Artists bare true grit in ‘Tinggas’
“TINGGAS” means “matured” in Hiligaynon explains Hubon Ilonggo visual arts president Arel Zambarrano, one of the conveners of the group exhibit.
Zambarrano relates that “Tinggas” – which was opened to the public from Oct. 14 to 25 at Museo Iloilo – aims to be a venue for “serious” art, tackling Iloilo City and the country’ cruel social realities and the disadvantaged upbringing of some of the artists who joined the said endeavor.
Onofre Ballescas and Edmar Colmo allude to gender politics and equality in their respective pieces. Ballescas’ “Faces of Sorrow” has an ornate gate evoke the harsh steel bars of rehas obscuring the face of a seemingly battered woman, while Colmo’s “Respeto Bilang ______” has the everyday woman shrouded and buried by all the monikers and stereotypes society often forces on our mothers, sisters, and daughters.
Jzy Tilos pays tribute to his grandfather, a former the
manugluy-a, with “Sinarayu 8,” as gambling seems to be the central theme of Joel Mirabuena’s “Good Luck.” The gritty bare- bones sculptures of Jonas Mark Siva (“Haligi ng Tahanan”) and Tyrone Dave Espinosa (“Nilamon ng Sariling Katawan”) look cut from the same vein of struggle and perseverance.
T h e t r u e g r i t a n d determination of the Ilonggo artist is best exemplified by 24-yearold up- and- comer Paul John Cabanalan. Just this September, a piece by Cabanalan entitled “Genesis” won the Metrobank Art and Design Excellence (MADE) grand prize in the Oil/Acrylic on Canvas Category.
The l i censed architect continues his signature style for “Tinggas” in “155” where he paints an intricate metropolis inhabited by his cast of caricature characters – rabid dogs, snake- like creatures, floating eyes, disembodied figures – reminiscent of infantile sketches, yet running with the inexplicably dangerous undercurrent of an inescapable maze of a city.
“Tinggas” – made possible through the efforts of Museo Iloilo and the Iloilo Cultural Research Foundation Inc. – features the works of Onofre Ballescas, Paul John Cabanalan, Edmar Colmo, Jason Delgado, Michael Delmo, Noel Elicana, Tyrone Dave Espinosa, Rommel Garde, Joe Geraldo, Melvin Guirhem, Egay Lising, Joemel Mirabuena, Frank Alexi Nobleza, Jojo Ramirez, Sabrec, Jonas Siva, Jzy Tilos, and Arel Zambarrano./ PN