Southeast Asian art is the focus of Gajah Gallery

Its 4“ branch opens in Mandaluyong

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GAJAH GALLERY is continuing its expansion through Southeast Asia with the opening of its newest space, this time in Manila. This is its 4" gallery space after Singapore, Jakarta, and Yogyakarta. It is located along Pioneer St. in Mandaluyong City.

Opened on Nov. 28, the gallery will showcase Southeast Asian contemporary art, with the goal of deepening artistic networks across the region. Since its founding in 1996, Gajah Gallery has mounted museum-quality exhibitions and collaborated with curators and institutions worldwide — which the Philippine space will also do.

The gallery has taken up a chunk of the NBS Park (which used to serve as a warehouse for the National Bookstore office next to it).

“The way we see it is that it’s always been inevitable to open a gallery here because we've been exhibiting at Art Fair Philippines since 2016, so it’s been nine years of that,” Gajah Gallery Manager Joaquin Singson told BusinessWorld during the opening reception of its inaugural exhibit.

“Tn 2023, we did our first all-Filipino show, then after that we just kept going and going. It was a natural progression for Gajah Gallery,” he added.

‘The inaugural exhibit is Confabulations: A Fantasy of the Real, a group show curated by Joyce Toh. It showcases a roster of renowned Southeast Asian artists which the gallery has exhibited over the years.

These include a group of Filipinos, namely National Artist Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera, fellow Baguio-based artist Kawayan de Guia, contemporary artists Charlie Co and Marina Cruz, and art activists Kiri Dalena, Mark Justiniani, and Leslie de Chavez.