Mano Gonzales
MANO GONZALES (1990) IS A self-taught artist based in Manila. While drawing on a wide range of influences, ranging from history to film, photography and fashion, his creative work encompasses drawing, product design and styling. He grew up in the northern provinces of Ilocos Norte and Isabela where his interests in art emerged at a young age.
Having studied Sociology at UP Los Banos, he is interested in the subtle ways infor- mation systems and physical processes secretly inform a culture. Through illustrative and sculptural methods, he attempts to trace themes of social justice concealed in under-ex- amined narratives of the past, retooling found historical and vernacular imagery as flash points for thinking through old questions of power, identity and gender that still present within current, collective memory. When he resurfaces these visual narratives, they appear recon- structed into contemporary forms that permeate the mind’s eye, invoking a political subconscious.
Pure Element
Steel, Strobe Lights, Water. Size Variable
The interactive art installation seamlessly blends the elegance of water droplets in motion with The precision of stroboscopic lighting. This installation explores The beauty and fluidity of motion in The context of nature and technology.
At the heart of installation, a series of thin, transparent tubes is suspended from the ceiling in an intricate network of patterns and shapes. These tubes release water droplets at controlled inter- vals. The droplets fall gracefully. each one representing a unique moment of motion.
Strategically positioned strobe lights encirle the area where the droplets fall. These lghts are programmed to flash at precise intervals freezing the water droplets in mid-air. The timing of the strobes creates an illusion of suspend motion, revealing the shapes and patterns formed by the droplets.