Rodel Tapaya's Perya Exhibit @ Boston Gallery

RODEL TAPAYA
"PERYA"
Boston Gallery
Exhibit opening and reception with the artist
20 October 2007
6:00 pm

The exhibit was inspired by a local carnival called perya, a place of chance, amusements and horror. Perya’s locality, things and people are very powerful subjects in painting, Most of the series are very lively in terms of color but ironically these paintings are no happy pictures. Today we seldom see perya. But I think its presence can be felt. Game shows that give prize money in exchange of self-humiliation, people with disabilities are still deprived of job opportunities and rights, gambling seen as a way to have a better life. The exhibit invites its viewers to experience perya once again. Not just a place to take pleasure in games of chance, fun rides and see terrifying images but also witness a social reality.

Twenty-seven year old Rodel Tapaya studied Painting at University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. He won the grand prize in the 2001 Nokia Arts Awards Asia-Pacific held in Seoul, Korea and was sent for intensive art studies on drawing and painting at the Parsons School of Design in New York and at the University and of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland. He was short-listed for two consecutive years (2005 and 2006) by Ateneo Art Awards.

Rodel Tapaya's Perya Exhibit @ Boston Gallery runs from October 20, 2007 to November 7, 2007.