IT'S NOT REALLY A CONFABULATION (IF YOU BELIEVE IT)

Gajah Gallery opened a rather spacious new gallery recently, a short walk up a loading dock on Pioneer St. leading to the opening exhibit, “Confabulations: A Fantasy of the Real,” curated by Joyce Toh.

- SCOTT GARCEAU

Joyce Toh with Rosit Mulyadi's "The Unfinishable" at Gajah Gallery launch

Fittingly, it was mix of Filipino, Singaporean and Indonesian artists filling the new space, including BenCab, Charlie Co, Erizal As, I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih, Jemana Murti, Kawayan de Guia, Kiri Dalena, Leslie de Chavez, Mangu Putra, Marina Cruz, Mark Justiniani, Nona Garcia, Rosit Mulyadi, Rudi Mantofani, Suzann Victor and Yunizar.Since its founding in 1996, Gajah’s strategy has been to deepen artistic networks across Asia. The gallery has earned a reputation for nurturing long-term relationships with artists, staging museum-quality exhibitions, and fostering critical discourse through collaborations with leading curators and institutions worldwide.

We’ve seen the cross-pollination of artists from Manila and Singapore to Yogyakarta’s sculpture labs to galleries in Jakarta. It’s part of what Toh calls “opening up a conversation between art and artists of Southeast Asia.”

Now they have a new home in Manila, which can only increase the dynamic exchange.