SKINS reclaims the “surface” as our most contested territory. Through the works of Micaela Benedicto, Gio Panlilio, Miguel Uy, Julieanne Ng, Paolo Icasas, Bjorn Calleja, Jason Montinola, and Patrick de Veyra, skin is reimagined as topography and portal—the interface through which we apprehend the external world and the internal self.
The exhibition draws inspiration from the seminal works of artists such as Rachel Whiteread, whose House gave material form to a structure’s negative space, creating a new way of perceiving the skin and the material weight of a home; Do Ho Suh, who explores the portability of memory by reconstructing architectural structures in translucent fabrics that appear as ethereal skins; and Agnes Arellano, whose Dead Trees clads found stumps and trunks in a toxic armor of lead as a commentary on environmental degradation.
Moving beyond biological utility, SKINS treats the surface as a conceptual framework—a point of departure for exploring “objectness,” form, and the portability of memory. Here, skin functions as an interface that bridges literal surfaces and metaphorical layers, serving as a repository of time, a signifier of the abstract, and a witness to the friction between the self and the “other.” It becomes a vital site for interrogation, meditation, and protest.
Text excerpt: Patrick de Veyra
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