‘Turning Pages’ at Metro Gallery
MANILA, Philippines - Pancho Francisco’s “Turning Pages” beckons us to examine books beyond their usual format as he dissects and cuts through them with the precision of a surgeon, revealing several layers of an alternate narrative unfolding in each page.
His background as book designer and publisher (being one of the partners who produced the book on Philippine contemporary painters Without Walls) using books as a medium for this meticulous exercise is a re-engagement with such a material. This initially came as a practical solution in dealing with the surplus misprints of the said art volume. He started making a few pieces, inspired from the book art of Brian Dettmer and Alexander Kozer Robinson, which led on to a hunt for books filled with illustrations, most of them foraged from secondhand book shops of volumes of children’s encyclopedia, natural history books and illustrated literary classics.
His process entails initially leafing through the book, selecting parts and pages to cut and retain, reconstructing the built narrative of the chosen book. This selective omission thus produces meticulous shadow boxes of miniature theatrical dioramas where characters, props and backdrop, peek through the layers in linear and perceptual succession. The reconstructed narratives leap vividly in a sort-of hyper dimension time — space — page warp.
The exhibit opens today and runs until Nov. 26 at The Metro Gallery, 455 P. Guevarra St., Addition Hills, San Juan, Metro Manila.
For information, call 0917-8115399 & 0922-8638768 or email metrogallery@hotmail.com.
