Add to Cart
Materials: Antique cabinet (as ground)
Assorted things (from the past and present times)
Old stand lamp and plantsa de uling
‘Add to cart’, shopping with the tip of your fingers in the comfort of your own home… does it suggest that I can also shop around my home? ‘Past and historical elements of material culture’, in simple terms, are the ‘readymade’ and ‘handmade’ inanimate objects of the past that were used by our ancestors in their lifetime -- those I need to borrow and recontextualize to create a new work (yan ang sinabi ni Sir! ). As I ‘shop’ around my home, I realized that antique and old pieces are all around the place, even in my bathroom. I have old window panels (with stained and frosted glass), antique aparador, old banggera cabinet, my lola’s lampara, plantsa de uling, my lola’s 100 year old kimona, crocheted curtains, old palayok, tarnished silver cutleries, to name some - they are my precious ‘venerables’. During conceptualization, I realized that my lifestyle is in the rhythm of ‘postmodern appropriation art’. Yes, I live in a modern home with my venerables: a few pieces for decoration, and a good number for utilitarian purposes. My lampara(s) are lit during brownouts (where the scent of burning kerosene brings back the memories of my childhood at my lola’s home). The aparador and banggera serve as storage spaces of assorted things. Old window panels stand as dividers both in the family room, and in my bathroom. Rice is served in the old palayok lined with banana leaves on special occasions. I wear my lola’s kimona whenever I miss to imagine and feel the ‘itch’ of the past. “Is Jose Rizal joining us for dinner?” -- That's the atmosphere brought by these old and unique aesthetics in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic; but, Rizal couldn't join us because of social distancing restrictions: Noli Me Tangere!
My plate is an installation art where the conceptual challenge is a representation of my ‘postmodern appropriation lifestyle’. I created a matrix that binds the old and modern lifestyles, so tightly that they appear unified. My lolo’s stand lamp with a modern bulb radiates light to the plantsa de uling which we use whenever we burn ‘insenso’ as our regular ritual to cleanse the energy around. It’s not practical to use it to iron clothes because it's ‘too hot to handle’ nowadays. The left side of the aparador depicts materialism in our modern world; whereas the old and simple lifestyle is articulated on the other side, where things are scarce, carefully arranged, and valued. As we embrace change and our modern lifestyle, the overwhelming presence of these ‘venerables’ remind us never to forget our values that were deeply embedded in our souls -
as worthy human beings with a spirit of a true Filipino.
