KOGANECHO BAZAAR 2013, Artist Residency

 

AAG 2009 and 2013

 

ANONG ULAM

 

 

Ano'ng Ulam

Joey Cobcobo

22 November - 5 December 2020

 

In Ano’ng Ulam, Joey Cobcobo presents a merry sampling of prints, assemblages and mixed media pieces that give audiences a taste of reality as narrated in an artist’s life. With the current situation that a Filipino as a citizen of a world besieged by the pandemic finds himself in, the need for survival is ever-prevalent, but still leads us to make choices every day—do we eat to live, or live to eat? Are we working just to feed our hunger, unmindful of other, less prioritized needs, one of which is to nourish our souls?

 

The artist offers a smorgasbord of sorts with his recent works, often with surprising juxtapositions of color, texture and flavor. A cult favorite has the tinge of decades-long preparation, the timelessness of a fascinating yet horrifying movie character immortalized in rubber cut. An abstracted reduction of a famous oil on canvas painting is surrounded by the multiple impressions of an etching in red which lets our eyes discern holiness and lust, framed with  meticulously gouged wood. A felled log takes two sheets of fibrous handmade piña paper to make the impression of a double-edged sword. A dog’s head appears to sprout rabbit ears as it spins to create a canine snout. An intergalactic space warrior with a stiff, high collar seems to sport the head of a squid, replete with vibrant crimson ink markings of koi. A dog enjoying the sunshine, flowers and a pastoral view might just be up to something naughty. The artist himself appears in a humorously rendered self portrait, transformed into either Dracula or Casanova, depending on the beholder. An experiment with ink, string and tea bags are combined with drypoint to chronicle the passing of time, or a bomb menacingly ticking. A collaborative work with family touches on superstition and childhood wonder with crochet crabs, crude lines made with oil sticks and a shockingly fine wood carving. A detailed etching on Fabriano paper gives an impression of two cameos spliced together, the color of desert sands rendering a nostalgic air. A canvas with haphazardly Klinesque strokes of black paint surprisingly camouflages a straggler giving viewers a peek.  Tools of the artist’s trade are assembled with monoprints, shaped paper clay and corrugated cardboard, depicting how art brings food to the table. A deliciously basted kulibangbang wood sculpture resembling the actual meat of some unknown animal rounds off the buffet.

 

Why so many techniques, elements, and visual adventures in a single show? Cobcobo dons a chef’s hat in serving up a diverse menu, as he rubs, brays, presses, attaches, and rolls each piece. He is a juggler with several balls in the air, some of them dipped in ink, some in paint, others in charcoal powder, tannin, indigo or other natural pigments from plants and flowers, ready to create the next piece. As he advocates printmaking as a gateway to any other medium in art production, he explores every surface as only a constantly curious mark-maker does. Taking advantage of the surprising outcomes often associated with printmaking, the artist refers to instinct and tongue-in-cheek humor in creating his works. Though he starts his exhibition with a question, he makes sure that nobody leaves unsatiated. Ano’ng Ulam is a feast for all.

 

Joey Cobcobo (b. 1983) is a graduate of Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in Advertising, cum laude, from the Technological University of the Philippines (TUP). He works mainly with print media, combining the techniques of painting, printmaking and woodcarving to create multi-method assemblages and installation works. Cobcobo’s ethnicity, half-Igorot and half-Ilocano, has been a central influence in his practice as he explores subjects and themes related to his heritage. His distinctive accomplishments include the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Thirteen Artists Awards in 2012 and an artist residency at Koganecho Bazaar, Grand: Ojisan/Obasan, in Yokohama, Japan in 2013. In 2016, his work was chosen as finalist for The 2nd Asean Graphic Art Competition and Exhibition in Vietnam. He was shortlisted for the Ateneo Art Awards in 2013, 2010 and 2009, and given the Juror’s Choice of Excellency in those same years at the Philippine Art Awards. The artist was also the Grand Prize winner of the National Piñana Art on handmade paper in 2003, and the ArtPetron Painting Competitions in 2002. Cobcobo is a member of the Association of Pinoyprintmakers (AP) and has served as its Secretary. He has mounted solo exhibitions in Big & Small Co., Avellana Art Gallery, Ortigas Foundation Library, Bencab Museum, Art Informal, Pinto Art Museum, Art Verite and West Gallery, plus a commissioned exhibit in 2015 at the Lopez Museum. Selected group exhibitions include those held at The Forth Utterly Gallery, Singapore, Post Office Gallery in the University of Ballard, Victoria, Australia, Hangaram Art Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Fine Arts Museum in Saigon, Vietnam, and Philippine Center in New York City, USA. Early this year, he participated in the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI) Printmakers Assembly 2020. Aside from this, his piece on the COVID-19 pandemic is included in the Ateneo Art Gallery Marciano Galang Acquisition Prize Works on Paper exhibition with 49 other artists.

 

Words by Kaye O’Yek