“I actually ran out of space [at Oarhouse Pub] for this one,” says Maxine Syjuco as she points to a piece hanging in her studio. With a slew of exhibits previously housed in various galleries, the wide-eyed storyteller revels in the opportunity to show at a bar similar to the one she frequented growing up. “Oarhouse brings me back to Penguin Cafe Gallery,” intimates the artist of the Malate spot where she reports to have seen stranger things. How strange, we ask, “My classmates’ jaws would just drop when I’d tell them about it,” she laughs.
Having grown up in a household immersed in art (the Syjuco family is famous for their art sanctuary in Alabang called Art Lab), Maxine’s drive to experiment and challenge existing art notions may stem from home.
Or the group of kids she welcomes to her studio for art lessons. “They still don’t prescribe to a certain school of thought artistically, and what’s what I gravitate towards,” muses the artist about her young padawans and their lack of a clear definition of art. “They’re still so free to do whatever and that’s how I like to do art.”
To conveniently illustrate the creature of experimentation’s art anthem, the show at Oarhouse Pub has become an avenue for the artist to author a narrative that isn’t limited nor constrained to a particular setting. Whereas tirelessly and repeatedly setting up at galleries has given Maxine a chance to flesh out a particular routine (setting up is usually followed by a good glass of beer or a celebratory smoke), showing at a bar allows for a swig and a cigarette mid-session. “Great, right?” jokes the artist.
That, and it allows for folks existing outside of the local art circle to come as, well, they are. “In a way, it could be a chance to bring art to people who don’t go to galleries,” offers Maxine, “Showing at Oarhouse frightens and excites me—you’re not limited to a blank space. You have to work around the bar’s corners and crevices.”
Maxine Syjuco’s show “Noises from a Locked Room” runs until July 4 at Oarhouse Pub, 1688-B Jorge Bocobo Street, Malate
Photo by Artu Nepomuceno
Source: Meg Manzano for Inquirer RED. “Doctrine of Design,” May 2015