NOVA Gallery Presents "Gen:Ngayon" - An Exhibition of Works by Japanese & Filipino Women Artists

Gen : Ngayon
An exhibition of works by Japanese & Filipino women artists

NOVA unveils exhibit by Japanese and Filipina artists on May 21

NOVA Gallery will be hosting 現Gen/Ngayon, an exhibition of works by Japanese and Filipina artists from May 21 to June 11, 2014. The participating artists in this show are Charlene Bayani, Aba Lluch Dalena, Sinag de Leon, Mayuko Fukumoto, Marie Ikura, Atsuko Yamagata, and Aze Ong.

現Gen/Ngayon opens on May 21 (Wednesday) at 6 PM with live painting, music performances and papercut art demonstrations by the artists.

The title of the show combines the Nihonggo word gen (現), which is roughly translated into “now”, “actuality” or “expression” and the Filipino word for now, ngayon. The works in the exhibition combine various forms of artistic media: from painting to wearable art, from crochet-based sculptures to papercut forms. Through these, the artists weave connections between shared artistic practices and histories of the two countries.

The Japanese artists featured in the show are connected by works which seek beauty in living and creating within both natural and urban spaces.

Atsuko Yamagata merges performance and improvisation through live painting. A painter and illustrator, she held her first solo show at the Artcomplex Center of Tokyo in 2012. Her works for the show use construction paper and chiyogami (traditional block printed paper) to document her various impressions of the metropolis.

Ecology and functionality merge in the works of Mayuko Fukumoto and Marie Ikura.
Osaka-based Fukumoto depicts the vivid freshness of the natural world in her paintings. She has participated in the Kawwanan nan Batawa Eco Art Festival in Sabangan, Mountain Province in November 2012. Ikura is a painter and production designer who held her first solo exhibition in Tokyo in 2009. For the exhibit, she showcases wearable works on hand-painted kimono, a type of Japanese traditional clothing.

The exploration of equally diverse media is seen in the works of the participating Filipina artists. Sculptor and performance artist Aze Ong unveils a series of crochet-based works collectively entitled Resilience: vivid, tensile textiles that are both wearable and capable of standing as art installations.Ong’s first solo exhibition, Liwanag, was held in 2011. Papercut artist Sinag de Leon showcases her individually unique designs and patterns from her Tiklop-Gupit: Kirigami Series, which uses both Japanese and Iloilo handmade paper. She held her first solo exhibition, HabiHiraya: DreamWeaves, in 2010.

The show also features new works by visual artist, musician and art educator Aba Lluch Dalena, who held her first solo exhibit at six years old and later pursued studies in Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines and the Art Students League in New York. Like Dalena, the youngest member of the group, Charlene Bayani, is a visual artist and musician. She and Ong have collaborated on art performances for several exhibits and events. Bayani showcases new acrylic on canvas paintings that depict figures amidst shadows and dusk.

現Gen/Ngayon runs until June 11, 2014 at NOVA Gallery, Warehouse 12A La Fuerza Compound, 2241 China Roces Avenue, Makati City. For inquiries, contact the gallery at +63.292.7797.