Juxtaposed

CEBU, Philippines - Since its first art exhibit in 2012, Qube Gallery has long had 'synthesis' and "amalgamation" as the unspoken themes for a number of its presented shows. In these creative presentations, mergers of varied creative disciplines, themes and styles have reigned supreme - breaking away from blind adherence to labels and classifications, as well as from shallow and myopic mindsets.

This month, the gallery once again presents a collection that forays into the dominion of 'synthesis' and 'amalgamation'. The show focuses on the power that's inherent in juxtaposing; that is, to place different things together to illustrate how they are "differently similar."

Aptly titled "Juxtaposed," the show features abstract expressionist paintings by Swiss architect Sacha Cotture and signs-of-the-times photographs by Italian-Venezuelan photographer Jose Antonio Nigro.

Opening on September 10 and running until September 29, the show was part of the gallery's "World-at-Large" series, Qube's recurring art-exhibit category that focuses on the creative tenacities of talents who were born outside of the Philippines.

Both exhibiting artists being visitors to the Philippines who've come to embrace thewarmth of the country as comforting enough to call it 'home', the exhibit framed the internal monologues and soliloquies of Cotture and Nigro when they are compelled to create - guided by the precepts of self-discovery, the innate spontaneity of wonder, and the polarizing aspects of beauty.

Though a literal translation of the show's title can be found in its display of paintings and photographs, "Juxtaposed" was a concrete declaration that there are no international borders in the realm of the arts.