Imprinted with images of the Holy Family, U.S. dollar bill or the logos of multinationals, crab shells dot his exhibition. He considers them the perfect metaphor for modern man. Like crabs, many people only move sideways, he says. Society tends to make the same mistakes. It's no accident that the installations usually combine elements from church mythology, indigenous images and American pop culture.
Contradictory things occupy the same space.
Now 36 and living in Perth, the Manila-born artist sees the Philippines' hybrid society as the prime example of interwoven disconnections. People, he contends, were often just as concerned with praying to a crucifix as they were with slurping down Coca-Cola after the ritual. Though as a teenager he contemplated entering the seminary, his current contempt for the religious establishment is unmistakable. To subvert the influence of religious icons, Jesus may appear in his works variously with a Teletubbie, Disney figures or a youthful Joseph Estrada. In Mannananggaol, he places a burned copy of the Bible on a pile of sand amid plastic crucifixes and McDonald toys.