Art Verité Gallery

SIPAT

– matamáng pagtingin sa isang bagay upang suriin o tiyakin kung nása ayos (looking to see if something is straight or level; Ceb.: naughty)

Every day, the internet bombards us with clickbait articles flashing suggestive thumbnails. Click. You can now search your favorite X-rated scandals via hashtag. Tap. Influencers around the world invite you to get exclusive adult content on their subscription site. Sign up now. Sending nudes is now a love language.

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From sacred, romanticized bodies of the religious pre-renaissance and the controversies of libertine women exposed in modern art, we have now become a society accustomed to seeing bare skin with every other swipe on the screen.

Maricar Tolentino’s maiden solo show, “Sipat,” brazenly tackles the enigma of bodily fixation in an age of hyperconnectivity. The artist takes her signature hand-sewing technique on sheer fabric to present an unflinching look at autonomy and voyeurism, engulfing the viewer with swaths of intricately stitched flesh. The gargantuan scale of her work defies the discretion normally observed with nudity, challenging the viewer to see beyond the veil of stark nakedness and into the underlying layers of meaning.

An unclothed woman in repose is the central focus of all of the pieces in Sipat. Tolentino patiently builds layer upon layer of fine cotton lines like gentle connections between thoughts unsaid. Stray threads stick out from the fabric, goading the viewer to reach out and touch the textured surface. Looking closely at the needlework plunges the viewer into a frenetic hallucination, the energetic stitches obliterating any semblance of flesh into a deconstructed mass of string and textile. Ultimately, the artist subverts any salacious intent and turns it into an admiration of the medium.

The two biggest works, “mula ulo hanggang paa” and “an arm and a leg,” are draped in tandem— reminiscent of dramatic theater curtains or frivolous window treatments in upscale spaces. The superimposed image they create sets the stage for a futile game of hide-the-body as the viewer is flanked on all sides with depictions of the naked form.

Her work “laser focus” takes navel-gazing to an uncomfortable level as the forced perspective compels the viewer to hyperfixate on the model’s lower body from a first-person point of view. Tolentino continues to divert our gaze by demanding we “zoom in.” The title playfully references the touch screen gesture of two fingers spreading apart to enlarge a photo, all the while featuring an already oversized, in-your-face teat.

Peeking into Tolentino’s “gallery” (her smallest work by comparison) reveals a self-referential collection of nude images taken from a mobile phone. It highlights the inescapable digital lens at the root of her process and divulges her identity as both model and photographer.

Rather than vanity or a thirst for admiration, however, the artist admits that she creates her nudes from a place of antipathy and unforgiving scrutiny. While not one to expose her actual body in public, she instead strips bare in her embroidery– dismantling, even eviscerating herself into delicate stitches, relentlessly penetrating the fragile fabric of her work as if it were a second skin.

In a way, these masochistic needlepoint meditations are a testament to the loneliness that persists despite living in such an accessible and interconnected society. Like many others raised in conservative households, we are trapped between a longing for intimacy and the norms of propriety. Rather than stifle our morbid fascinations in favor of the trifling approval of others, Tolentino’s Sipat reminds us to take a good look at the latticework of our being and encourages us to pinpoint the ties that bind and hinder us from embracing the inherent beauty of our bodies and the souls within.

If nudes were really a love language, send one to yourself. Take a good look at it. Really admire the nooks and crannies of your unique form. Strip yourself of the harsh judgments and malicious words. Save. Add to favorites. (Share?)

Written by L