Pensive Junctures joins together artists Roberto Feleo, Winner Jumalon, Edrick Daniel, Josh Palisoc, Krista Nogueras, Ferdinand C. Riotoc, Rodney Yap, Orley Ypon, and Danny Sillada for a group show that grapples with the idea of being between the lines. Proceeding from varying disciplines and preoccupations, the artists are brought together by an inclination for juxtaposing ideas and arriving at thematic crossroads.

For Roberto Feleo and Orley Ypon, tension lies in the intersection between history and the contemporary condition. Feleo surveys the ways we approach myth-making and history, concerning himself with recontextualizing the history of the Philippines in his own way, far from the prism of colonization.

Although his creative practice was nurtured within the conventions of Cebuano realism, Ypon defies this artistic pedigree with his flair for dramatic lighting and an energy and vigor not often found in bucolic realist landscapes. Under his hand, tradition converges with more contemporary concerns and mediums.

Winner Jumalon, Edrick Daniel, Krista Nogueras, and Josh Palisoc investigate the tenuous conceptions of identity. Jumalon’s rugged portraiture questions the very formation of identity itself, exploring the intricate relationship between his personal, cultural, and artistic identities as helays them bare on a psychological landscape.

Daniel’s art is often described as symbolic and metaphorical, combining seemingly unrelated objects together as a means to tell a story. At the heart of his oeuvre is the struggle of man caught in between giving into his natural desires and the need to define himself independently from it.

Paradoxical binaries intertwine in Nogueras’ work, most evident in the way her ceramic pieces can simultaneously be an emblem of both fragility and stability. Her ceramic heads allude to the multiplicity of selves that exist within us at any given time. It is also a physical manifestation of one’s personal, sacred sanctuary, which may also be an arena to converse, contemplate, and celebrate one’s inner demons.

Palisoc’s metal sculptures delve into a similar exploration into the concept of the inner self. He grounds his ideas using the foundations of Filipino psychology, co-opting the notions of loob (internal) and labas (external). His human figures, usually split down the middle, convey the artists’ belief that moments of brokenness are opportunities for self-actualization.

Lastly, tangible artistic concerns co-mingle with philosophical interests in the works of Ferdinand C. Riotoc, Josh Palisoc, Rodney Yap, and Danny Sillada.

Riotoc’s work is an exercise in camouflage. The artist renders things visible by balancing the intensity of his oil on canvas paintings with acrylic sheets, layering them with resin. Riotoc cobbles together objects that may be considered separate works of art by themselves to create entirely new work.

A symbiosis of impressionism and abstract surrealism as well as an affinity for thoughts that connect the past with the present and the future play into Yap’s compositions which utilize a technique unique to his work. His pieces are multi-layered with a calligraphic linear drawing automatism fused with intentional images.

Sillada culls inspiration from eclectic sources, such as the culture of Southern Philippines, existential philosophy, and his own personal life experiences, to produce work that require careful scrutiny in order to decipher.

Like the artworks it rounds up, Pensive Junctures itself becomes point of convergence for these varied inquiries into intersecting ideas by way of different artistic processes.