Silverlens New York Co-Owners on Their "Phenomenal" Opening

Silverlens eyes a broader representation of Southeast Asian artists in the United States

“Phenomenal!” exclaims Silverlens founder and co-owner Isa Lorenzo, recalling the opening reception of their New York gallery last September. A thousand people flocked to the Chelsea gallery to celebrate Asian artistry and catch the works of Baloise Art Prize and CCP Thirteen Artists award recipient Martha Atienza and the acclaimed Malaysian artist Yee I-Lann.

“The opening reception was unbelievable. I couldn’t have dreamt it any better!” adds Rachel Rillo, Silverlens co-owner and co-director. “I think our landing gave a reason for our community [Asian/Southeast Asian/ Filipino-Americans] to celebrate and be proud.”

The new gallery is a sprawling 2,500 sqft space with a 20 ft ceiling located on the ground floor at 505 West 24th Street. Lorenzo has always dreamt of opening a gallery in the US having finished her studies at the Parsons School of Design and worked at the International Center of Photography, both in New York, prior to founding Silverlens in Manila in 2004.

“Opening a New York gallery has been a dream for us since 2004, but I felt invisible when I lived here then—the wrong gender, the wrong Asian, the wrong minority,” shares Lorenzo. So, for this new chapter for Silverlens, Lorenzo is excited about the new audiences who will be seeing the work of Asian artists, particularly Filipinos, for the first time. “We are also excited to work with curators, writers and other artists based in New York who will definitely bring in a lot of new perspectives into our Silverlens programme.”

Timing and the rising demand for Southeast Asian art propelled Silverlens to finally set in stone this longstanding dream. “A lot of the difficult issues that the US is dealing with now [Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, Asian Hate] have allowed for introspection, spotlighting marginalised groups,” Lorenzo explains. “Filipinos are one of the largest diasporic groups in the States, and it is about time that they are seen. Asian Americans are generally more acknowledged. The support we received at our opening is a testament to this. Everyone was incredibly proud and felt seen.”

Having a trans-continental expansion from Manila to New York entails hurdles along the way. But Lorenzo and Rillo were headstrong. “The plan for New York was fast and smooth. Things fell into place, so we’ve been riding the wave since,” shares Rillo. Aside from being at the forefront of bringing a broader representation of Southeast Asian, Asian Pacific and Diasporic artists into the wider framework of the contemporary art dialogue, Silverlens New York also plans to become a space for both gallery-curated and curator-led exhibitions, artist talks, panel discussions, film screenings and events.

“Absolutely exciting!” Rillo says, thinking about the years ahead. “We are an established gallery in the Philippines but newbies in New York, so we feel both confident and fresh at the same time.”

For Silverlens New York’s inaugural exhibitions, mixed-race women artists Atienza and I-Lann, showcased their continuous collaborations with their island communities, the culture and energy that allow their art to be made under the most difficult circumstances. Atienza presented Bantayan group of islands, north of Cebu, to question the interests of the tourism industry, landed elites and the local and provincial government. Meanwhile, I-Lann explored the transition of the Coral Triangle from fishing to weaving, the process of how a craft community making tikar-woven mats bound to the tourist market has found opportunities for innovation, and more.

Currently, Silverlens New York is exhibiting the works of Southeast Asian artists Nicole Sy Coson, Corinne de San Jose, Bernardo Pacquing and Arin Sunaryo. Opened last November 16 and running until January 7, the External Entrails exhibition links four intergenerational and mixed-gender artists who use abstraction to confront the precarious and uncertain state one experiences when bracing for impact. The exhibition is a response to the unremitting socio-political aggressors—national and foreign governments, colonialism, erasure and dissimulation— and environmental disasters—volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, extreme floods and monsoons—that Southeast Asia faces as one of the world’s most natural disaster-prone regions.

For Rillo and Lorenzo, walking into Silverlens New York would not only just feel like home but more of a lens towards the artistry and social realities of this corner of the world. “The shows in New York are scheduled longer, to give more time for engagement,” explains Lorenzo. “More focused on an audience that is seeing ‘us’ for the first time, for institutions and academies, and a very diverse and exciting community of Asian-Americans,” Rillo adds. “We hope to reach all levels—from museum directors to critics and to collectors, from artists to curators, from non-art world Philippine-American groups to second/third generations of Asian-Americans,” Lorenzo concludes.

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Credits

Photography

Joseph Pascual

Images

Silverlens New York

Tatler Asia

Inside the New York Gallery of Silverlens