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Secrets, Dreams, and What If’s is a three-man show
revolving around the imagination and the unconscious brought about by odd
juxtapositions and dis/orders in everyday life. The artists attempt to
illustrate a child’s vision hence the playful, bright, comical, cartoonish appearances.
These images though do not render mere fun at all, but a rather light satire of
society.
Genepaul Martin leads us to a hodgepodge of characters
from our childhood – Ultraman and Alice (in Wonderland). It may look sweet,
resembling Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory – colorful candies, donuts, gummies
and other melted sweets. The characters, however, have a sad look upon their
faces – Ultraman without his horn, cut, decapitated, devastated, Alice sitting
on donuts, carrying a teacup yet with no one to share some afternoon tea.
Tawnie Tantay’s characters are reminiscent of dolls –
bright eyes, flushed cheeks, tinted lips, pretty dresses. Just the way society
wants its women to be. At an early age, little girls are aligned towards the
epitome of a desirable female. The artist begs to look at the dolls’ faces, but
viewers still tend to take more pleasure in staring at the body and its
surroundings, hauling a more judgmental look at women, formulating a sexual
connotation rather than an innocent interpretation.
JJ Zamoranos routed viewers to a seemingly unfamiliar
dimension, or maybe actually a familiar one. He displays a colorful yet uncanny
group of characters in between lego blocks, masks, toys, and dark castles
representing perhaps how figures from television register in a child’s mind – a
chaotic combination of childhood’s innocence, smothered with adulthood’s harsh
realities.
Secrets, Dreams, and What If’s is a reaffirmation of
Roland Barthes’ Toys (in Mythologies). This reflects, reiterates, and
reinstates how society purposely yet unknowingly molds children into the harsh
world of adulthood. This presents us once again what society has initially
presented us in childhood – left unspoken and unquestioned.
After this trip back to childhood, how then are you going
to see things?
- words by Astrid Bullanday
