Brutal Nature of Life in Isolation: Jose Solon Perfecto Unravels in ‘Études in Survival’
A symphony of sublime realities exhibited through a collection of exquisite stonewares, Jose Solon Perfecto mounts his solo exhibit Études in Survival, cascading the steps of Aphro at The Alley, Karrivin Plaza, on view until May 31st.
Written by Katherine Flor Castillo
Images provided by Aphro
May 26, 2023
Perfected through isolation and artistic hermitage, Études in Survival is a masterful emulation of life and death embodied through vessels of pottery and glasswork. Exhibiting two collections of stoneware studies, Jose Solon Perfecto composes a perfect juxtaposition between the body and the divine, survival and death, and strength and solitude through pottery for his first major solo exhibit, Études in Survival.
The exhibit draws on the artist’s introspective journey that showcases the brutal nature and isolation of the artists manifested through a collection of works perfected during the pandemic.
Former director of Sugbu Chinese Heritage Museum and curator of Études in Survival, Augusto Castro, presents two collections cascading the space of Aphro to emulate the operatic theme in Solon Perfecto’s expression of pandemic isolation and artistic hermitage.
Castro shares, “The seminal exhibition Études in Survival is an operatic introduction to the mythologies that Jose Solon Perfecto created in his pottery art. He presents several etudes—compelling collections of pieces that were mastered during his isolation as an artist in La Union, especially during the pandemic. The compositions of Solon Perfecto reflect portraits of survival and death and landscapes of isolation in pottery, a fine presentation of studies of strength and of solitude.”
No stranger to the nature of pottery as a medium, Solon Perfecto’s oeuvre roots between a coalescence of various wheel-throwing techniques from Indian stoneware to Asian style ceramic practices, alongside the use of natural matures such as foraged wild red clays, resulting in distorted and distressed vessels with hand-painted satin iron and copper red and ash glaze stoneware. The exhibition’s magnum opus, the Torn at Birth collection, presents a perfect image of the artist’s genius toward the craft.
“The exhibition also contains two collections subtly bearing a strong Solon Perfecto signature—functional glasses in the artist’s iconic shape. The God Gene Glasses series is composed of wheel-thrown glasses in Thailand stoneware glazed in ash-based celadon and hand-painted with ash-based copper red glaze. Solon Perfecto interprets them as vessels that are the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, the golden apple of discord and beauty. Only the worthy are allowed to drink from the vessel to manifest their divinity,” offering a deeper perspective into what it means to succumb and to survive.
Études in Survival is an invitation to its viewers to isolate themselves in solitude and to embrace adaptation amidst the nature of brutality and uncertainty of one’s life on earth, an image of survival and perseverance akin to Jose Solon Perfecto’s long saga in the world of pottery art, as an individual and as an artist based in the wild north of La Union.
Études in Survival is a 74-piece pottery solo exhibit by Jose Solon Perfecto at Aphro at The Alley, Karrivin Plaza, Makati City, from May 4 to 31, 2023.
