Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill is pleased to present “pass it on” – a solo exhibition of Poklong Anading. Two series in the artist’s photographic oeuvre and a site-specific video installation will be on view until November 28, 2020.
Anading is an observer, an archivist, and an analyst of the ordinary, the discarded, and the neglected. His spectrum of work spans from drawing to video, often connecting ostensible loose ends to abstract visual narratives. Independent work series in various media and formal criteria form an artistic oeuvre that constitutes conclusive content. Bringing to view the out-of-sight – be it an object or an act that signifies social class or order – his work attempts to speak about the bigger picture: co-/existence, humanity, and the environment.
“Anonymity” is a series of black and white backlit photographs of passers-by anonymized through sunrays reflected towards the camera’s lens. One series is composed of six to twelve photographs of encounters that Anading has been initiating since 2004. Isolated from time and space of being, from social and demographic background, and from color of skin, he orchestrates individuals to a symphonic community. As the work engages in questions of identity, loneliness or mutability, it does so within the parameters of photography and the spectrum of meaning of light.
One of the images in the recent series must have been captured somewhere in the streets of Manila; supposedly a portrait of a construction worker as it shows a makeshift scaffolding in the background. Such scaffoldings – locally called “andamios” – has been the focal point of Anading’s “homage to homage” (2015), wherein he encased actual objects in stainless steel as a strategy of conservation of a social status quo and tribute to the about-to-be-overcome.
“- – – – – – – -” (2010-present) is another act of collecting and interaction with the participant. This is a series of eight portrait photographs with heads shrouded with branded disposable plastic bags. Since its first feature in the exhibition “there’s money in spending” in Manila (2010), this image collection has gained in significance for the informative value of Poklong Anading’s work. Like a contemporary version of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, the work suggests a discourse about decision-making that is based on material and economic advantages rather than on the factual consequences of a consumption-driven society. Consequently, Poklong Anading recently set up his “tote-bag exchange project,” swapping plastic with jute-bags.
Poklong Anading is one of the most significant contemporary artists from the Philippines. He has taken part in numerous institutional exhibitions and biennials, and his works are represented in international public and private collections. Poklong Anading was born in Manila/Philippines in 1975. He lives and works in the Philippines.
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