Art Lounge Manila extends 'Bisita Iglesia' exhibit until after Holy Week

MANILA, Philippines — Art Lounge Manila has extended its "Bisita Iglesia" exhibit until April 15, a week after the end of this year's Holy Week celebrations.

The exhibit is composed of devotional art, works derived from the belief in and yearning protection from a superior being and the continuance of the soul expressed by humanity in this life and the next.

The art gallery acknowledges that art allows people to reimagine and remember religious stories, not necessarily just of the Catholic faith but even indigenous expressions of belief that predates Christianity.

Devotional artworks don't even have to be merely paintings, sculptures and drawings, they can come in whatever form a person deems valuable — gold material, jewellery, wooden shapes, ivory.

Related: Ashes to ashes, dust to dust: A Lenten reflection

Here in the Philippines, many places of worship are adorned with such pieces, and such are reflected in the works exhibited in "Bisita Iglesia."

Seen in the exhibit are works by Inday Cadapan, Juvenal Sansó, Michael Cacnio, Roel Obemio, Omi Reyes, Agi Pagkatipunan, Anita del Rosario, and Jik Villanueva.

Just a few of the pieces that can be mentioned are an intricate cross by Sansó, Cacnio's sculptural cross "Substitution," Cadapan's church façade paintings, abstract crucifixes made from mother of pearl, brass and copper by del Rosario, and an interactive crucifix by Villanueva, Reyes, and Obemio.

"Bisita Iglesia" will now run until April 15 in Art Lounge Manila at the Ground Floor of The Podium mall in Ortigas Center.

RELATED: Galerie du Soleil MNL holds special Lenten back-to-back shows