The Tide Is High But I’m Holding On: ‘Waves’ by Roberto Chabet
MO_Space inaugurates its 10th anniversary with a singular work by Roberto Chabet. Entitled Waves, this piece features 21 light blue plywood slabs suspended from the ceiling imitating the undulation of bodies of water. Here, Chabet’s work blurs the line between sculpture and theater, presenting the audience with something reminiscent of a theatrical set that allows for engagement and participation. I suppose it’s rather apt for MO_Space to inaugurate its series of anniversary exhibitions with an artist like Chabet, who has influenced generations of artists in the Philippines to pursue nontraditional fields of art. Born in 1936, Chabet is often considered to have pioneered conceptualism in the Philippines, invigorating the use of readymades, simple materials, and collage. Up until his death in 2013, Chabet has worked both as the first curator of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and as a professor in UP College of Fine Arts. Personally, I have always pegged Chabet as a serious artist. Having heard nightmarish (maybe even urban legend type) stories of him requiring his students paint with their non-dominant hand or foot (I don’t remember which) or him fiercely criticizing not just his colleagues, but those much less experienced than him, I have always thought of him as a stern figure in the Philippine art scene. However, having seen Waves, I was pleasantly surprised to have seen something so playful and light-hearted coming from The Father of Philippine Conceptual Art. Throughout his career, Chabet often experimented with “environmental art,” mounting large-scale sculptures made of simple material like plywood. These sculptures would be so large and expansive that it often felt like you were walking onto a stage, instead of a gallery space. Chabet’s sculptural work, in a sense, becomes experiential as the viewer is required to navigate through the spaces that it creates. Waves, of course, is no exception to this. From one end of the room, you see an amalgamation of the waves and its oscillations. However, walking through the gallery, the viewer inadvertently continues to dissect the sculpture, now seeing it in its value as parts rather than just as a whole. Chabet’s Waves surprisingly leaves hardly any questions for the viewer. Waves does not force upon any interpretation, takeaway, or lesson from its form or history. It is what it is. Chabet does not leave us to consider any bigger meaning from the art piece, he instead, presents us with a simple object to interact with and does not try to go beyond its physical limitations and composition. Which, I think, presents a valuable question in itself: is art even meant to teach or represent something outside of what it is? I guess it depends on whom you’re asking. Waves by Roberto Chabet was on exhibit in MO_Space, BGC from July 1 to 30, 2017.
