Zobel-D'Bayan: Unlikely encounter

CEBU, Philippines - Just as on any page of a newspaper, one could see the unlikeliest juxtapositions  an article on a holiday to Cebu, say, placed beside a report about a boom in the production of sparkplugs  so could in an exhibition showcase two noted artists of perhaps seemingly opposed aesthetic sensibilities.

In celebration of The Philippine STAR’s 25th Anniversary, the well-attended exhibition Zobel-D’Bayan was mounted at the prestigious Ayala Museum, a show where visual and mental fireworks had been on display just before the coming of the Year of the Water Dragon.

Featuring together a collection of some of the works of contemporary master art photographer Jaime Zobel and painterly provocateur Igan D’Bayan, the exhibit was a combination of the whimsical and the horror, where walls were adorned with images of alleys and streetscapes and torn limbs and skeletons.

The mix was bound to make skeptics raise an eyebrow each, but certainly all anxiety was put to ease upon setting one’s sight at the success of this odd coupling, like two ingredients with clashing tastes, meshed together in a meal, so that their opposition bursts into full flavor in sensory overload.

Concentrating this time in photographic collage, Zobel focused on compositions sporting images of graffiti, found and gathered variously in London, Madrid and even in Makati. Textures as urban as cigarette smoke and traffic lights, were captured in his frame, in all their multicolored elegance, but minus the health hazards most metropolis would offer humanity.

D’Bayan, on the other hand, centered on a wholly different visual menu, his wares littered with protruding ribs, menacing horns and deformations most minds didn’t always have names for. It was a nightmarish concoctions of visual delights, that seemed to have been fetched from his unconscious and led to the surface of the canvas, mischievously poking fun at the audience, looking at the pieces in awe. Certainly his imagery was, I must say, in almost direct counterpoint to the glamour of some guests in attendance, whose eyes witnessed this unlikely encounter between Goth and graffiti.

Among those who made this exhibition possible, in addition to The Philippine STAR, were an equally merry mix of sponsors that include, the Ayala Corporation, the San Miguel Corporation, Samsung Philippines, Lucerne Philippines, Chateau 1771 and Crucible Gallery.

If this show proved one thing – other than the art scene being vibrant in our corner of the globe – it is that such collaborations and mash-ups are an exciting development to look forward to.

Here’s to more unlikely encounters in 2012! (FREEMAN)