JJ Villamarin cuts and pastes us back to our roots

Traveler, performer, cinematographer, director and once hesitant photographer JJ Villamarin brings to silverlens gallery an exhibit bursting with color and humor unseen in usual travel photographs. While most visit Europe to appropriate the culture of the first world, Villamarin spent most of her days creating photomontages that reminded her of home. Although vestiges of the familiar grand architecture, art and scenery are hinted upon, the final images she produced are clearly her own.

Of this Villamarin says "It is only when one is far away from things that we are used to that one truly discovers who we are and what we are made of." Because there is nothing more Pinoy than making a space, yes even a continent, your own.

"Home is where the Art is" is the very idea of collage, allowing viewers to experience layers of color, sound, and visual themes as they step into the gallery. By making use of a variety of media, the artist creates a cocoon that encapsulates a "journey that starts in an unfamiliar place, and chronicles the experience of falling in love, fitting in, living in and finally, coming home."

Disregarding time and space, and the conventions of perspective and gravity, Villamarin's handmade single-edition images brings her viewers into a world not quite like home but similar in the blending of cultures and viewpoints. Each artwork is uniquely made, with the use only of glue, scissors and the occasional coloring materials.

"Home is where the Art is" opens at the silverlens gallery on February 22, 2007, and runs until March 23, 2007. silverlens gallery is located at 2320 Pasong Tamo Extension, Warehouse 2, Yupangco Building. Gallery hours are 10 to 7pm Mondays to Fridays and 1 to 6pm on Saturdays. There will be an Art Talk on February 24, from 3-5pm featuring Kidlat Tahimik with "Recognizing the Indio-genius Dwende In Us" and on March 3, also from 3-5pm featuring Howie Severino with "Television as a Visual Art".