Recycling and deconstructing have been trending for quite some time now and have reached critical climax what with every other emerging artist/designer using it as a go-to medium.

However hesitant to be the modern artistic cliché, Baguio is coming to its own in found art. The distinction is in how an object is represented or processed – which is not always a sail away from local or localized techniques in the arts and crafts. These representations and processes can however also see themselves inspired by development friction, of the industrial or cultural kind, but always experienced by the artists as a collective effort (it sounds strange in English but picture bayanihan as a mental-spiritual process – it seems grand but things always are if they’re new).

Found art is technically verging on non-art. What saves it is a good (or goofy, as often the case with the Filipino Artist) title and some big idea to give the audience a proper shock. But this exhibition tries to question that without grand philosophical gestures. More aptly would be to describe it as a naïve reflection of found art that is less idiosyncratic than most would easily otherwise care to blurt after seeing the kind of found art and its variations that has ravaged (to put it modestly) the “proper” art of our time. 

What is held subconsciously precious by the artists in this show is an almost naïve way of reacting to or being obliged by the tenets of found art, especially its branch of trash or junk art – which in truth is the reason why this piece of writing is probably being reformatted into its very own trash art as it is juxtaposed with the art itself. Also, some of the artists’ works represent found art with the traditional fine arts and the arts and crafts. The idea is always a following for artists who seem to have the consciousness of fringing the fringed in whatever sense albeit in different levels, like grounded but flighty mysticism.

These range of works by Baguio-based (or -kook, -babied, -loved, -challenged, or -once-upon-a-time -based) artists Kabunyan de Guia, Rommel Pidazo, Kawayan de Guia, Mariel Maliwanag, Rocky Cajigan, Oliver Olivete, Laydeh Alberto, Kalawang Purisima, Vince Navarro, Rochelle Bakisan, Carlo Villafuerte, Guiller Lagac and Bobby Balingit showcase Baguio art inspired found art in a multi-dimensional yet collective manner.

dreams.

A silent paradox is the ultimate portrait of this artist's theme. Aired are contradictions between the claimed benefits of "making the globe smaller" and the actual fruits of depriving a generation or more of the reality that is not virtual. This unreal reality is then reinforced by the willingness of indolent minds to not discern between purpose and consequences. And as the machine enslaves the acquiescing consciousness, a self-sustaining cycle of blind adherence prevails.

Zamora has carved his name in contemporary art through his solo exhibits including Sorrowful Mysteries (Project Space Pilipinas) and Infectious (West Gallery) in 2009, Silip (Boston Gallery) in 2005 and Everybody Wants to Feel Better (Kulay Diwa Art Galleries) in 2003.

He has also participated in numerous notable exhibitions here and abroad including We Was There (Yuchengco Museum, Manila) 2011, Yeosu International Art Festival (Yeosu City, Korea), Art Triangle (Soka Gakkai, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Reflections (Bupyeong Art Center, Incheon, Korea), Studio Parade (Incheon Art Platform, Incheon, Korea), Media Concert 'Love' (Topohous Art Gallery, Seoul) in 2010, Tenggara: Recent Paintings from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines (Novas Gallery, London), Plastic Syndrome (Art Space Plastic, Incheon, Korea) in 2009, 2nd Hand Smoke (Cultural Center of the Philippines) in 2006, Buklod (Kulay Diwa Art Galleries, Manila) in 2003, and EMO (Boston Gallery, Manila) in 2001. His works had been part of an ensemble of art pieces presented in Art Beijing in 2008 and Daegu Art Fair in 2010. Zamora was artist-in-residence at Project Space Pilipinas in 2008, Neo-Emerging Artist Residency (NEAR Seoul) in 2009, International Artist Studio Program, IASK Goyang National Art Studio, Korea in 2010. He is currently taking part in the Southeast Asian Art Group Exchange Residency (SAAGER), an exchange residency among artists from Kuala Lumpur, Yogjakarta, and Manila.


*If you’re not Pinoy enough as it is, this title would have lost its humor.