Exhibited:
Bahay Bahayan series
Museum of Young Art (MOYA) “Annuale 2013”, Vienna, Austria
Chelsea Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 2013
Palazzo Medici Museum, Florence, Italy, 2013

ABOUT THE WORK

This piece is part of the Bahay Bahayan series of Max Balatbat II for the traveling exhibit in Europe where he was part of the FILIPINISM: European Solo Exhibit 2013 where he presented his series in three European cities namely, Venice in Austria; London, United Kingdom then moved to Florence, Italy where during the 7th Florence Biennale 2009, he brought home the El Lorenzo Magnifico Silver Award. Balatbat, also known as MaxBal, is the first Filipino artist to embark on social realism in architectural abstract. His Bahay Bahayan series tells the story of the infamous International Cabaret in Caloocan, a brothel in the said city’s red light district where he grew up with children of courtesans. It is where his friends and their families exposed him to the bitter ironies of life and inspired him to retell their stories in art form - showcasing how he related these works to ephemeral and enduring encounters of emotions, consciousness, of collectivity rich narratives turning into art pieces full of metaphors and creative interpretations of the playground he once knew. Balatbat’s art is affiliated to symbolic squatting, a metaphorical re-occupation of remembered spaces and structures where he demonstrated art’s potential to contest and reconstruct space, memory and identity allowing us to imagine alternative, helpful visions of ourselves.