Re –

Jeffrey Jay Jarin  and Wipo

Dec. 9 – 30, 2017

Blanc Gallery

Revisit. Retrace. Redraft. Rethink. Recycle. The prefix “re-“ indicates a repetition or a going back, which may lead back to either where one has started; or to a state of change or of transformation.  Two exciting emerging visual artists with diverse practices, Jeffrey Jay Jarin and Wipo, curate and create “Re-“ , an introspective and insightful two-man exhibition at Blanc Gallery, which ruminates on the dialectical processes of how we affect our environment, and how the environment, in turn, changes us. 

The term “environment” is taken loosely.  It may mean the city around us, or in the broader sense, nature, and our place in it.  In Jarin’s austere but meticulously composed works whose clean-cut aesthetics are mildly reminiscent of David Hockney, the construction site becomes the locus for the unending battle between the human activity, visualized through his cities and urban dwellings, and the ubiquitous, persistent plants of the natural world which appear in it: two competing forces with the innate predisposition for colonization where one must ultimately give way to the other.  One serves as raw material to the other, a source of material, or a source of nourishment; but will ultimately lead to a changed state in the other.

Wipo, on the other hand, presents two sets of works of a more psychological nature.  A set of abstract character portraits characterized by the sinewy, free-flowing and contorting colored lines, and a body of abstract works he terms as “mannerisms” which mirror the unconscious tics, expressions, and even subtle inflections we make whenever we are stimulated by situations or our interactions.  Loosely composed, the unrestrained exuberant lines in both sets of works mirror our malleability and flux as we adjust to each other and our surroundings.

In “Re-“, we are taken on an inward journey by both artists as they contemplate on the quotidian, that we often very much take for granted.  Because it is mundane, we often lack the presence to explore its effects on us, and be critical of what is happening.  In “Re-“ Jarin and Wipo invite us to awareness, to reassess the way we live, and to ponder on possible paths to equilibrium and balance.

-Ricky Francisco

About the Artists:

Jeffrey Jay Jarin is a painter, graphic designer, instructor, street artist, and core member of Cavity Collective, a street art group which draws members largely from south of Manila. He has exhibited in Vinyl and Vinyl, Artery Art Space, District Gallery and Ayala Museum Artist Space.

Wipo is a conceptual painter, graphic designer, artist collaborator and curator.  Since breaking into the art scene in 2016, he has exhibited in Nova Gallery, Artery Art Space, District Gallery, and in art fairs such as Art Fair Philippines, Manila Art and Art Kaohsiung.