Six abstractionists meet at Gallery C’s ‘Crossroads’

NON-FIGURATIVE art takes the spotlight at Conrad Manila’s Gallery C with six Filipino abstractionists converging for the latest iteration of the space’s Of Art and Wine series, the gallery’s third edition this year and 24th overall.

During the recent opening of the exhibition, titled Crossroads, Conrad Manila general manager Fabio Berto underscored how art remains at the core of the Pasay City hotel as it celebrates its 7th anniversary this month.

“Since Conrad Manila opened in 2016, it has always endeavored to create a space where every visit is an opportunity to be inspired,” Berto said. “Our hotel, from the lobby to its walls, has become a canvas for both emerging and established artists whose wonderful creations evoke emotions of all kinds.”

The variety proves even wider and ever vigorous with the strong selection of 23 abstract artworks featured in Crossroads. Presenting stories in colors that drip and drop, caress and explode, the group exhibition showcases the works of Fitz Herrera, Binong Javier, Marlon Magbanua, Coeli Manese, Bea Policarpio and Resty Tica.

Acclaimed art critic Cid Reyes graced the opening and gave his take on the wonders of abstract art. The way he “introduces abstraction to the people who resist it,” he said, is by asking them if they’ve seen the Manila Bay sunset.

“Of course everyone is moved emotionally by the sight of it, but what is the sunset anyway? It is nothing, nothing really, but a magnificent expanse of light and color—this merging, this conflict between light and darkness at the moment of the day when the earth starts to move. And you feel all these emotions when you look at these different changes, these colors—the reds, the oranges, the yellows, and then the creeping darkness,” Reyes said. “And it’s a very emotional experience. That’s exactly what abstraction is.”

For Bea Policarpio, one of the exhibiting artists,