Don’t Miss Archie Geotina’s Show at Provenance Gallery. True to his street art roots, Geotina has chosen wheat paste as the primary media for this exhibit. We say primary because the prints are actually bonded onto aluminum sheets which have been wrought to communicate even deeper messaging. Utilizing this medium he has become very familiar with as a young graffiti artist, the images serve as primary way of starting his dialogue.
But that’s only the start. The prints are applied to sheets of aluminum, bent to resemble crumpled up pieces of litter, weathered, and slowly unfolded to reveal that which was simply thrown away. This technically classifies the works as sculptures and adds a weight to them that simply does not come across in photographs — ironically enough — especially since they basically all began their journey as photographs themselves. While this is a solo show, Geotina makes a point to thank his collaborator, Summer Puertollano for contributing the photography used in the works.
Accompanying the hanging works are a series of hand-sculpted ceramic sculptures. Limited to an edition of 25, each leaf laid on the skulls were also hand sculpted, the whole thing being made out of ember-fired porcelain. Extending the depth of meaning of the sculptures is their secondary function. It turns out that they are not merely decorative, but also serve as censers for incense sticks. Strategically positioned holes (such as in the eyes of the skull) allow for smoke to escape and vent out of the sculpture. It’s almost as if you are invited to continue participating in a performance art piece every time you light up a stick to burn in the sculpture.
And that’s another thing: aroma. The exhibit has a fragrance. One of incense , floral notes, and… mourning.
Add to that Geotina’s collaboration with Free the Robots & Similar objects for sound design and you see that this level of intention is evident across the board at Ground Zero. And intention is what’s going to be one of the things that will set Archie Geotina apart from the pack if he is able to continue with this level of depth of though and ability to communicate those thoughts through art.
Ground Zero is what the artist has named this show. Named to reflect the journey that they made to visit the literal ground zero of 2017’s Marawi conflict. It was a journey where they had to travel at a minimum of 100 kph to maintain the group’s security. It would be at this same ground zero that Geotina would leave a message of peace in the form of a street art mural.
A second message of peace is extended though the Ground Zero show, as a portion of the proceeds will be going to extend the support towards Marawi through the Teach Peace Build Peace Movement.
Provenance Gallery is in Shangri-La BGC, and Ground Zero runs until Feb 2, 2020.
