A characteristic of Manolo Sicat’s sculpture is as tensed and silent as a held breath. Its form may seem more the idea of its materials than that of its maker. “Poverty of Education” is made of stained resin and marble dust. Merely the absence of a supposed present element in Sicat’s sculpture produces disorder for the viewer. The work seems bent on going different places, physical and spiritual, at once. Its similarity with figurines is untraceable. Sicat pieces have no behinds or are flat on their bases. He likes elements that droop and elements that dangle. In the works presented here and a heap of other feints, Sicat shows how to matter in the world: be interested and thereby, perhaps, interesting, for advocacy.

Show runs until July 30, 2008. Kaida Art Gallery, Kamuning Road, Quezon City