Odds and Ends

Jonathan and Mariano Ching grew up in the backdrop of a Blade-Runner-like Divisoria and Ongpin, in the heart of dirty, dusty, smelly, lively and vital Manila.

Their two man show, Odds and Ends, marks a pathway that is both diverging but also melding as they deal with the anxieties and uncertainty of a still-pandemic era.

Jonathan’s works came about from a phrase that came to his mind. “They think we still grant wishes.” In times of desperation, we cling to whatever faith we have and ask for deals with whatever higher power we believe there is. In Jonathan’s works, the faith is found, not inside churches, but in small alleys or the corner of a room.

The swirls of impasto paint in his work reflect the vitality of life in Manila but also the decay and desperation. The various deities and saints offering some small mercy.

Nano’s post-apocalyptic stream of consciousness paintings and sculptures reflect a world ready to go up in smoke. Volcanoes, fire and a lit match mirrors something about to give, instead his beings collapse into another universe or dimension.

The odds and ends of their lives and interests mix and collide in this show that somehow reflects the environment they grew up in and the world we are all in now.

– Y. Sison