Boxplot

Happy New Year! We're excited to kick off 2019 with 'Watchfire' Silverlens Galleries - opening on 12 January!

Watchfire brings together five artists who have each made a critical contribution to the development of contemporary ceramic art in the Philippines: Tessy Pettyjohn, Jon Pettyjohn, and Joey de Castro of the Philippines, Shozo Michikawa of Japan, and Alvin Tan Teck Heng of Singapore.

For this exhibition, the artists were invited to participate in an anagama wood firing at the studio of fellow ceramic artist Pablo Capati III. Presenting work from a single firing, collectively undertaken, Watchfire examines the role of both the individual and the collective in building a ceramic art scene in the Philippines that is collaborative yet independent, locally engaged yet highly international. Furthermore, this exhibition examines how the participating artists successfully balance collaborative action with their own individual artistic identities.

This project is co-curated by Boxplot and Tropical Blaze. @ Silverlens Galleries

‘A.D. 2018’ by Ella Mendoza is now showing as part of ‘Variables of the Function’ curated by Boxplot at T U Collab, Singapore.
In ‘A.D. 2018’, Ella Mendoza explores the history of ceramics in the Philippines as a means for illuminating the present context. Mendoza presents a series of forms that loosely reference ceramic artefacts found in the Philippines, from vessels once used in indigenous cultures through to the wave of imported wares from China and neighbouring Southeast Asian countries. These ‘artefacts’ sit alongside ceramic forms that suggest contemporary disposable packaging materials – the synthetic vessels that have assumed many of the utilitarian functions once performed by ceramics. Through her explorations of the vessel, Mendoza considers the historical and contemporary context of ceramics in the Philippines, as well as the nature of human consumption in the present day.
As Mendoza states: “If years from now this period is considered from an archaeological point of view, traces of our lifestyle will be easily drawn out from remnants of what we use to consume, in the same way archaeologists were able to trace history from looking at artefacts, particularly ceramic shards.” Mendoza graduated with a degree in both Painting and Art History from the University of the Philippines but subsequently developed a preference for working with the tactile qualities of clay. She recently held her first solo exhibition, ‘For Your Convenience’, at Artinformal in Makati, Philippines, from August – September 2018. @ Singapore

Excited to be curating T U Collab's first exhibition with a fantastic group of artists from Singapore and the Philippines. 'Variables of the Function' opens Saturday 24 November. Check out the link below for more info on T U Collab and the upcoming show!

Variables of the Function Singapore’s newest art space is dedicated to the creation and exhibition of contemporary ceramics. Housing a fully equipped ceramics studio and gallery space, T U Collab will provide opportunities …