Into the Midst of Things |6 ft. x 14ft. |Oil on Canvas | 2017
2017
Median Landscape
4 May 2017 - 3 June 2017 - Art Informal Connecticut, Greenhills
To Catch A Fleeting Glimpse | 3 ft. x 6ft. |Oil on Canvas | 2017
What is our relationship to an in-between place? It falls in a precarious position, the meandering line that connects two, often known, locations. At both ends, our identity and relationship to the place is stable. But for the in-between, we know nothing beyond its surface. To look out the window during a routine travel is to see places whose only point of recognition is a fleeting familiarity, as one journeys from node A to node B. Rare are those who stop midway to take a tangential road, deviating from one’s usual course. More often than not, the route is set and the landscapes are relegated to mere sideshows framed by a vehicle’s window.
In Median Landscapes , Pope Bacay reconstructs the vistas that he often passes along; en route from his hometown to Metropolitan Manila, and back. Primarily an act of remembering, it is also an act of attention. It is to view with new eyes the scenes which had once been notable, but had lost their remarkability in the passing of time. It is to acknowledge that the familiar may, in fact, remain unknown.
In the past, Bacay had portrayed photorealistic paintings of homes, with corresponding architectural details, that he had previously resided in. Enigmatic, placid, and often set against somber, neutral skies, these works had evoked a sense of stability and timelessness. But for the in-between places: jagged lines like live wire; the thick, scratched textures; the restless colors of heat and noon. Topographies seemingly abuzz with electrified energy. In truth, it is not only in the end points, but also in the journey between, that the seeming dichotomy between home and away resides. Our bounded selves in fixed trajectories unravel and the midway becomes a stage of unbecoming. Home-like structures in the distance never solidify. Expanses of field and land amalgamate on top of each other. The thickets of paint are dense and opaque. In the tension between knowing and not knowing, these landscapes quiver with life.
by JC Rosette
Halfway There | 3ft. x 4 ft. | Oil on Canvas | 2017
To Catch A Fleeting Glimpse | 3ft. x 4ft. | 2017
