PAIR 8
Ab Hong & E. Briggs
Artist
Initially rooted in the poignant depths of unrequited love, her art has evolved into a testament of resilience and self-expression. Each piece, an ode to the inner fortitude required to navigate life's complexities, reflects a personal journey from longing to empowerment.
Inspiration strikes Ab Hong amidst the mundane rhythms of daily life. As a self-professed perfectionist, collage became her sanctuary—a realm free from defined rules or flawless techniques. It serves as a canvas for perpetual experimentation.
Her art blurs the lines between imagination and reality, inviting the viewers to her narrative and encouraging them to come up with their own. Her work is a visual metaphor of celebrating and embracing imperfections and to forge ahead.
Art Critic
E. Briggs has been an independent writer since 2015. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Philosophy with the study of focusing on the empowerment of sex and sexuality. Currently a volunteer member of We Bleed Red Movement which fights for period poverty in the Philippines and an online freelance writer since 2021. Exploring beyond the horizon, she attempts to expand her writing skills through art criticism and joining various advocacy groups on feminism in the Philippines. Her inspiration ranges through different artists from film to songwriting that fuels her love and enthusiasm for various courses of art, most especially through creative writing.
Stage 0
Conceptualization, Portfolio Review, & Artist Interview
The artist provides a brief description of the concept they intend to explore or develop for Confluence.
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Notes on initial concept
Written by Ab Hong
The core concept of my work is inner struggle - trying to overcome my self-limiting beliefs and carve something out of collage. Some of the key elements that I will be using in my visual narrative are images of people, landscapes and flora. A few of the influences that have molded me in my journey are Eugenia Loli, Sammy Slabinck, Robert Kushner, Rene Magritte and Haruki Murakami.
I want them to contemplate on the strangeness and beauty in collage art. I want viewers to be able to have a sense of relatability and catharsis to my work. I will be using collage as my technique using magazines, found papers, organic matter and mixed media.
The narrative of the inner struggle is constantly there because I lack self-confidence despite what external validation or accolades I have received. I grew up with a conventional mindset and idea of my future but I was also drawn towards turning my creativity into a living (a more volatile and uncertain way of living). I was constantly between taking risks and being risk-averse, the fear of making mistakes and the fear of the unknown. This work represents me trying out things and seeing how it works out - despite the nagging voice at the back of my head that pulls me in to go back to being shy.
This work is significant to my artistic journey because I have never participated in any collaboration or exchange as vulnerable as this.
I’m curious to see how my artwork and style will evolve with the influence of an art critic and curator.
I chose collage as my artistic choice because It is organized chaos - which is fitting for me. I love the very process of tearing, cutting and rearranging pieces together to form a totally new visual narrative. I hope to elicit mixed feelings of somberness and hopefulness when viewers see my work. This work serves as a reminder for the capacity to still create and make new things, despite the wavering confidence and inner conflict that often cloud us.
The experience I want them to take away is - There is beauty in the grit and rawness of struggling. This is not to glorify hardship, but realize that we are significantly shaped and molded by it more than successes or achievements.
The art critic collects information by reviewing portfolios and conducting artist interviews, which they subsequently use to formulate an initial assessment of the artist's artwork and creative process.
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About Ab Hong
Written by E. Briggs
As seen through the focal point of Ab Hong’s collage art form, it incorporates self-reflective elements that mimics the human experience and elevates it into pieces of art sewn together. The artist’s inclination of exploring contemporary and eccentric designs unfold visual fulfillment and self-contentment. Each subject presented in the artwork slowly evolves from an existentialist perspective to metaphysical vantage point which dwells on the artist’s foremost objective in producing collage as an art form. Stemming from the inspirations of Magritte to Murakami, the artist manifested the artwork into authentic and empathetic collages; daily experiences and its beauty are attained within reach that’s been built by pieces. Caged upon loneliness, grief, or fear, her works of art depict her philosophical debut as departing from one’s comfort zone and bringing more hues into the world. From the last few pieces of art in her collection, negative spaces then are nowhere to be seen as it is replaced by the quality presence of nature. Existence precedes essence, as Sartre would remark. Ab Hong’s pieces of art from her collection were first born from a pile of schemes that gradually turned into a purposeful and hopeful creation with a freedom of deciding the journey of one’s life.
Stage 1
Study Work & Work-in-Progress (WIP) Analysis
The artist translates their written concept from Stage 0 into a tangible form and provides a brief artist statement elucidating the work. This stage functions as a research or study phase, focusing on the execution and development of both the form and content of their concept.
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The art critic examines the transitional phases of an artist's production, exploring how the artwork and the artist's practice evolve during the creative process.
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Stage 1 Artwork
Collage Study 2
Ab Hong
Collage on canvas
20cm x 20cm
Stage 1 Artwork
Collage Study 2
Ab Hong
Collage on canvas
20cm x 20cm
Artist Statement:
This project serves as my experimentation phase with textures, particularly crumpling paper and finding other ways to distress it further. A lot of my inner struggle stems from my self-limiting beliefs about myself despite having a very good support system. In a way, these works serve as evidence of me trying despite the fears inside my head. One of the things I'm trying to unlearn is overthinking the process. Nakakapanghinayang sometimes with collage, because of how rare or one of a kind an image or texture seems like to me. This means, if I screw it up, I wasted the resource. I'm trying to let go of that kind of thinking and accept that sacrifices will have to be made to grow myself and expand the horizon of where collage will take me. For the two works on canvas, I tried not to think too hard of the background since I was more focused on exploring textures of the foreground pieces.
