“Pressing Perspectives”
By: Yasunari Ramon Suarez Taguchi Much has been said of how old-school-yet-future-forward the creative views of Cebu’s artists are – a leaning which largely emblemizes the works of Cebuano artists as elementally distinct.
This aspect to Cebuano creativity took center stage in “Pressing Perspectives”, the most recent exhibition of the University of the Philippines Cebu’s Joya Gallery which ran from January 26 to February 21.
Curated by Greys Compuesto, the show was primed as a celebration of the creative diversity that thrives within the local printmaking community.
Showcasing the works of both emerging and established talents who continue to redefine the boundaries of printmaking as a creative medium, the exhibit was more than a presentation of the creative elements that’re entailed in the printmaking mode, as it also plated up what perspectives and narratives artists – as individual creative daubers – can craft from printmaking’s technical miens.
With no specific theme underscoring it, the show was set on encouraging its exhibiting artists to come up with works that enjoin viewers to see how they engage in tradition as they push for the medium’s progression – how they honor the past as they infuse pieces of themselves into their works for the future.
As such, the show collected artworks that delved into the nuances of typography and the technical merits involved in woodblock carving, apart from bringing attention to the forms and creative styles that can be had from printmaking.
The show also featured pieces that were made with the Japanese shibori technique, which is a manual tie-dyeing technique that entails the wringing, squeezing and pressing of fabrics on dyes.
As an artform, printmaking is essentially a process that involves printing in the making of works – popular derivatives of which would include etchings, lithographs and woodcuts.
Far from a simple matter of crafting out a “base” then create multiple copies of prints, “Pressing Perspectives” did well in showcasing what impressions a crop of young talents are set on leaving via printmaking.