The Crux of Things

The Crux of Things explores the dynamics of religion, icons, and those that people worship and idolize. Using enamel and acetate as the primary media for his works, Concepcion dwells on the concept of light through transparent, chrome-like, and glossy effects of these materials. Large-scale installations project the monumentality of objects as an allusion to how a market society reveres images and commodities. According to the critic Jill Conner, "The Crux of Things by Ernest Concepcion unravels into an all-encompassing exhibition, submerging both space and viewers into a larger-than-life critique of the contemporary art world. During the past ten years dealers, galleries and auction houses have created speculative markets surrounding a select number of contemporary artists, inventing both canonical narratives and questionable histories by inflating purchase values. By expanding further from his previous work, Concepcion leaps from contained, hand-carry dimensions into an uncontained, monumental scale. The Crux of Things not only marks a momentous return home for the artist but also serves as the ultimate real-life experience of an organized, aesthetic clash that appears as a painterly starburst throughout the UP Vargas Museum.”

 

Ernest Concepcion (1977, Manila, Philippines) received his Fine Arts degree major in Studio Arts in 1999 at University of the Philippines. He moved to the United States in 2002 where he participated in various art residencies such as the LMCC Workspace Program, the Bronx Museum of Art Artists-in-the-Marketplace (AIM) program, the Artists Alliance Inc. Rotating Studio Program, the Lower East Side Printshop Keyholder Residency, the LMCC Swing Space Program at Governors Island with The Shining Mantis and an artist residency in Beijing, China via NY Arts. As a full-time artist, he works in his studios in Manila and New York and has regularly participated in group exhibitions in the Philippines and the United States.