Silverlens Galleries

Norberto Roldan will be part of the upcoming ‘Flow States – LA TRIENAL 2024’, opening 10 October 2024.

“Emphasizing plurality and a sense of movement, the exhibition’s title, ‘Flow States’, borrows from the psychology of creative focus and the fluidity of geographic boundaries and cultural exchanges. As such, the phrase reflects the ever-changing paths of Latinx artistic diasporas that inform the exhibition. Participating artists share interests in transformation, hybrid belongings, collective memories, porosities of landscape, and material exchanges. These threads come together against a background of displacements and migrations that continue to transform our local and global ecosystems.” –

Norberto Roldan’s (b. 1953, Roxas City, Philippines; lives and works in Roxas City) practice is rooted in political issues. His installations, assemblages and paintings of found objects, text fragments and found images address issues surrounding everyday life and collective memory. His artistic process engages with ways in which material objects are re-appropriated in another context. Roldan founded Black Artists in Asia in 1986, a group with a socially and politically progressive practice. In 1990 he initiated VIVA EXCON, the longest running artist-led biennale in the Philippines. He co-founded Green Papaya Art Projects in 2000, which remains to be the longest-running independent and multi-disciplinary platform in the country.

El Museo del Barrio’s ‘Flow States – LA TRIENAL 2024’ is on view from 10 October 2024 through 9 February 2025 at El Museo del Barrio, New York.

🔗 Click here for more information about the triennial: https://www.elmuseo.org/exhibition/flow-states-la-trienal-2024/

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1: Portrait of Norberto Roldan.
2: Norberto Roldan. ‘100 Altars for Roberto Chabet / NO. 23’, 2014–2023.
3: Poster courtesy of El Museo del Barrio.

“Renowned for her research-driven approach across photography, sculpture, and installation, Syjuco sees archives not as static repositories but as links to stories that resonate deeply. […]

In a world where so much of our past is relegated to dusty shelves and forgotten files, Stephanie Syjuco’s ‘The Unruly Archive’ reignites history, demonstrating that it is never truly silent if you know where to look. Through her art, she challenges us to rethink how we document history, whose voices are heard, and how we can keep the past alive for future generations.“ –Angela Nicole Guiral via Tatler Philippines

'Inherent Vice' by Stephanie Syjuco is on view through 5 October 2024 at Silverlens Manila.

🔗 Read the full article below.

Reimagining history: How is Stephanie Syjuco breathing new life into archives? By recontextualising archival images, Stephanie Syjuco challenges conventional narratives and invites viewers to see history as an evolving story

On view at Silverlens Manila: ‘Inherent Vice’ by Stephanie Syjuco

In ‘Inherent Vice’, Stephanie Syjuco engages with images spanning the late 1960s to 1972 from the photo-morgue of the now defunct Manila Chronicle newspaper housed in the Lopez Museum and Library archives. A contrast to the American colonial records that the artist previously explored, this is a repository of materials by Filipinos for Filipinos, the visual representation of a young nation trying to define itself as captured by photojournalists.

Syjuco attempts to make sense of disparate images that she encountered - young people partying and posing confidently in fashionable clothing, riot policemen poised for action, farm workers, agricultural products, student activists and politicians, interior design and decorative plants. Challenging neat presentations of oft repeated themes that have become seared into our collective memory to form a linear narrative, Syjuco’s collages and layered visual composites acknowledge the fragmented way in which we remember history. (Words by Yael Buencamino Borromeo)

‘Inherent Vice’ is on view through 5 October 2024 at Silverlens Manila.

🔗 Click here for more information about the exhibition: https://www.silverlensgalleries.com/exhibitions/2024-08-29/inherent-vice

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1: ‘Beauty Queens (Miss Asia)’, 2024. (detail)
2: Installation view of ‘Inherent Vice’ at Silverlens Manila, 2024.
3: ‘Rattan Offense (Basket Shields)’, 2024.
4: Installation view of ‘Inherent Vice’ at Silverlens Manila, 2024. (detail)
5: ‘Girl Group 2 (Ornamented Blondes)’, 2024. (detail)
6: Installation view of ‘Inherent Vice’ at Silverlens Manila, 2024.

