TALIM

Ronson Culibrina

October 14 – November 4, 2017

Tracing his roots and drawing inspiration from everyday life by the bay in his hometown, Ronson Culibrina presents new works which are at once ethnographies of coastal communities and recollections of personal memories. The title instantly declares a reference to the famed island in Laguna de Bay, the very site that inspired the project. But it also suggests something piercing and scathing. Such adjectives are fitting in a number of ways: they describe the sharp contrast through which the monochromatic images of fisherfolks and lakeside environs are rendered; the dilemma the body of works raises between livelihood and ecological soundness; and the tools and weapons used by man in conquering and transforming nature to his advantage.

The choice of media relates further to the site and becomes intimately woven into the narratives opened up by the variety of forms and images gathered. Bamboo and water lilies used in cottage industries that craft furniture and a range of consumer items find their way as both material and image in a number of works. The charcoal used in portraits and sceneries alludes to another local industry—one which turns burnt bamboo and coconut husks into fuel—as well as the silt and impurities that contaminate a life-giving body of water. Plastic bottles clogging and impeding the water’s flow are transformed into precious chinaware, implying excesses transformed by the power of art into objects of value. All these explorations, while documenting the daily life and struggles of a locale, intimate the broader theme of man’s conflict with nature, and offer a cautionary tale about a community grappling with the consequences engendered by survival and development.

                                                                                                                 Ruel N. Caasi, Curator

A graduate of Advertising from the Technological University of the Philippines, Ronson Culibrina bagged the Grand Prize in the 2009 Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) Painting Competition, and received a Special Citation from the Metrobank Art and Design Excellence (MADE) in 2014. He was recently included in the 2016 Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 which lists young leaders and achievers in various fields.