Means to an End

The ends’ justifying the means is a phrase that is most often trotted out when a questionable mode of behavior is called to account. From Machiavelli to Hitler to the War on Terror, the fixation on an end result is the dominant factor. So too it is for us as we go about our daily lives, but with the extremity of our actions, for the most part, being ameliorated by our moral compass.

The current group exhibition, On Common Ground, Uncommon Grounds, at The OWG Creative Centre Gallery calls this ethic into question. Three abstract artists, Resty Tica, Ric Hernandez and Demosthenes Campos use the process of production of their works to express their ideas. For them, by focusing on the means of creation they produce their aesthetically pleasing ends.

With his large digital mixed media on canvas works, Resty Tica presents us with digital prints atop larger painted surfaces. In Junk #9 and Junk #10 the predominantly white digital prints with their cross hatching and rust like patches sit on black painted larger canvases that recall city nightscapes. While in Vespa, the larger white panel with its subdued intricate color patches has a digital print overlay which captures the thrill of the ride as it draws you into its orange and yellow depths.

Demosthenes Campos’ mixed media works have a 3 dimensional quality which comes from the materials he uses for their construction. His canvas works have a translucent over painting that allows the underlying layers of canvas strips, painting and drawing to inform these Mondrian inspired works. Whilst in the series Over Looking III to VIII, Campos builds 6 delicate assemblages of disparate materials with a bird’s nest complexity which he secures to their paper supports with wax. Drops of which have been applied to the glass of their frames.

Found book end papers, mostly historical in nature, have been employed by Ric Hernandez to create his collages that reflect on the relationship between negative and positive spaces. These 10” x 14” framed works more often than not take their titles from the words and phrases found on the pages employed. In “Copyright 1946”, “Manila 1984”, “Man and Hero” Hernandez, through his use of space, allows the viewer to reflect upon the meaning of the words. Although with the piece “Gram-er”, its words could sum up his works in particular and this exhibition in general. “Dedicated to the people of the Philippines who do not speak Tagalog, that this volume may motivate them to learn the national tongue.”

On Common Ground continues at the OWG Creative Centre Gallery, Ground Floor, La Fuerza Plaza II, 2241 Don Chino Roces Ave. corner Sabio St., Makati City until the 27th December.