Silverlens Manila is looking for an intern to assist our Finance and Accounting team.

Internship period is from September to November 2024.

Interested applicants may send their CV to [email protected]. Deadline of application is 18 September 2024.

Happy birthday, Hanna Pettyjohn!

Hanna Pettyjohn (b. 1983, Manila, Philippines; lives and works in Dallas, USA) is a Filipino-American artist whose practice combines sculptural installations with paintings in an exploration of identity and transnational narratives. Tinged with both nostalgia and an acute awareness of life’s transience, Pettyjohn’s practice is informed by fragments of memory, autobiographical details, and firsthand knowledge of the global diaspora. Through her large-scale portraits and personal photographs turned-tactile landscapes, she conveys the vague anxiety and alienation that afflict the uprooted.

🔗 Click here to learn more about the artist: https://silverlensgalleries.com/artists/hanna-pettyjohn

Discover the works of Mit Jai Inn in Silverlens’ presentation for The Armory Show.

Mit Jai Inn, (b. 1960, Buak Khang, Thailand; lives and works in Chiang Mai) the pioneer of Thai contemporary art, showing at the upcoming 11th Asia Pacific Triennial (Queensland), creates distinctive color-based works in a densely layered, manually laborious, and physically rigorous practice. In this series of near-identical paintings, which the artist painted over and over again for a total of 50 canvases, Jai Inn abstractly references rice paddies, the patchwork of monks’ robes, and the colors of Thai temples. His ’*Marking Stones’* will also be on display following their inclusion in his fall 2023 solo exhibition in New York. Equally renowned for his socially engaged work, which reflects an extension of his Thai Buddhism, the artist created functional baskets, stools, and lamps as part of a social installation in which visitors were encouraged to submit a “pledge for good” to enter a drawing for a chance to win these objects.

Visit Silverlens at Booth #220 in Javits Center, New York, with public viewing open until 8 September 2024.

🔗 Click here to learn more about Silverlens’ presentation: https://www.silverlensgalleries.com/exhibitions/2024-09-05/the-armory-show-2024

📸 1: ‘Untitled’, 2004.

2: ‘Untitled’, 2015.

3: ‘Untitled’, 2022. (SPI_MJI311)

4: ‘Marking Stone’, 2022.

5: ‘Marking Stone’, 2022.

6: Installation view of Silverlens’ presentation at The Armory Show, 2024.

🖼️ On view at Silverlens Manila: Collectors Plus

For the 5th edition of ‘Collectors Plus’, Silverlens presents a selection of works from the late 1990s up to the present.

The show includes mixed media works by Kawayan de Guia and Michael Joo; paintings by Mariano Ching, Mark Andy Garcia, Nona Garcia, Dashiell Manley, Pow Martinez, Yasmin Sison, and Syagini Ratna Wulan; works on paper by Patricia Perez Eustaquio, Gilda Cordero Fernando, and Rodel Tapaya; and a sculpture by Gregory Halili.

‘Collectors Plus’ is on view until 5 October 2024 at Silverlens Manila.

🔗 Click here to explore the exhibition: https://silverlensgalleries.com/viewing-room/2024-09-05/collectors-plus

Silverlens proudly presents ’Emporium’, a solo exhibition by Patricia Perez Eustaquio, opening today, 5 September 2024.

In ’Emporium', Eustaquio's materially driven process turns to abaca, or Manila h**p, a plant native to the Philippines and a major trade commodity in the colonial era. Woven abaca rope sculptures snake through the gallery space, tracing a narrative that stems from the sea and the islands of the artist’s Philippine ancestors. Emporium also features Eustaquo’s large-scale tapestries, taking historical paintings and imagery and digitally translating these into black-and-white woven images.

In their flexibility and softness, Eustaquio’s braided ropes and woven tapestries put forward the artist’s central exploration of combining tactile, familiar, or common materials with other processes to compose questions about the world in a way that allows for amorphous and fluid ideas and perceptions, in reference to the historic, art-historical, social, and economic realities.

