Situational Comedy

Mikko Baladjay

Nothing and everything to laugh about. Much like sitcoms, the situations we find ourselves in sometimes seem like cosmic jokes.

In Situational Comedy, Mikko Baladjay’s acrylic paintings on canvas and paper take inspiration from the artist’s fascination for 90s and early 2000s Filipino sitcoms and how they mimic society beyond the set—which is often both funny and sad. Cue tears and laugh track, and the set shifts to another scene. custom hockey jerseys best online sex toy store custom jersey the wig shop cheap human hair lace front wigs yeezy adidas shoes wigs store adidas yeezy womens custom jerseys nfl jerseys best adidas running shoes cheap nfl jerseys nbashop nike air max 270 sale new wigs 2023

For him, the evolving set reflects the nature of how problems play out in our lives—different scenes in the same setting. His portraits paint punchy, abstract scenes from society as it happens on the news or before his eyes. Pieces like “good mour/morning” were inspired by an unexpected scene encountered during an otherwise nonchalant coffee and bread run: a funeral procession juxtaposed with a children’s birthday party, the cries of lament interspersed with the joyful ruckus of a celebration—poignant and ironic human rituals of life and death; while “tropical dream” was named after a poster Baladjay saw of a palm-tree-fringed destination, which he passed by right after overhearing street-sweepers conversing about their dream vacation destination (Boracay appearing to be a most popular choice). Baladjay takes these cues and finds both the irony and comedy in it all.

Like sitcoms that can run from anywhere to an hour to decades of multiple seasons, the setting remains the same as the scenes of our lives play out up until the finale.

Nikki Ignacio