AS THE WORLD CAVES IN

ADRIAN LABUGUEN, ROEL SALVATIERRA, KIKO MARQUEZ, REUEL RENDON

What would run through our minds if we were face-to-face with the end of the world?

This is the question around which this exhibition orbits. Would we be afraid? Would our lives flash before our eyes? Or, impossibly, would there be relief? As we spin through this carousel of possibilities, so spin the different interpretations of doom and the end, through this exhibition. Four talented artists – Adrian Labuguen; Roel Salvatierra; Kiko Marquez; and, Reuel Rendon – take us through their unique interpretations of the human condition and reactions in the face of an end.

The end in question, however, can be taken in a literal sense – such as the case of a nuclear apocalypse – or, as a metaphor, for the breaking point(s) and points of no return that any person can and does pass through: such as heartbreaks, bankruptcies, and failures. Regardless of the definition, what remains unanimous throughout the works in this exhibition is the bold humanity in each artist’s works, each a distinct and expressive perspective of what facing the end might look like.

Yet what each artist also invites us to contemplate, is what really ends when the world caves in – is it just the world around us, or is it the world within us, and whatever makes us human? This question is the precipice that we stand on, as each artist reminds us to consider it thoroughly. As the world caves in.

Text by JC Barcelon