An exhibition walkthrough led by Eustaquio and writer Simon Wu will take place on Saturday, 7 September 2024, starting at 11 AM.

Eustaquio’s work is also on view at Silverlens’ presentation for The Armory Show in New York which runs from 5 through 8 September 2024.

🔗 Click here to learn more about the exhibition: https://www.silverlensgalleries.com/exhibitions/2024-09-05/emporium

The Armory Show opens for preview today!

Silverlens is pleased to return to The Armory Show with a presentation showcasing nine, mid-career Southeast Asian artists: Tosh Basco, Kawayan de Guia, Keka Enriquez, Patricia Perez Eustaquio, Gregory Halili, Mit Jai Inn, Pow Martinez, Wawi Navarroza, and Renato Orara.

Visit Silverlens at Booth #220 in Javits Center, New York. The fair will be open to the public from 6 to 8 September 2024 from 11 AM onwards.

Concurrently on view at Silverlens New York is ‘Emporium’ by Patrica Perez Eustaquio and ‘re_mediations’ by Gary-Ross Pastrana.

🔗 Click here to learn more about Silverlens at The Armory Show: https://www.silverlensgalleries.com/exhibitions/2024-09-05/the-armory-show-2024

Pow Martinez’s solo exhibition ‘Look, but don’t touch. Touch, but don’t taste. Taste, but don’t swallow’ is on view at MO_space.

“Pow Martinez’s latest exhibition at MO_Space reminds us yet again of how he has become the ‘new medievalist’ of our time. Resorting to a new form of ‘dark age’ within the technocratic digital realm, he leaves naturalism behind, reflecting the tastes of the barbarians who were once swayed by Christendom and now—by virtue signaling and moralist gaffes. His art, although many times described as unrefined, outsider, and childlike, ironically poses as significant commentary against the vicious cycles of alienation and imperialization, and as a symbolic chronicle of the lingering values and absurd preoccupations of our society.” –Cocoy Lumbao, Jr. via MO_Space

‘Look, but don’t touch. Touch, but don’t taste. Taste, but don’t swallow’ is on view until 8 September 2024 at MO_space.

🔗 Click here for more information about the exhibition: https://www.mo-space.net/exhibitions/look-but-dont-touch-touch-but-dont-taste-taste-but-dont-swallow-mo-space

📸 Installation images of ‘Look But Don’t Touch, Touch But Don’t Taste, Taste But Don’t Swallow’ by Pow Martinez courtesy of MO_Space.

Yee I-Lann, Patricia Perez Eustaquio, and Geraldine Javier are part of the group exhibition ‘A Heart that Weaves Banana Leaves’ at the KF ASEAN Culture House.

“Throughout the ASEAN region, a rich weaving culture has been enjoyed and passed down for centuries, utilizing abundant indigenous plants as raw materials. Today’s artists create their own unique visual languages through the solidarity with these traditions. The works of the nine artists and teams showcased in this exhibition invite lively participation through messages of hope and tranquility – and all without neglecting profound social commentary. “ –KF ASEAN Culture House - KF 아세안문화원

‘A Heart that Weaves Banana Leaves’ is on view until 3 November 2024 at KF ASEAN Culture House in Busan, South Korea.

🔗 Tap the link in bio for more information about the exhibition.

📸 Installation images courtesy KF ASEAN Culture House, Busan. ©CJY ART STUDIO

Silverlens Manila is pleased to host ‘The Unruly Archive’, a conversation between artist Stephanie Syjuco and historian Isa Nazareno, moderated by SPOT.ph Editor-in-Chief Jerome Gomez, on the occasion of Syjuco’s first solo exhibition in the Philippines, ‘Inherent Vice’. Held at the gallery on Saturday, 31 August 2024, 2:30 PM, both speakers will discuss the role and relevance of archives in relation to one’s critical-creative practice.

