, Kiko Escora, Romeo Lee, and 13 Lucky Monkey.
Some of them have been collaborating with the Orange Project for years, while others have been making their marks.
Those who love the arts and have the natural inclination and appreciation in arts may visit Orange Project located near Lopue’s Mandalagan in Bacolod City to experience this collective's variable ways of depicting “man,” monster," and their complexities.
Thus, the exhibition “Man and Monster” sets an inquiry into these struggles.
The narratives presented in this exhibition are materialized through landscapes, portraits, abstract works, and experimental formats.
The artists said that collectively, they embody the evolving human clash in understanding what we should make of monsters -- are they a reflection of the dark times, of ourselves, or have they burrowed inside of us, waiting for an opportunity to invade us during our most vulnerable days?
These confrontations and dialogues are visible in the works of Martin Honasan, Dexter Sy, Kaloy Sanchez, 13 Lucky Monkey, and Dex Fernandez.
Their works uncover the multiplicity of the depicted characters. Hence, we witness transformations and transitions, whether caused by trepidation for the unknown or the immensity of the task of living as an individual in a dynamic universe.
Meanwhile, the works of Ciane Xavier, Nix Puno, Kiko Escora, Romeo Lee, RA Tijing and Jason Montinola represent unimagined ways of understanding and seeing ourselves.
Like in Montinola’s “Beast Buster,” a person can become a different version of himself twenty years later and constantly grapple with the monsters thriving inside him.
Finally, landscapes and more visible abstract forms are what we find in the works of Don Dalmacio, Krista Nogueras, Victoria, and Lec Cruz; the lines, gestures, and forms gently articulate terror, dread and the grit to remain optimistic amidst adversaries.
At times, the artists depict the environment around them, while some find it necessary to create their version of the present.
Hence, the consciousness that the death of reason could ignite unwanted horrors ties the exhibition together. Here, we find works where the complexities of an individual are demonstrated and sometimes immersed in territories where these entanglements are amplified.
However, the exhibition also warrants relief in knowing that internal and external conflicts could be resolved and rectified as long as one does not become dominated by inaction.
Nevertheless, our ability to move and act is vital in the end while becoming aware of distress, crisis, and chaos. As Fyodor Dostoyevsky puts it in 1861, “When he has lost all hope, all objects in life, man often becomes a monster in his misery.”
Orange Project is open from Monday-Saturday 1 to 7 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.