The best seats in the (art) house
Over the centuries, the utilitarian chair has become more than just something to sit on.
In the reign of French monarch Louis XIV, the opulent, luxurious and ornately carved furniture, including chairs, was symbolic of his reign. Philippe Starck’s iconic, transparent plastic ghost chair was actually patterned after a chair made famous by another French monarch, Louis XVI.
In the Philippines, our very own peacock chair—a fixture in our great-grandparent's homes and woven from rattan—also become a cultural symbol of status and leisure. In the hands of master Cebuano artist Kenneth Cobonpue, that peacock chair has even been refashioned into a stylish, sophisticated and functional piece of art.
Art blended with functionality is the rationale behind “Take a Seat,” the current exhibit at Space Encounters gallery. The owners of Space Encounters (clever pun) also operate an interior design firm, and that accounts for their perspective on furniture as a medium for the creative genius of young Filipino artists. The exhibit features three types of chairs or stools designed by furniture artist Diwa.Dezenyo (Marco Sebastian M. Padayao), each uniquely special. The La Mariposa has wings suggesting butterflies, the Hugis ng Diwa is Filipino tradition reimagined, and the Diwa.Casa draws inspiration from Gaudi’s organic curves.
Created out of beautiful teak wood, the stools are artworks in themselves. But taking a step further, 16 artists painted the chairs to make them a medium of self-expression—a vehicle for sharing stories, symbols and perspectives, and ultimately a way of transforming the everyday mundane into the sublime.
Here is a rundown of the artists and the stories they unfolded on their seats.
- Sigwada Knicolai, who also acted as the show’s curator, was inspired by “Alice in Wonderland.” Her chair is a portal to enter other dimensions which you can then take back to the waking world.
- Pointillism artist Joshua Barrera picked La Mariposa and named his work “The Seat of the Seraphim” to reflect Philippine mythology and spirituality, his love of winged creatures as subjects, Biblical references to the throne in Heaven and divine encounters with angels.
- Valerie Teng’s works deal with Chinese concepts of lucky charms and feng shui. On her stool, a wide-eyed fortune cat is surrounded by lotus blooms, gold coins and bright orange koi fish.
- Gemart Ortega created an anime-themed homage to van Gogh. There are details written underneath but he prefers for viewers not to read them, and instead feel the emotion from the visuals.
- Humbly, a street artist and toy maker, paints a subconscious terrain where curiosity reigns, the world transforms and flowers bloom with every step.
- Mimaaaaaaaaw, true to her persona presented a playful cat in “Sit Pretty.” Reflecting her joyful self, she painted the colorful feline as her character.
- Jesse Camacho is inspired by fairy tales and children’s stories, and the chains in the design are about breaking the chains that keep us in our comfort zones.
- Andre Baldovino works mostly in abstraction, his inspiration taken from the beautiful grains of the teak wood itself. Here, he imagined a meditative landscape with acrylic glazes that shift and shimmer.
- Summer de Guia created Tomatino, inspired by the tomato, adding a face to give life to a mundane object. She wanted to create something red and shiny, and she thought the legs looked like leaves. She did not make the legs too opaque so that the teak wood would shine through.
- A collab within a collab by Cebuano twin sisters Julia and Jheane Borja resulted in “Ant Hill.” This intricately designed work shows how ants work in a collective and the tension between the individual and the group. You need to zoom in with your phone to see the tiny details. There are two styles by ants, one done by Jheane and the other by Julia.
- Remster is into ’90s nostalgia, and his work glances at his childhood. Numbers carved are like codes sparking recollections and fleeting friendships. He also made patterns to show the beauty of the teak wood.
- Jollybeart is a pop expressionist. His signature character is painted on the chair in a riot of pastel. But beneath the joyfulness is a message about people abusing the kindness of others; his character is actually crying. That’s why he offers Free Hugs and the phrase “Sit and kill the kindness.”
- Pat “Rabby” Aguas shows a character that’s cute and adorable but also fierce through a red bandana, a fierce stare and the anime attitude of an adventurer. Hip-hop meets kawaii, speech bubbles and smiley-like stickers look like they came out of a well-loved sketchbook.
- In Demetrio de la Cruz’s work, there is rest after the storms of life. He was inspired by Hercules—after the struggles and challenging tasks, it’s time to pause and take a seat. The scroll underneath the stool symbolizes Olympus.
- Carla Gamalinda did not paint the top of her chosen stool so people could appreciate the grain of the wood as well as actually sit on it. Her story is about dialogue, so there is a cat and a person talking to each other within a domestic, interior scene.
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“Take a Seat” runs until June 28 at Space Encounters, located at Padilla Building, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center.
