GOING WITHOUT
Exhibition Notes
In the Palaganas home, one takes each moment to discover. Walk through the small unkempt garden and find birds-of-paradise or bougainvilleas for picking. In the living room, look at the children's drawings and scribbles on paper posted on the walls or piled on the table. Toys and books on the shelves. Framed artworks hung on walls or stacked in corners around the house. Artists' brushes in cups, a press on a table in the garage. Go without anything. Come around with a keener eye for the ordinary. Pick up things, however small—a bird-of-paradise, some bougainvilleas, blades of grass, a child's scribbles on paper, candy wrappers, old carbon paper. Lay them before you and see.
What is there to see? In their second two-man show together, Marlon Palaganas and Kelly Ramos-Palaganas show you what they have seen in the ordinary—opportunities to communicate not only art, but a life together around and outside of art.
With each other or on their own, Marlon found objects and Kelly picked flowers and leaves from various plants about the house. In between or during times of taking care of the kids, the house chores and jobs, they worked their way through mind and matter. Marlon made collages of found objects and Kelly painted with plant stains.
For both of them, eschewing store-bought paints and the use of brushes to whip paintings on canvas is a conscious effort at exploring other media and artistic consciousness. Kelly's choice of medium confines as well as liberates her. New to exploring plant stains for painting, she finds it filled with potential. She also finds it an interesting medium to grow abstractions. On the other hand, Marlon's choice of using only found objects in composing his collages is an exercise in moderation. Little maneuvering is required, which to him preserves “the personal side of artmaking”.
With crammed lives, Marlon and Kelly go without in art to go and grow within.
Angely Chi
Marlon Palaganas,Zen Master(14x18½inches),Found paper scraps,2010
Marlon Palaganas,Window#1(14x18½inches),Found paper scraps,2010
Marlon Palaganas,Ode to Mandy(14x18½inches),Found paper scraps and felt,2010
Marlon Palaganas,No Words(14x18½inches),Found paper scraps,2010
Kelly Ramos-Palaganas,Code A(dot-dash),11x15inches,Natural dye from flowers and leaves,2010 
Kelly Ramos-Palaganas,Code B (dash-dot-dot-dot),11x15inches, natural dye from flowers and leaves,2010
Kelly Ramos-Palaganas,Code C (dash-dot-dash-dot),11x15inches, natural dye from flowers and leaves,2010
Marlon Palaganas,Blue Zen(14x18½inches),Found paper scraps,2010
Marlon Palaganas,Ode to Kaaro(14x18½inches),Found paper scraps,2010
