The basic premise of this show is to see how various collaborations with photography would turn out. An exploration towards the field, there are no rules, except that one of the mediums be a photograph while the other, not necessarily having anything to do with the picture except in terms of aesthetic and conceptual value, must somehow fit with the other. The project basically asks "In a collaboration setting, where does photography lie?" or maybe “What would happen to photography if it’s put alongside another medium?” because most of the time, photography usually comes first in the process.

It’s more of like a skeletal framework that serves as a base for the building of the artwork itself. Like in most cases where artists would take pictures of existing images and then paint it over or do whatever. Frequent, but not really always because on a number of cases like some works in this show, photography could sometimes become the final step for the collaboration, as when it presents a preserved image of documented things and becomes the actual artwork itself. So then again, the question of where it actually lies is downright indistinguishable but is very much open to critical perception. That’s what makes it interesting, because the answer, in the end, would still lie within the individual opinion of the audiences themselves.

And since the contemporary art world now is beginning to recognize (or perhaps has already been recognizing for decades) a wider spectrum of materials to be used in the process of art-making, this turns out to be a pleasurably exciting show—open to infinite possibilities.

So as the lines between the mediums have been set and separated, the artists would then rebuild the once detached works into a conjoined whole. This concept of artistic collusion is more often are curring theme in the scene not because of its result, but maybe, just maybe, the actual procedure or the act of doing it. Because aside from the observable visual allure of its outcome or even the base fundamental concept of the whole thing, it’s simply fun to do.

More like a synergy of connected experiences flowing out from two artists with different styles, this show steadily connects two once separate pieces of art from the mundane, to the slightly absurd, to the downright undistinguishable. And the moment these two concepts actually connect, they are merged together into a pretty Frankenstein diptych of sorts, a little chimera born a hybrid from an artful orgy of lovemaking.

HYBRIDS, collaborations featuring Ringo Bunoan • Juan Caguicla • ChatiCoronel • Corinne de San Jose • Christina Dy • Nona Garcia • Isa Lorenzo • Gary-Ross Pastrana • Edber Mamisao • Rachel Rillo • MM Yu, October 8, 6pm, Blanc Peninsula Manila