This Pasig Art Gallery Was Transformed Into A Hotel Room For A Month
Check into a fantasy room of furniture and art!
Visitors “check in” at a midcentury-modern reception counter, and are greeted by a chirpy assistant and a jar full of matches. They walk into a homey lounge, and into a deep, cobalt-blue bedroom, and end up in a bathroom with a soaking tub and walls painted with hothouse flowers.
This is not a chic boutique hotel, but rather, an exhibit at Space Encounters Gallery. Titled “Wild Orchids,” this is a solo exhibit of painted works and collaborations by Christina Dy, a Cultural Center of the Philippines 13 Artists awardee.
The show is equal parts gallery, showroom, and installation art, and you experience the art as in a hotel, as Dy’s erotic artwork of nude male torsos juxtaposed against orchid blooms are emblazoned on the walls, wallpaper, pillowcases, and upholstery.
“Since Space Encounters Gallery is also an interior design space, I wanted to make work specifically for this space, so I’m making…wallpaper patterns (above and below), or patterns that can be turned into furniture upholstery,” the artist shares.
Dy’s masculine torsos—which look like innocent blooms from a distance—are hung on picture frames, printed on fabric and wallpaper, and are painted freehand on the walls, mixing in with the midcentury modern furniture, and imbuing the space with a heady, retro, and slightly sensual vibe.
The imaginary hotel concept transcends the standard art exhibit set-up, and is an apt move, as the interior design arm of Space Encounters is currently designing boutique hotels. Will we be seeing an actual Space Encounters Hotel soon? Principal designer Wilmer Lopez says no, not for the moment, but does not deny the possibility.
See the Wild Orchids exhibit until July 26, 2018 at the Space Encounters Gallery, Unit 7D, 7/F Padilla Bldg., F. Ortigas Jr. Road (formerly Emerald Ave.), Ortigas Center, Pasig City. The gallery is open from 10am to 6pm on weekdays, and 11a, to 5pm on Saturdays by appointment. Follow Space Encounters Gallery at @spaceencountersgallery on Facebook or Instagram.