Syjuco will also hold a book signing of her first monograph, ‘The Unruly Archive’, after the conversation. Published by Radius Books, the monograph weaves together Syjuco’s research-based practice with a substantial array of visual source material. Bound in a unique format with different types of paper, the pages are cut and layered to simulate the process of physically excavating folders in an archive.

‘Inherent Vice’ will be on view at Silverlens Manila from 29 August to 5 October 2024.

🔗 Register for the event at [email protected] by 29 August.

📸 L-R: Portrait of Stephanie Syjuco, photo by Kija Lucas. Portrait of Isa Nazareno. Portrait of Jerome Gomez, photo by Neal Oshima.

An artwork’s story does not end as soon as it is completed, exhibited, or sold. It lives on in perpetuity, continuously ageing with its patron, overseeing generations.

Today’s features collages by Gary-Ross Pastrana and a painting by Nicole Coson 🏡

Many thanks to our featured collector and to all our other patrons for their continued support!

🔗 Learn more about the artists at silverlensgalleries.com.

"Every work in ‘Soft Fantasy/Hard Reality’ strives to disclose its own ideals, disruptions, and experiments. The titular opposition can be read as a shift away from – a refusal of – the Western art world’s tendency to group work by Asian or Asian-diasporic artists into a flattening, identity-based framework. This show’s anti-essentialist approach not only supports artistic expression without imposing predetermined cultural and racial interpretations, but also, perhaps more surprisingly, offers a chance at affinities outside of the basis of identity."

‘Soft Fantasy/Hard Reality’ Plays With Binaries The capacious theme of this seven-artist show at Silverlens, New York, invites affinities outside of the basis of identity

📚 Available books at Silverlens Manila

Recent additions to the Silverlens bookshop include Stephanie Syjuco’s ’The Unruly Archive’ and ‘After/Images’, and Bernardo Pacquing’s ‘Everyday Materials’.

Signed copies of Pow Martinez’s eponymous monograph are also available for purchase at Silverlens Manila. Written by renowned contemporary art writer Tony Godfrey and published by ArtAsiaPacific, this book offers a comprehensive view of the Filipino artist’s work spanning 2009 to 2023.

🔗 View other available titles: https://silverlensgalleries.com/publications

Tomorrow is the last day of ‘At First Sight’ by Leo Valledor and ‘Pow Martinez’.

Don’t miss out! Silverlens Manila is open from 10 AM to 6 PM.

🔗 Visit silverlensgalleries.com to learn more about our exhibitions.

📣 Gallery Advisory

Silverlens Manila will be closed tomorrow, 21 August 2024, in observance of Ninoy Aquino Day.

The gallery will be open Friday, 23 August 2024, for the last day of ‘At First Sight’ by Leo Valledor and ‘POW MARTINEZ’.

Silverlens New York remains open with ‘Soft Fantasy / Hard Reality’.

🔗 Visit silverlensgalleries.com to explore our shows online.

📸 (detail) Stephanie Syjuco. ‘Reference Shots (Aquino Array)’, 2024.

Silverlens New York is pleased to host artist Patricia Perez Eustaquio together with writer Simon Wu for a special guided walkthrough of ‘Emporium’ on Saturday, 7 September 2024 at 11am, focusing on the history of the sculptures’ materials.

The first artist to be represented by the gallery in Manila, Eustaquio debuts her tapestry works in the United States with ‘Emporium’, which also marks the first-ever representation of the artist’s all-new series of large-scale woven rope sculptures.

‘Patricia Perez Eustaquio: Emporium’ will be on view at Silverlens New York from 5 September through 19 October 2024. Concurrently in the gallery, Manila-based artist Gary-Ross Pastrana presents the cabinet exhibition ‘re_mediations’, his first-ever solo in the United States.

🔗 RSVP to [email protected].

Happy birthday to Silverlens founder and co-director Isa Lorenzo! 🥳

Twenty years ago, Isa founded Silverlens and, alongside co-director Rachel Rillo, has built the gallery to be a leading contemporary art gallery in Southeast Asia. This year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Silverlens Manila and the 2nd year of Silverlens New York.

Join us in wishing Isa a happy birthday!

📷 Tammy David