Sovereign Tea Party
Pablo Gallery
February 2, 2019 – February 23, 2019
If history is any indication, the accumulation of territory is the ultimate symbol of power — kings, tyrants, presidents have all tried to clobber one another to acquire territory and hoard influence. But how different are they from, say, a cat that pisses on a pile of trash to claim it as its own?
A Sovereign Tea Party, Tin F Garcia’s fifth solo exhibit for Pablo Gallery, explores shifting borders, territorial disputes, and what happens when soft power suddenly gets a hard-on. Unabashedly political, A Sovereign Tea Party is somehow fearless and fearful at the same time. The exhibit is infused with tension and fear, but is brave enough to tell it like it is.
For this exhibit, Tin created a series of paintings and installations that reference the turbulence of recent events. In “Magtiamin ng Galit o Iboan sa Limot”, wooden hands are posed in either defiant or submissive gestures, and are left to be engulfed by a growth of snake plants and purple heart vines. “Low Hanging Fruit” creates tension by allowing snake plants and purple hearts to grow and compete for common space. For “West Philippine Tea”, Tin references her Alice in Wonderland roots by creating a tea set engulfed by turbulent waters. This is Tin’s first predominantly-installation exhibit, but the overall themes are still consistent with the surreal, and often political, humor found in her previous works.
About the Pablo Tenth Anniversary Exhibit Series
A Sovereign Tea Party is the first in a series of exhibits that celebrates Pablo Gallery – The Fort’s tenth anniversary. The series will feature four artists: Tin F Garcia, Pauline Despi, Auggie Fontanilla, and Ivan Despi. Each exhibit will run for three weeks, after which the next artist will add their own exhibit to the gallery.