"Encarne"

CEBU, Philippines — Shorn of all dogmas, pedagogic paradigms and edicts, faith is ultimately a relationship – a union that binds man and all his potential with the Almighty.

It is on this “faithful premise” where Qube Gallery’s featured show for the month of March hinges its metaphorical moorings on. Titled “Encarne” and convened by artworks rendered in various linear painting styles, the show presents iconography artworks by Cebuano artist and educator Nomar Miano.  

Teeming with transpositions of elements like the Crucifixion and the Crown of Thorns, the show calls for viewers to not just see things at face value, but to see everything in terms of the essences and purposes to be discerned in life.

Hinting that personal interpretations can made free from the bounds of criteria, the exhibits deconstructs established concepts of belief to the bare essentials – a reminder that an institution, no matter how infallible it portends itself to be, runs the risk of muddling itself at its very foundations.

The exhibit’s overall tone is that individual details can take on significant meanings on their own – suggesting that, frequently, it’s the detail that matters, not the bigger, often-imposing tableau. “Encarne” dips into visual art’s capacity to steer consciousness to move forward.

In effect, the show is a visual transliteration of an old axiom: “To find yourself, you don’t have to be this or be that now, just be. To find happiness, you don’t have to do this or do that now, just do. To find love, you don’t have to love this or love that now, just love.”