ABOUT THE WORK

Jose Tence Ruiz’ ironic and playful Kotillions are a series that he says represents “more than two decades of wrestling with a particular visual problem.” It is his answer to the question he posed to himself : “How does one encapsulate or compress in a single icon the disparities of contemporary Philippine society? Decadence and a feudal-dynastic surplus on the one hand and the desperate, grinding poverty of the majority, on the other. I came upon one notion, that of Mother Filipinas dressed in a gown of debris. Ostentatious, yet reflective of its disproportion.” For the Kotillions, he would focus on various famous Filipina females, the better to depict “a society propelled by celebrity status.” The Kotillion that pushed the trope to international renown was at the Philippine Pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2015. Entitled Memento Mora 1, Signora dei Padiglione (Our Lady of the Pavilion) it is a reference to the Filipino exhibition’s location at the Palazzo Mora, Strada Nuova in that city and alludes to his memories of this culturally important time — the return of the Philippines to this world arena after an absence of 51 years. The Granducchessa Sacco Di Pelle (Grand Duchess of the Bag of Flesh/Skin) is “painted with a nod to (CNN newscaster) Pinky Webb.” He describes her as clad in a tumble of black leather designer handbags, standing in a mire of dogs, sheep, goats, rabbits. She is holding a stop sign with an ampalaya (a Filipino vegetable known for its bitterness) an illusion to what envy a designer accessory can cause. In the other hand, she wields a scepter crowned by a talisman-like but comical katol spiral (an old-fashioned mosquito-repellant.) Tence Ruiz calls it, “a bit of a paean to vanity.” He notes wryly, however, that indeed, “Handbags are a powerful weapon, in many ways.” (Lisa Guerrero Nakpil)