'The Garden' grows in the City
MANILA, Philippines - One of the "perks" of working in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) is the relatively more serene sight that greets you the minute you step off your office building.
Trees, gardens, and art sculptures are welcome views for those who need to take a break from tight deadlines whether in the morning or at night. It helps that there are a lot of coffee shops and dining places in the area, too.
Most recently, BGC has put up an open-air exhibit that aims to be a "nice, serene place where people can hang out." It can be found at its offsite gallery at 28th Street near Bonifacio High Street.
"‘The Garden’ is based from our previous works—my murals and Olivia’s light flowers were combined," said artist Denis Lagdameo, who created the installation along with Olivia d'Aboville.
Lagdameo is a multimedia and installation artist whose work has been exhibited at the Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival in Puerto Galera and Fete de la WSK at Light and Space Contemporary. He holds a BFA in Sculpture from the UP College of Fine Arts.
D’Aboville, meanwhile, is a French-Filipino artist who graduated from École Supérieure d’Art Françoise Conte in Paris. She has been invited to exhibit in museums, galleries, hotels and festivals in France, Hong Kong, Singapore, and U.S. She uses ordinary mass-produced objects like plastic spoons and bottles for her art work to avoid polluting the environment, according to the BGC press release.
"The Garden" installation is inspired by wild flora and features a colorful array of plant and floral pieces. The installation looks especially good at night when it is lit up.
"We tried to play with colors so anyone can be attracted to it. We wanted to play with lighting and combine spiky elements and round objects. The contrast of pieces on the lower ground and the taller installations turned out nice as well," D'Aboville said.
Like BGC's previous installation last year, "The Garden" made use of recyclable materials that can be transformed into new pieces after its exhibit period.
Lagdameo’s art installations made use of PVC pipes, while D’Aboville’s light flowers made use of cocktail stirrers.
Lagdameo said that his installations in “The Garden†will be transformed into other art pieces for his next project.
“I’ll use the PVC pipes and other materials after this exhibit so they won’t be wasted," he said.
D'Aboville, meanwhile, said that the pieces she used in her installations in "The Garden" came from materials she had previously used in an exhibit in Singapore.
“I recycle as much as I can. I used 80,000 cocktail stirrers to make the light flowers with the help of five nanays from Gawad Kalinga in Bulacan,†D’Aboville said.
BGC’s Offsite Gallery is located near Bonifacio High Street on 28th Street corner 7th Avenue. Visit www.artsatbgc.org to know more about BGC’s public art program.
