Human Struggles and its Beauty in the new Show “Under Construction”

WHAT: Under Construction
WHEN: August 5, 2023, 4 PM Opening Reception, exhibit ends on August 11, 2023
WHERE: Gateway Gallery, Level 5 Gateway Tower, Araneta City, Q.C.

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To be human is to be always in the state of under construction. We build and rebuild ourselves because our desires and memories are fragile under the gaze of the universe. To be alive is to be open to construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. We should embrace change no matter how unsettling it is for in the end it will give us agency and perhaps lead us to a meaningful life. We must trust the process of change. We must trust life itself.

This is the philosophical intent of “Under Construction: A Two-Man Exhibit” by Jom Vega and Ray Defante Gibraltar at the Gateway Gallery in Araneta City, Quezon City, which runs from August 5 to 12. The opening of the exhibit is on 5 August at 4 p.m. and is open to the public.

Vega is a freelance comic creator. In 1998, he joined the Philippine Educational Theater Associate as a production designer and his stint became partly a training as a script writer for the stage and film. A graduate of Bachelor of Fine Arts major in Painting from the University of Santo Tomas, Vega was trained in using oil, watercolor, and ink.

On the other hand, Gibraltar is a film and TV director, and graphic designer. He has been painting since he was a Bachelor of Arts major in Philosophy student at University of Saint La Salle. His film, Wanted Border, won the Best Film Award at the Cinema One Originals Film Festival. He used to direct teleseryes for GMA 7.

The exhibit will feature recent works by Vega and Gibraltar that are mostly abstract and surreal, articulating the internal human struggles in the realm that are psychological, emotional, spiritual and intellectual. Demonstrating their competence in the use of acrylic on canvas, acrylic on paper, ink on vellum board, and mixed media, the two artists will transport the consciousness of the audience to the aesthetic realm that lies somewhere between dystopia and utopia.