MANILA – Michael Vincent Manalo’s ‘Reconstruction of Memory’ opens on May 18 at Galleria Duemila Inc.
We are at an exceptional epoch, a photographic time wherein the world of art embraces photography as its own—without a shadow of a doubt–as never before. Images are now identified as ‘art’ and many photographers consider independent space, gallery and the museum as refuge to their work.
This photographic moment is where Michael Vincent Manalo (b. 1986) thrives, a young artist who dabbles in photography, photo-manipulation, and installation. Manalo has established an undeniable poetry through the use of nostalgia. For the artist, “imagined memories of the nostalgic, dreamlike environments, and altered realities” serve as templates for his work.
Manalo once aspired to be a painter but eventually found a niche in employing mass technologies and photo editing applications. His images, for all its technological interventions echoes a Dali-esque approach on surrealism. In his photographs, a rigorous confidence can be found—a certain particularity in manoeuvring austerity and beauty with balance and harmony.
Portraits of individuals who are facing backwards juxtaposed with post-apocalyptic dreamscapes are recurring themes—an ode to his commitment to approximating the past and what has been earned from loss.
Most of his work relishes the presence of an atmospheric context; Manalo serves this liberally—a vital element that elicits human emotion to his audience. He depicts this through the introduction of meteorological elements—clouds in the verge of a storm, misplaced heavy rains, and fog that is laden with thick mist. All of which often ebbs and flows over his human subjects—eventually rendering them faceless and at times deformed. This alludes to the ever-changing spectrum of human emotions. Ultimately resulting to stunningly realized narratives that tackle our desire to appropriate time, place, and nostalgia.
Michael Vincent Manalo resides in Malate, Manila. He completed his bachelor’s degree in nursing at South East Asian College. His passion for photography ignited his genesis in the arts. This was followed by art recedencies in various countries. His works has been exhibited in Fellini Gallery, Mittenwalder Strasse; Germany, Gagliardi Gallery; United Kingdom and at The National Parliamentary Library; Georgia.
The exhibition will run from May 18-June 30, 2014 at Galleria Duemila. For more information, please contact Thess Ponce or Mark Arvin Patiag of Galleria Duemila, Tel. No. +632 831 9990; Telefax no. +632 833 9815, email: gduemila@gmail.com or visit the Galleria Duemila website.
