The third featured exhibition at the Bulwagang Roberto Chabet (TIG Gallery), on view from September 5 to October 8, 2023, focuses on confinement as a relevant theme across the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, particularly the method that conveys familiarity and anonymity.
The exhibition, titled “Casual Extremities,” comprises pieces by Bulacan-based artist Bren Almirol. It aims to increase awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic recovery process and beyond, while also reflecting on the years that have past.
Casual Extremities by Almirol has been chosen as the recipient of the CCP Visual Arts and Museum Division (CCP VAMD) Exhibition Venue Grant for 2021. CCP VAMD requested applications that explicitly highlighted an artist’s or a group of artists’ response to or experience during the COVID-19 outbreak that year.
The visual artist was chosen from 42 applications and got a little production subsidy to make his vision a reality.
Almirol obtained his fine arts (Studio Arts – Painting) degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he received the Dominador Castañeda Award – Outstanding Thesis for his undergraduate thesis titled “Where Do We Go?”
He has been exhibiting his works in various local galleries since 2016. Almirol’s works attempt to explore mutability as a frame for post-human sensing. His works strive to operate under this premise, which takes the form of rust paintings and epoxy sculptures.
Quoting a writer’s response to Almirol’s new solo exhibition: “(Casual Extremities)…is a comedy. Like the stories of Franz Kafka, it is a grim joke about secludedness, exacerbated by the pandemic now three years past. A wall of DVD players, electric fan devoid of purpose, hangers, and other items rendered meaningless by the absurdity of being stuck indoors for months at a time. One feels compelled to change things, until one realizes that things are tragically fixed and has no other choice but to laugh about it.”
Bulwagang Roberto Chabet (TIG Gallery) is located at the third floor of Tanghalang Ignacio B. Gimenez (CCP Blackbox Theater), inside the CCP Complex, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City.Gallery hours are from 10am to 6pm, open daily except Mondays and holidays. Hours are extended until 10pm on days with evening performances at the Tanghalang Ignacio B. Gimenez (CCP Blackbox Thater).
