Silverlens opens new year with art showcases
It’s a loaded combination of exhibitions and art fair showcases around these parts and the world that silverlens opens the new year. Kicking off the gallery’s 2023 offerings is a group exhibition in silverlens New York, titled
State of Flux. Organized by independent curator Jeanette Bisschops, the show presents the works of Meriem Bennani, Nicholas Grafia, Josh Kline, and Pow Martinez. the exhibition will also see the US performance debut of Grafia and long-time collaborator Mikołaj Sobczak on February 10 and 11.
According to the gallery, State of Flux “examines shapeshifting and humor as protective adaptations to geopolitics and the perils of contemporary existence.” Bennani, a Morocco-born artist who lives in the US, will present for the first time in New York the second of her pseudodocumentary series about a fictitious island run by the American military complex. Figures transcend bounds in the paintings of Nicholas Grafia, while Kline is set to offer never-before-shown sculptures centered on the social-political breakdown in America. Lastly, Martinez, fresh from his successful solo at silverlens Manila, will feature new works of his lewd cavemen, blow-up dolls and more.
State of Flux will run from January 12 to March 4 at silverlens New York, the gallery’s new Us outpost launched in September 2022.
At its Manila space, silverlens will begin the year with twin solos, featuring Corinne de san Jose and Mark Andy Garcia. In Lazy Projectors, De san Jose explores the malleability of history by “mixing timelines and mediums in one space.” the multi-award-winning film sound designer and multidisciplinary artist born in Bacolod will present a large installation involving sound, light and scent elements. the concept revolves around ideas on memory, expounded using early cinematic systems and a video piece using Ai-generated animation.
Opposite the showcase is Garcia’s Chasing Sunsets. to be presented is a collection of new works that continue to tackle the “spiritual geographies of quiet pastoral landscapes rendered in intricate layers and gestural brushstroke.” Garcia has established an ant0-trend, painterly style that is distinctively his own, anchored on storytelling. Since 2008, he has chronicled and presented his life through paintings, from detailing his life as an overseas contract worker in saudi Arabia to dealing with the emotional anguish over the passing of his father. De san Jose’s Lazy Projectors and Garcia’s Chasing Sunsets will be on view at silverlens Manila on Chino Roces Avenue in Makati City, from January 14 to February 11.
Rounding up Silverlens’s slate of offerings for the first quarter of 2023 are presentations for three art fairs: SEA Focus, Art Fair Philippines and Art Dubai.
The gallery returns to SEA Focus in Singapore with a two-part presentation and a special exhibition featuring the late Filipina American artist Pacita Abad. For the first half of the showcase from January 5 to 9, silverlens will be presenting drawings by Pio Abad from his Notes on Decomposition series, along with a painting by Patricia Perez Eustaquio. Concluding the presentation from January 10 to 15 are self-portraits by Wawi Navarroza and a new tikar (mat) from Yee I-lann’s Tukad Kad Sequence.
For the country’s biggest contemporary art showcase, Art Fair Philippines, which runs from February 16 to 19, Silverlens will be mounting concurrent presentations onsite and in its gallery space, featuring a smorgasbord of nearly 50 artists.
silvelens’ participating artists for next month’s Art Fair Philippines include Pacita Abad, Pio Abad, Martha Atienza, Santiago Bose, Frank Callaghan, James Clar, Nicole Coson, Chati Coronel, Corinne De san Jose, Patricia Eustaquio, Dina Gadia, Gregory Halili and Mit Jai Inn, among others. Gallery artists
Wawi Navarroza and Pow Martinez will likewise be part of the “special Exhibitions” section of the fair.
then, for March’s Art Dubai, silverlens will be presenting new miniature paintings on capiz shells by Gregory Halili in the fair’s Bawwaba section. Bawabba, which means gateway in Arabic, features artworks made in the past year, or specifically for Art Dubai.
Acccording to Halili, he has “always been interested in nature and its relationship with humanity. these miniature paintings for Art Dubai tackle such issue. What at first may look like simple, beautiful works of butterflies and moths are actually a commentary on the complex, fragile state of environment and the unpredictable future.”
The 16th edition of Art Dubai runs from March 1 to 5 at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai.
More information is available at