KEB CERDA

Cerda comes up with a new set of paintings and launches a new virtual game in his continuing exploration of integrating traditional art forms and new media, virtual reality, and gaming platforms. Following the success and breakthroughs in his earlier works, such as Collect All Coins and False Profits, he introduces Dahlia and takes us into a world of dark alleys and sinister parks, visualised dramatically under a blue and purple-tinted twilight. The game plays around notions of heightened and omnipresent surveillance in the technologically-dominated era, and works around these concepts through the classic contrast between light and dark but invigorated by the interactivity brought by mobile application. Dahlia is yet another social commentary among Cerda’s oeuvre incorporated with humour and fun-filled experience that transcends the boundaries of traditional painting.

A graduate of advertising from the Technological University of the Philippines, Keb Cerda (b. 1991) has shown his works in the Philippines, Taiwan, and San Francisco, USA. He first experimented with the appropriation of archival photographs in his paintings to open up commentaries on history, economy, and politics, often with a tone of humour. Taking this trajectory another direction, he began to incorporate new media to the painted image and introduced using technologies such as augmented reality and gaming platforms as integral elements of experiencing his art. Called Omniscope, the mobile application he developed for his art has brought a new level of interactivity to paintings. Cerda is currently shortlisted for the Fernando Zobel Prize for Visual Art, Ateneo Art Awards, one of the most important awards in the Philippines.

This show is curated by Ruel Caasi, in collaboration with Yavuz Gallery x The Working Animals Art Projects, and is part of Art Trek 13. Leveraging on Singapore’s status as one of the art capitals of Asia, Art Trek enables the Philippine Embassy to bring Filipino artists to Singapore while promoting stronger people-to-people links and better understanding and appreciation of the Philippines through its arts. Art Trek, which is on its 13th year, has been sustained through the years through the collective efforts of curators and gallery owners, as well as benefactors, art lovers and talented Filipino artists who have become our cultural ambassadors in Singapore.

Curated by Ruel Caasi. Press release courtesy Yavuz Gallery.