"If the shoe fits"

MANILA, Philippines – Pete Jimenez has a knack for finding little gems buried in junk shops around Metro Manila. What most of us consider useless junk are actually treasures-in-waiting – waiting for the good hands of an artist like Jimenez.

In “If The Shoe Fits,” Jimenez shows us that his favorite weapon of choice – scrap iron – can be combined with wooden shoe lasts to get second lives as provocative art pieces. The exhibit runs at The Water Dragon Gallery of the Yuchengco Museum until June 20.

The wooden shoe lasts from Marikina have been hibernating in his studio-garage in Quezon City for more than five years now, waiting to be resurrected into a new life not limited as utilitarian footwear. Even then, his idea was to work these wooden shoe lasts with his scrap iron.

When Alliance Française de Manille and the French Embassy in the Philippines were preparing to bring to Manila the international traveling exhibition “Portraits de chaussures – histoires de pieds (Portraits of Shoes – Stories of Feet)” curated by French curator Yves Sabourin (on show at Yuchengco Museum also until June 20), Jimenez was invited to do a show in conjunction with the French shoe exhibit. It was an exciting but challenging task for Jimenez to create the art pieces, finally able to use the shoe lasts in his garage.

On exhibit is Jimenez’s witty and creative take on shoes, composed of 20 art works of varying sizes, from an 8-inch high “Iron Lady’s Crocs,” made up of an old flat iron welded on a piece from a farm tractor, to the 5-foot-high “Principal’s Office” made from flat bars that look like a slender rendition of a school chair with “shoes.” 

Jimenez continues to love the challenge of creating new objects with recycled iron, which keeps him busy almost every weekend. He also relishes how he has been able to show another angle of his creative side beyond his days in the advertising post-production world. His enthusiasm rubs off when you listen to him talk about his works. “Guest Speaker” is one of the most unique pieces in his exhibit because “I was able to use for the first time a pair of shoe lasts and a discarded gasoline tank of a motorcycle. When I combined these with an old manual water pump, I already knew what shape it would take… it looks like an animated character! I would say it is a very powerful piece,” he explains.

Another piece that catches the eye is “Bell Bottom Blues,” which the artist describes as transparent-polka-dotted-skinny jeans. It is made up of cut-up pieces from old steel matting used as fencing during the 1950’s. The material was given to him by an officemate who was about to throw it away. “You will feel the motion as one looks at the pieces suggestive of the pose and footwork of Elvis Presley,” he notes.

Such ideas come from everyday encounters, says Jimenez, and his mind captures them like Polaroid snapshots. Once he is in his studio-garage with all that scrap iron at his imaginative and creative disposal, get ready to be amazed!

“If The Shoe Fits” runs until June 20 at the Water Dragon Gallery of the Yuchengco Museum, RCBC Plaza, Makati City. The gallery is open Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm, closed on Sundays and holidays.