New at West

Four new shows opened yesterday at West Gallery and here are some photos! I get super self-conscious when I bring a DSLR (I just use the kit lens, heh), but I tend to not post anything I take with my small camera… so self-conscious DSLR-ing it is!

Gallery 1: Fan Fiction by Mariano Ching and Yasmin Sison. I died. Everything was so beautiful. I mean, I think it’s no secret how much of a fan I am of these two, lol. But their paintings especially, I love. These pieces were works on paper, each of Nano’s were done on vinyl inner and outer sleeves, with the records still inside.

Gallery 2: Block by Paulo Vinluan. Like his last show at Silverlens that I thought I posted about but did not, Block features a short animated film. It’s pretty interesting work. I don’t know if I would or even could do it myself, but there’s a certain beauty to be found in geometry, I think. His work is often made up of things that you have to study longer so that you can comprehend the details, the sum of all the parts, so to speak. I’m not automatically drawn to them, visually, but when I pick them apart and study everything, I gain a better appreciation of them.

Gallery 3: It’s About the End That Keeps Coming by Jay Ticar. I’m not familiar with Ticar’s work, but I really liked this set! The dominant colors are brown and blue, and like Vinluan’s work, there is just so much to see in these pieces. They are layered, in a sense, and I like the combination of all the elements that make up the whole picture. A part of me thinks that they kind of look like collages, but maybe that’s just me.

(I know; these observations are so insightful. Forgive me; I’m a bit rusty.)

 Noah was super happy to see Ryan. Check out that intense tail-wag blur!

Gallery 4: The Princess and the Pea: Stacking of Thoughts Beyond Flat by Amy Aragon. I’m also not familiar with Amy Aragon’s work, but it reminds me of Ryan Villamael’s process. The works look vastly, different, though, and I’m having trouble distinguishing the shapes created by Aragon’s cut-out, which are layered over each other. You can sort of make out more of the complexity had there been a higher contrast between the layers, but I also think the subtlety of her work is beautiful.