Tapping into the deepest memories of their lives, Nasser Zulueta and Tom Russ mount an exhibition that showcases their turning points, influences, and transformations as artists
Available for viewing until 14 March, Nasser Zulueta and Tom Russ' joint exhibition at the Altro Mondo Creative Space entitled is "Transformatika" and showcases pieces that give us a glimpse into their artistic lives. Both studying at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD), the dormitory roommates have spent a lot of time together locked down due to travel restrictions.
"We decided to be true to ourselves and to our art," Russ shared. "We wanted to give something different to the audience since most of the current shows are about the pandemic. And because last year we had the chance to pause and reflect, we decided to show our transformation as individuals and as artists.
It led to a meaningful introspection of their artistic lives: Zulueta being exposed to the arts community since he was young and been mounting exhibitions since 2009, and Russ channelling his inner creativity into the visual arts just recently. In their joint exhibition, Zulueta reveals some turning points in his life that ushered his growth as an artist while Russ takes us to the influences of his colourful journey that started in his hometown in Mindanao.
Given that we are still in the middle of the pandemic, "Transformatika" continues Altro Mondo's hybrid exhibitions that started last year. Besides being available to walk-in guests and private appointments, the exhibition is also accessible via Kunstmatrix online platform. The artists both agree that having a virtual exhibition truly helps them in sharing their craft but the experience is indeed very different.
"It cannot really capture the beauty and soul of our works especially most of them are three-dimensional and we used different medium and materials," said Russ. "You must see them in person to fully appreciate them".
[For this interview, I visited the exhibition virtually which had a different arrangement of pieces compared to the actual one in Altro Mondo]