Goldie Poblador at Liongoren Gallery

MANILA, Philippines - Goldie Poblador questions the universal and spiritual nature of her urban environment and furthers her exploration of pre-colonial pagan beliefs in “The Ghosts in the Machine,” which opens on May 13 at Liongoren Gallery. The show is on view until June 3.

The exhibition’s central artwork and title piece depicts two female figures facing each other as they are joined together at the breast by twisted coils of cloth and cogon leaves as a physical representation of the connection between them. 

In a feather-like lilac surrounding, on one side is a small female figure with a bird’s head that portrays the early inhabitants of the Philippines while on the other side is a taller woman of seemingly Caucasian descent that depicts the colonial and post-colonial people of the country.  With this piece,                   Poblador is in a way challenging the viewer to meditate within a noisy environment as the gallery is located on a busy street with cars, buses and tricycles passing at all hours as she strives to convey the juxtaposition of nature and civilization with the tranquility within the gallery and the chaos found outside.

Another installation, “Cabinet of Curiosities,” is a collection of amulets, bones, stones, dried leaves, and small and large bottles each filled with a different type of root, leaf, or flower marinated in water. This work is inspired from her earlier works that concerned itself with using existing scents and contextualizing them to depict an environment or idea.

Her small glass sculptures of plants and animals that are each encased in glass, not only as a means of security, but also impart a feeling of having a constant state of preservation within their own pristine space. This could be a projection of the artist’s own desire to conserve the natural environment. With the small sculptures adjacent to idol heads with the same organic matter growing on the top of it, Poblador communicates a pervasive desire for our urban societies to return to a homogenous relationship with nature.

Goldie Poblador’s glass artwork

This theme of nature versus urban conflict is reiterated in her oil paintings and watercolors, which mostly depict weeping females. These works illustrate the artist’s own personal discontent of living in an urban environment and she feels she is, as one piece is titled, “Not In My Element.”  

After a year of intense, even borderline obsessive reflection, Poblador at least finds an answer to some of her questions. She realizes that a 180-degree turnabout is not what modern society needs but certainly a partial requirement would be for man to once more attune himself with nature.

Visit www.liongorengallery.com for information. For inquiries, email liongorengallery@yahoo.com, call 912-4319 or 439-3962. The gallery is at 111 New York Ave., Cubao, Quezon City.