Let’s agree to disagree. In an attempt to grasp the playful intersection and adventure in art making, artist couple Keiye Miranda and Wire Tuazon have found a collaborative way of weaving the artists’ emotional connection to their works with an idea or experience by providing insights into their own creative production processes as a basis for exchange.
“Parallel Threads” arose from seeing a bulk of our old works in our storage room. These were works from previous exhibitions, some of them unfinished and others unexhibited. Somehow, we felt that they might be good collaboration material for the show. We could work together by using each other’s existing works — see it fun, personal and challenging to grant new life to old works, thereby opening doors to new meanings and significance. Seizing upon this as a cue, and using these works as a springboard or mutual catalysts, we initiated a process of offering each other’s work to be re-worked on. We allowed each other a degree of freedom. By carefully juxtaposing and dislocating imagery in a succession of dialogues, we subtly changed the works’ shape and content, and were pleasantly surprised by the collisions of unexpected connections and associations. We also established a pattern of pauses for reassessment in the process that serves as counterpoints for removing the anxiety of influence around gestures that carry the “same/other” meaning (i.e., having second thoughts or doubts based on our understanding of the contradictions at stake in the process of painting.)
By combining an acute sense of respect, generosity and a sense of independence and possibility, the show imparts questions on the nature of artistic practice and associations, re/drawing the line between the realm of boundaries and revival. While the show hinges on the sociology of human interactions, it also highlights these mute conversations, manifested by the reflective blanks or silences in our studio activity, a rhythm where breathing space and breathing time were as critical to a painting’s success as to the well-being of studio practice. The exhibition is a product of our interest in picture-making, of visual ideas taking shape, and our willingness to embrace chance, while blurring the desire for a sense of connection and ownership, thus freeing us from the preciousness (precariousness) that inhabits most collaborative endeavours.
Over time, parallels are drawn between journeys taken and relationships endured. Even though we employ different styles and approaches through the years, and our personal motivations and decisions differ, a deeper understanding of each other’s works reveals the underlying level of coexistence as partners. As we manage to situate our emotional connection to our works, the internal effort to create never changes. This, through art — that’s something we have shared, and continually share.