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Stage 1 Text
Work-in-Progress (WIP) Analysis of Collage Study 1 & 2
Written by E. Briggs
What really masks our eyes from reality?
Reminiscent of Ab Hong’s former pieces of collage work, her art studies depict existential factors of human emotions as it captivates the artist's inner struggle and tragedy. It is no doubt that these striking emotions that feed off the passion is a point of challenge towards the creatives and it will remain so as frustration arises.
As we look through the art studies, the limited appearance of hues made it feel as if the world inside of the canvas is gloomy; black and white are featured the most and the grip of the artwork repels itself of bliss. And the texture resembles the perfect maneuvering of turning unorthodox into beauty. This kind of approach also translates to the artist's impediment within the process of exploring through different elements and textures that would elevate the artwork. But this strategy of exploration somehow took a turn.
And as a divergence on the exploration, added elements such as paper folding or origami would strengthen the centerpiece of the message—struggles and tragedy—knowing that these kinds of papers are already called defective. This added element would allow the artwork to flourish more in depicting the wider theme that fully connects to the audience and would maximize the use of defective products.
To create a visual representation on the human emotions, Ab Hong’s studies of artwork unfold a series of frustration and fear of lacking that gradually exposed the beauty of such outcomes and of what goes through in a creative process. What really masks our eyes from reality is not being able to see what we have right in front of us; the opportunities presented that we can turn into something new and beautiful. It's a fleeting moment of disaster turned into a harmonious masterpiece that recognizes and deals with day-to-day experiences that makes an individual brave the storm of change.
Stage 2
Study Execution & Review of Related Works or Literature
Study Execution & Review of Related Works or Literature
The artist will refine the artwork based on insights gained during Stage 1 deliberation and production. Their partner will offer relevant literature or artwork to support the enhancement of both the form and content of the piece.
The art critic persists in examining the artist's creative process and decision-making. Moreover, they seek out relevant literature or artwork that can enhance the development of their counterpart's work.
Stage 2 Artwork
I Belong
Ab Hong
Collage on Paper
15"x13"
Artist Statement:
This piece serves as a continuation on my exploration of using textures by crumpling and tearing the pieces of paper. I don’t think the narrative of inner struggle fits anymore because I’m voicing them out, facing them and accepting them as I move forward. I have realized throughout the process that I find it difficult to materialize the words to explain the work. It's more often in hindsight can I explain myself with words. For this piece, the question that has been circling my mind is, "How can you appreciate something that is torn off, ripped off, distorted and crumpled?". In the spectrum of art, I've been gravitating to more abstration, to more "imperfect and unsuitable" pieces to make my work. It's in a way, asking, what is unsuitable and suitable in art. One of the reasons I've been gravitating towards this concept is probably because of how I see it as an underdog in the world of art. I feel like I don't see it enough, and I think it begs to be seen and deserves to be a part of conversations in the world of art appreciation.
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Stage 2 Text
Work-in-Progress (WIP) Analysis with Review of Related Work or Literature of I Belong
Written by E. Briggs
Ab Hong’s artwork, entitled ‘I belong.’, grows into acknowledging and embracing new changes, new ventures as seen on her elements as she goes beyond the lines of the canvas, making sure that once she takes a leap, there is progress and that progress creates a more beautiful vantage point.
As I, the art critic, breathe in the knowledge and aesthetics of the visual artist’s work, I release it into a micro-literature that can be pieced together to create a coherent and meaningful composition. Just as collage or mixed media art, some things could be more worthy than the human sees. Its potential grows into the mold, that is the artist, with a message that can be interpreted in infinite ways as what I've understood with the given reading from Roland Barthes' The Death of the Author (1967).
Perhaps, through my vision, it is amusing that my perspective on Ab Hong’s series of work is seemingly focused under the impression of life. Of how we feel as humans, of how we encounter everything that makes all things truly overwhelming. This abstract collage shows a slice of the artist's life and how she navigates her experiences through art. On this work in progress, the artist surpasses the narrative on her inner struggle which can be visibly seen as the crumpled and torn-apart papers have gradually matched throughout the process. As for its neutral color scheme, it depicts a sense of warmth and familiarity that reflects the artist's journey in her life. Lastly, I love how the artist explores more textures to express some kind of sentiment, of how the used magazine was made by another person and now, it is used for a greater opportunity which is art. It can be more free-flowing than strategic and I think that's what works best for the artist as she pieced everything together that makes the art whole.
Overcoming this narrative enlightened the hopes of change and the death of fear; knowing that the artist no longer holds the tension of bringing in more considerations that would weigh down the work, it reveals to be carefree and charismatic. Taking more to explore and continue enjoying the journey; the thought possesses an excerpt from Henry Miller's To Paint is To Love Again (1960) because as an audience, we must be able to genuinely appreciate the work presented to us. And to be genuine is to immortalize the emotion of the artwork. In that case, an excitement in exploring takes place for Ab Hong’s I belong. Capturing the essence of diversity in art and patching up pieces of previous scraps, concocting a representation of oneself that can be seen by the public eye.
Stage 3