Plastic Syndrome (Art Space Plastic, 2009)

'Plastic' comes from the Greek word "plastikos" which means to shape or to mold. We can relate some characteristics of plastic to our modern society for the fact that it can be molded or shaped into various forms with a wide variety of use and functions.

Plastic took its essential material position in this modern society less than 100 years ago. Whether we like it or not, we utilize it in many ways because of its convenient characteristics. It can be considered a ‘major key substance’ in modern civilization more than its being an industrial substance. Some scholars defined this period to be ‘the 4th civilization age’ or the ‘Plastic Age,’ succeeding Stone Age and the Iron Age. To date, plastics confront another phase as it becomes synonymous with environmental problems, but nevertheless, we cannot deny its function and advantages to our daily living.

‘Plastic Syndrome’ intends to create an opportunity to review and reinterpret modern living as a ‘plastic society’ through art. Some participating artists took advantage of plastic as a material-substance to create art works, while others makes use of it as a metaphor to express various aspects of modern ‘plastic’ society. Nonetheless, the world they see and tell about plastic society is not limited to the features of modern man and his surroundings, vain and lacking in sincerity. And thus, they have tried to explore the real meaning in modern life by relating through the peeled, transparent and sometime glossy quality of plastic.

Even if tons of plastic products are being used and thrown away daily, most of them are being recycled repeatedly through a recycling system. And this brings us to the question of whether its incessant recycling is beneficial to our daily lives. Right at this moment, many people for sure are using plastic, drinking from plastic bottles, typing using plastic keypads, listening from their plastic radios, etc. And definitely, tons of plastic wastes are also being carried out to plastic recycling factories at this moment to be given a new life, a new form and hopefully some of them would breathe again anew through some methods of art. (- Soyeon Park, Curator, Plastic Syndrome)

Participating Artists: Jinsuk Che, Soyeon Cho, Jayeon Kwon + Jiwon Shin, Shinjung Ryu, Christopher Zamora, Carlo Gabuco, Mike Adrao

NEAR Artists: Joe Geraldo and Israel Gonzales

Roedil “Joe” Geraldo (b. 1969, Talisay City, Negros Occidental) studied fine arts major in advertising at the La Consolation College School of Architecture and Fine Arts, in Bacolod City. He had participated in numerous group exhibitions in the Visayas and in Manila as well, some notable exhibitions include “Sungduan” (traveling exhibition organized by NCCA) in 2000, “8th VIVA EXCON (Visayan Islands Visual Art Exhibit and Conference): Best of Negros” in 2004, “Hinugot sa Yutang Pula: 2nd Dumaguete Biennial Terracotta Art Festival and Competition” Dumaguete City in 2007, and “Aramid” Pinto Gallery, Antipolo City, “Three Expressions in Terracotta” Total Gallery, Alliance Francaise de Manille, “Anyo” Art Informal in 2008. Joe Geraldo is a consistent finalist in the Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards from 2003 to 2008, and an awardee of several sculpture and painting competitions in the region. Conscientiously producing massive pieces in two and three-dimensional forms, he had held six solo exhibitions including “Oras 1” La Salle Museum, Bacolod City, in 1996, “Time 2” Negros Museum, Bacolod City, in 2001, “Halad sa Duta” Kaida Gallery, Quezon City, in 2007 and his most recent, “Putik” Negros Museum, Bacolod City, in 2008.

Israel Mark Gonzales (b. 1984, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental) graduated at La Consolation College School of Architecture and Fine Arts, Bacolod City, major in painting in 2006. He was finalist at the Shell National Student Art Competition in 2005, 2004 and semifinalist at the Metrobank Foundation’s Art and Design Excellence (MADE) National Competition also in 2004. He had attended various art-related workshops including “Art Barrage: Young Artists Discovery” sponsored by the Metrobank Foundation Inc. and Black Artists in Asia in 2003, and “Negros Museum Summer Creative Art Workshop” in Bacolod City in 2005. Some of notable group exhibitions he had participated include “8th VIVA EXCON (Visayan Islands Visual Art Exhibit and Conference): Best of Negros” in 2004, “Pasidungog,” Orange Gallery in 2005, “9th VIVA EXCON: Punias” Samar, Leyte in 2006, “2nd Dumaguete Biennial Terracotta Art Festival and Competition” Dumaguete in 2007, and “Three Expressions in Terracotta” Total Gallery, Alliance Francaise de Manille, in 2008.