Ars Memorativa by Marika B. Constantino

My landscapes are non-specific, evoking a mood rather than a particular place, so that viewers are reminded of their own memories, dreams and nostalgia for locations.

Victoria Block

For most the area is congested, polluted and chaotic.  For others, the place is charming, magnetic and reliable.  To a select few that were born, bred and raised in Manila... it is undoubtedly, home.  Mimi Tecson and Wesley Valenzuela share their views and reminiscences in Collective Memory.

This exhibition is anchored on the study attributed to Maurice Halbwachs (1877–1945) wherein he states that “It is in society that people normally acquire their memories. It is also in society that they recall, recognize, and localize their memories.”  Essentially, it is an active past; it is organic and has the capacity to form identities.  It captures narratives, experiences and testimonies that are disclosed and passed on. 

This two-person show also encapsulates the artists’ affinity to amassing objects and imagery related to pop culture.  Through their daily expeditions of their environs, they have collected a multitude of corporeal items and symbolic representations; not to mention tales and chronicles from the people they encountered along their trek.  Tecson and Valenzuela intimate significant recollections, ideas and personas in their lives by fusing these tangible and contextual portrayals with their distinct artistic styles.

The artworks in this collection convey musings on their roots, religion and society.  The pieces evoke affirmations and queries on personal relationships, interests and their evolving visual explorations. 

Valenzuela's works combine painting and collage while incorporating symbolic juxtapositions of imagery from the past and present.  Allegorical depictions of decadence, materialism and its transitory nature are interspersed iconic figures of fear, spirituality and authority.

Tecson, on the other hand, employs bricolage; where she makes use of common objects to imbue an emotional connection through her art.  She focuses on the usage of these various items as a means of calling to mind and summoning memories — every single piece intimates a moment or serves as a visual mnemonic.

Although Tecson and Valenzuela employ divergent approaches and techniques, their works merge, flow and complement the other.  Not only is this apparent in the collaborative pieces in the exhibit but also in how they retain, propagate and reframe their sense of place and space within their individual outputs.  The role of shared memory in their creative process is a marriage of discoveries and an acceptance of inherited consciousness. 

Tecson and Valenzuela accord the viewers relatable vignettes from the Collective Memory they are cultivating together.