Future Forms” section in red to the left, and the “Across Mediums” section in blue This section focuses on how artists explore the use of other media with print in order to achieve a different materiality. The mixing and juxtaposition of different media make up a space that can allow meaning to shine through With experimentation in these processes, there is also an experimentation in how meaning is made, and the exhibit prefaces this by its anticipation of “a medium yet to be named or revisit the nature of a well-recognized medium itself”.
As the biggest work in the entire exhibit, it takes up the entire wall of the “Across Mediums” section on its own Like most of the works in the exhibit, it was produced through “a combination of techniques and/or utilize non-print and paper mediums” For this particular work, it uses a collection of screen print sepia-toned images as the main background of the piece. The figures on these screen prints are that of primarily human subjects, with a notable majority of them in military garb, while the rest are presumably indigenous people The indigenous groups integrated into the work as images appear to be people belonging to the North American
Indians, South American Natives, African Natives, and even Filipino Natives This wide and varied selection of indigenous people point towards an intentioned meaning corresponding to postcolonial ideas
The sepia backdrop sets up the relief cast paper and screen printed flags that are spread out throughout the work From a red triangle, red hill shape, to a white circle, and the different flags with different images on them. Many of the relief screen printed flags have religious imagery on them: from the Chi Rho symbol meaning “Christ”, the oldest of the Christograms, to the burning heart with thorns, the Templar cross, and even the devil wings on a tooth. Then there are other symbols, such as Hitler, the image of the eye, the axes positioned to form an X, the spray-painted skulls, and the printed outline of an arm The choice to intersperse religious imagery with all the other silhouettes suggest an anti-war or anti-establishment message.
The exhibit consequently categorizes the work as a screen print, with the caveat that it is “produced through a combination of techniques, and/or utilize non-print and paper mediums” From this combination of different imagery, the artistic choice to juxtapose these signs and symbols of different, yet not necessarily opposed, line of thoughts, converge to create an admittedly, pessimistic outlook of the world as “the hammer” that is the institutional mechanisms that surround one’s self as the “nail” Taking up an entire wall, the work is sprawling and can come across as a sensory overload, much like our own daily lives in today’s modern age of information
The sepia toned images of postcolonial/military figures juxtaposed by Church symbols and other drawn/painted signs effectively function as an “ideological mashup/remix” The decision to layer the work with the sepia images underneath and the rest on top are also reminiscent of punk culture vandalism and spray-painting As if it is by covering up these decadent images in the background by adding new elements was the work given new life There is a sense of “sticking it to the man” or these establishments that can come across as attempts at dark humor According to the Instagram of the STPI Gallery, the background also contains “stereotypical depictions of Filipino figures from old war comics to investigate the legitimacy and authority of our collective memory”. Considering this, there is now also an additional layer of making sense out of the “Filipino Identity” that the work is possibly wrestling with
All in all, the work is rife with historical and socio-political criticism through its semiotics. Pregnant with meaning, with signs, details, and references that one can easily miss or even misinterpret.
nt who enjoys the arts. With a ysis of Kendrick Lamar as a ying art, I enjoy video games,