About the artist
Even without seeing the artist’s name, the viewer can instantly recognize a work by Joven Mansit, which references the figures and the sepia tint of fin de siècle Filipiniana photographs. This style, at first look, positions Mansit’s opus within the realm of appropriation—the translation of the photographic medium into painting. But upon closer examination, his paintings contain divergent and dissociative elements, such as a pair of horns, bat wings, and hulking carcass of meat placed upon what would have been otherwise a sedate and straightforward portraiture. This “discovery,” as some of these elements are not immediately obvious to the eye, unsettles the expectation of the viewer, often leading to a cognitive dissonance and eventually to an insight into the veracity of historical records as well as to the volitional incursion of the artist to disrupt assumptions and belief systems. By introducing these elements of discord into his figuration, Mansit argues against the fixity of history itself.
