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MELVIN DAVE’s second solo exhibit is an artistic manifestation of the consequences that come with the pursuit of perfection and turning everything into a race.
Have you ever looked at your achievements and felt nothing?
What’s the point of it all, you may ask?
The entire exhibit is meant to be consumed slowly: like a cup of coffee during your vacation, savoring the flavors with each sip; not a cup of coffee on your way to work when the only goal is to intake as much caffeine as possible.
It is a pause from the rush of everyday life; an experience meant to be experienced like a journey—from self-doubt, to achieving your dreams, to questioning your life’s purpose, to depression, and finally, a realization of what really matters in life.
Just like what most go-getters and artists face in this instant gratification generation.
The exhibit pieces are made in the weirdest places: from a bus station in the north of Manila, to 36,000 feet in the air; at the foot of a mountain, in a gasoline station in the middle of nowhere, in a graduation ceremony, in the middle of the sea in close to a war zone, outside of a bank while waiting for a six-digit cheque to be cleared, and backstage at a music festival.
A testimony that the feelings of emptiness—no matter how hard we try to run away from it, no matter how good things are in front of us—will always find their way to make us feel sad if we don’t face them head first.
This exhibit is like your childhood playmates knocking at your door at 8 am, asking your parents if you can play with them.
Forgive yourself before entering.
Fasten your seatbelts; we’re going on a journey to self-love.
MELVIN DAVE’s second solo exhibit was on August 22–29, 2022.
Artist’s note:
I used to run away from all of these things. Hide on a secret rooftop in EDSA, take the more extended route home, eat dinner in a mall foodcourt on a Sunday afternoon; observing how peaceful it is just to pause and observe other people enjoying their post-church meal while remembering that I was in a club the night before, observing drunk rich kids lose their phones and dance the night away.
The drunk angsty teenagers and the churchgoers eating lunch with their families have two things in common: they both are in their versions of their peaceful state.
Something I’ve been trying to find for the longest time. Something I only got the chance to experience traces of, when I decided to be honest with myself and face these things that I’ve been putting in my art during the last two exhibits. Something I got to experience a little of, when I finally decided to be brave enough, to be honest with myself about what I want.
It feels like finally deciding to clean up the mess in your room after a depressive month. That feeling of closing your laptop, standing from your chair, and finally deciding to start cleaning a small part of your room, a task that you’ve been avoiding for weeks. Which eventually leads to a full day of general house cleaning.
Or when it’s 2 am and you can’t sleep because you’re putting off washing the dishes your parents told you to wash after dinner. You then finally decide to stand up and just do it anyway.
The peace you feel after seeing your room clean once again. That peace you feel going back to your bed and finally going to sleep after washing all of the dishes. There’s peace in finally deciding to fix things in your life even though you know it’s still a long way to go.
That’s what I feel right now after finally being honest with myself and deciding to break the loop. That feeling of a very small light of hope finally hitting your eyes like it’s 5:23 am and the sun is about to rise at 5:29. I am now in my phase where I hope I get to finish washing these dishes I’ve been trying to avoid for years.
I pray that we all get the strength to finish what we must do to get peace.
This is Exhibit 002, Process, my second solo exhibit. Thank you for being here.
I pray that you find your peace.