MANILA – Given the tendency to fill every slot on the calendar with things to do, it’s not that often that we pause to think about the past. Days gone by as well as lives of those who’ve passed on are themes in two ongoing exhibitions at Silverlens Galleries.
In Memento, Gregory Halili draws from nature as he explores death not through the common dark and grotesque images, but through exquisitely created skulls carved and painted on mother of pearl shells. “I have always been fascinated with life/death and have exploring this theme through the subject of an eye. The skull shells are really just a continuation of my ‘Eye’ paintings. The eyes paintings focuses on the rhythm of eyes closing and opening much like the phases of moon or a visual time frame. It is while working on the shell that I noticed the eerie resemble of skull profile. I was fascinated how this residue of nature can somehow manifest itself to mirror us,” Halili shared in an email interview.
The Manila-born artist, whose former work focuses primarily on miniature paintings, would recreate traditional techniques using vintage ivory. It was after a couple of years of using vintage ivory that he began to explore other materials that are closer to home, shares Halili, who has resettled in Manila after 25 years of living in the U.S.
It was a few years ago while on vacation in the Philippines that he noticed the large mother-of-pearl shells that he would eventually use in his art. “The sheen and natural luster of the shells sparked my interest to explore this material, which was then perfect for my subject,” Halili said. Such a material comes with challenges, beginning with sourcing the large raw shells, which are now highly regulated.
However, the artist shared that the most challenging part of Memento, as with his earlier works, is when to decide the painting is complete. “I love the challenge and exploration of finding the right technical process to achieve and intent, but it’s really the little additional details and moment of reflection to study and decide when the work is done,” he says.
The result is a series of iridescent skulls, at first glance the same but upon closer inspection, quite unique, in the same way that none of the shells are alike.
Mounted on pedestals that Halili also designed, the figures are marked simply by number, giving a sense of anonymity that contributes to the overall theme of connection. “Each piece has a title of Memento Mori and a number. I like to keep the title as simple as possible, given the nature of the rawness of the work,” Halili said.
In flower flies mimic wasps, Rachel Rillo offers a collection of photographic prints, mostly black and white, bringing the viewers to a time before Photoshop and Instagram. The nostalgic collection is created with techniques such as bracketing, solarizing, and double exposure – results of which can now be achieved with the press of a button. “We’re all on Instagram putting pretty pictures and all of that that say a story, which is amazing. But I guess this is about what it is to have a print, or things printed on different materials and the old way of making images,” Rillo told adobo.
As mentioned in the exhibit notes, flower flies mimic wasps is Rillos’s final offering as a represented artist of the gallery, which she and Isa Lorenzo founded in 2004. “I felt like maybe it was time to put that hat down as a represented artist and be more focused on running the gallery, because it really takes a lot of attention. I don’t think anyone really retires from being an artist… and who knows, maybe without that pressure I’ll make more work,” Rillo said.
“When I studied photography and went to art school there was a time when digital wasn’t around yet, and so there were a lot of techniques photographically that our generation learned very difficultly,” said the artist. The collection, while perhaps better appreciated by those familiar with such camera techniques, is still enjoyed by others, with some finding it kitschy and others delighted by the work’s aesthetic.
The pieces include photograms, a time lapse of sticker labels, some images printed directly on metal, as well as the only colored prints in the collection – a series of bracketed photos. Rillo explained that apart from showing the bracketing technique which is used to achieve the right exposure, this also shows how “just by making something lighter or something darker, the feel of it, the physicality of it changes a lot.”
As photography tricks are used, the images also trick the viewer, such an image of chalk markings, or an image of metal printed on metal, or crumpled paper on Tyvek. “The idea of paper being crumpled – is it mimicking, is it fooling us to believe it’s crumpled or folded? You’re not really sure what it is,” Rillo said. The exhibit is enlightening, and not only for today’s filter-happy shutterbugs. As the artist puts it, “There’s a lot more to a photograph.”
Gregory Halili’s Memento and Rachel Rillo’s flower flies mimic wasps run from November 27 to December 20 at Silverlens Galleries |2F YMC Building 2 Don Chino Roces Ave. Ext., Makati City
Main photo from Gregory Halili
