The images depicted can possibly mean more than what they seem, that issues may lie behind the curtain so to speak. What certain things do preoccupy you with the work?

KIM GACEJA: Minsan meron, minsan wala. I haven't thought about it, but now that it has been brought up…siguro time is a big factor in my works, it represents constant change. Na you're living in the moment.

TRACIE ANGLO DIZON: I explore beauty in my paintings because I long for a return to beauty in art (not beauties), to something aesthetically pleasing but beyond traditional yet restrictive notions of beauty.  I want to go against the current cultural taste for perfection – in women, in art, in social media. Sometimes I am very bothered when people equate skill with beauty. If something is skilfully rendered, draping for instance, it is therefore beautiful and judged universally as really good art. I find that notion so superficial. Perfection is boring – in objects, in paintings, in our virtual lives. We are human beings. We are not meant to be perfect. This very human desire for the divine – for attaining perfection – is a form of narcissism which I am attempting to reject in my art.  

Can you discuss some of the approach made in developing both concept and form in the work?

AUI SUAREZ:  I took pictures of objects in our home, assembled and painted them. Some were parts of the house, others were draperies. On my polyptych piece, "Finding the River", I painted several parts in our home that for me triggered a sense of defamiliarization due to worrying, anticipating better news and cabin fever, maybe. The "river" equates hope out of the pandemic. My second piece "Company" was a collection of draperies which I thought would resemble stones/rocks. Rocks play huge roles when one is lost. In Julian Koepcke's case, she used these to clear her path from danger and predators by throwing these ahead.

REGINA REYES:  I think it goes both ways. It always starts with thoughts and images that strike me. I take my own reference photos, (but don’t plan any work initially), or ask shots from family and friends when something speaks to me. I collect these and go back to them on an almost daily basis, as a way of somehow trying to understand what goes on in my mind.

 The art making process consequently dictates the final image, though the reverse can also be true, with the concept affecting the outcome in communicating its meaning, which then leads to visual tension and a compelling picture. In your work are there other unseen dynamics in arriving at the narrative or the essence of the picture?

LENA COBANGBANG: The work is triggered by a podcast I was listening in about the supposed CIA operation or that rather they were behind the Scorpions song “Wind of Change” that was very popular in Berlin prior to Perestroika/Glasnost and before the Berlin Wall was felled down. One of the interviewed subject, a former agent with tenuous relationship with Russia and US didn’t actually gave an interview but wrote a letter, a long one and in it he mentioned that he has seen the elephant. In Cold War surveillance parlance it could really mean anything, implies also very insidious operations they may have done. Plus, there had been instances that I've been dreaming of elephants, in 1 or 2 instances.

KIM GACEJA: About sa tao (if absent or present sa picture) siguro depende sa perspective ng tumitingin, naka first person POV kasi sya, na ikaw mag dedecide kung papunta or paalis palang. Gusto ko lang sya maging constant reminder na you either use it to move forward or to look back, it'll be a place that will welcome you.

IKEA RIZALON: Wala naman pero siguro depende sa tema ng show or kung ano lang yung latest inspiration ko. Nagiipon lang ako ng mga images tapos pinagsasama sama ko nalang sa isang work. Yung paglagay ko ng thread work yung nag se-set ng mood don sa pyesa na ginagawa ko.

REGINA REYES: I don’t stay true to my references though, but I use them as a starting point and make my own composition. I try my best to allow the work to transform in itself during the process, and that’s why I think it goes both ways. I listen to the work and feel what it has to say, where it wants to go. Sometimes the images or elements change halfway through the work, and inevitably, the message somehow changes too. I think that’s very important — because when you allow the work to speak for you, it will unravel itself in ways that you had not planned initially. You’ll get to know more about your work, and yourself along the way. So ultimately, the object influences the process, and the process influences the object. 

TRACIE ANGLO DIZON: Well, the concept of what is beautiful is always personal. But it also changes, like fashion. What is considered beautiful now, influenced by the current cultural taste, may not be considered beautiful tomorrow. Nowadays, and especially during the pandemic, a misanthropic mood seems to be permeating our world. Our economy is in shambles, people can’t travel, we can’t eat out. Our homes have become our prisons. It’s really ugly out there. They say art reflects society. Therefore, does beauty still matter in art?  It should, but maybe right now it doesn’t.

A thing loses its materiality once its significance supersedes its representation verging on abstraction. Any thoughts about the translation from the material to the essential?

TRACIE ANGLO DIZON: Which (this current state of instability) is why I am attracted to abstraction – it doesn’t attempt to depict reality accurately. It’s freedom and instinct, created solely by the artist.  It doesn’t attempt to borrow from the visual sphere of reality. It is pure art.  I think meaning in art is over-rated. The beautiful strokes of calligraphy – Chinese, Islamic, Aztec – are pure aesthetic pleasure for me, and I enjoy looking at them without being able to read it or know its meaning. In my art, I use these calligraphic strokes as a stratagem to transform old notions of beauty and see things anew.

ARGIE BANDOY: Yes I work primarily with abstractions...but I sometime also paint still life objects, flowers etc....for me para syang taking a break and also when I am in a good mood or on a slack mode....na parang ayaw ko ng mabigat. I like the directness of it and also I feel like going back to the tradition of painting parang sa art class....but as you might notice my color palette will always remain consistent regardless of the subjects...

BAYANI GALERA:  May pakiramdam na nostalgic yung mga works ko marahil halos lahat tayo ay dumaan/ may karanasan sa nakikita nating upuan o school armchair. Hindi lang sya gamit sa eskwelahan kundi ito ay isang kaibigan na literal na masasandalan natin, kaibigang nakasama sa masaya at malungkot na alaala ng pang araw araw natin sa eskwelahan. Upuang hindi lang sumisimbolo sa eskwelahan kundi sa memoryang dala nito sa atin. Kung paanong nagdikit tayo ng mga bubble gum sa ilalim ng desk, nag vandal at sinulat ang pangalan ni crush, hinagis/sinunog sa panaho ng pag aalsa, at iba pa. Sa mga susunod na pyesa, at sa halip, susubukan kong gumamit ng pigura pero hindi ito literal na pigura kundi mga gamit o pangyayari/memorya padin ng eswelahan katulad ng School ID, Class picture, At Grad pic. (Experiences = Good/Bad Memories).

REGINA REYES:  For me, it’s the feeling that the work evokes. I believe that art is universal, and I think that the best works of art can stand alone on its own, without the need for superfluous words of explanation. It will speak for itself, and perhaps that is my goal in my works; allow it to take over the conversation. It's difficult, and I’m not claiming that I’m there yet, but my process/journey is driven by the constant desire to try and allow the viewers to reflect on their own experiences and lives as well. For me, art is a way of conversing — albeit indirectly — to the world around us.

If the thing is indeterminate, that it can be whatever we wish for it to be as it circulates through a fluctuating value-based culture, would the work of art still be necessary? 

JAYSON OLIVERIA:

On behalf of my heart and soul, my art is super worth it. 

Exploring the object’s role in everyday life as it becomes a thing of meaning, The Thing Is hosts a suite of paintings as scumbling still lifes, porcelain plates with hardened drippings, a thick wad of cash thrust center, and many, many more…

READ: The Everyday Allure of “The Thing Is” by Elo Dinglasan