Mariano Ching has created his own unique artistic brand. Over the years he has cultivated works that carry a signature look, which screams otherworldly. He draws and paints with colors that are stark and artificial, and are about objects that are strange, often grotesque, and always unthought-of before. His show at SLab is no different. In Even Bad Days are Good, Ching presents five large paintings and four pyrographs that are expectedly in the same style, but also full of surprises. This is the first time Ching makes a portrait series.

Each painting is a portrait of human-like beings, whose faces have a world of their own. His subject’s humanity is covered with dreamscapes, unnatural appendages and distorted features. However strange they may appear, the portraits are not dark or frightening.

As the title conveys, Ching’s works have a positive vibe. The colors are bright, and the subjects invite curiosity and laughter. In their faces, we see Ching’s subjects looking on the bright side of things. It seems they are saying, “Even Bad Days are Good”.

The exhibit is opening on February 16 and will be on view at SLab, Silverlens Gallery. Even Bad Days are Good by Mariano Ching opens simultaneously with Between Signs by Poklong Anading + Gary-Ross Pastrana in Silverlens and \m/ by Dexter Fernandez at 20SQUARE, SLab. The three shows run until March 19, 2011. Mariano Ching will have a Film Screening as a related Gallery Event on February 26, Saturday, 3-5PM in Silverlens Gallery.

Contact 816-0044 or 0917-5874011, email [email protected]. or log on to www.silverlensphoto.com for inquiries. Silverlens Gallery is located at 2/F YMC Bldg. II, 2320 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 10AM–7PM and Saturdays 1–6PM.

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