Welcome to Utterly Art

Once upon a time in a not too distant past, when "cable" literally meant strong rope or wire and was not synonymous to HBO, and when YouTube denoted a second person and a cylinder for liquid transmission, and was not synonymous to "broadcasting yourself", there was the almighty Television. More commonly dubbed the TV, and known to mankind as the most dominant, effective and influential method for information dissemination and image sharing, TV is still the people's cheapest form of entertainment which has evolved into a culture of its own. In this fashion, Neil Manalo returns to the theme 16 years after his first artwork depicting the overwhelming effects of TV viewing (Nag bilang sumingit ang tagapagparangal / Then the presenter suddenly interrupts, 1992, acrylic on canvas, 6x10 ft. Permanent Collection of the Singapore Art Museum)

"TV" features Manalo's latest series of representational works, showcasing the intensity and effectiveness of television to its audience and the viewers' immediate response and reaction. Manalo appropriates scenarios of TV watching as common human experiences that show the viewers' sincere raw emotions of being aggressively indulged, melodramatically involved and humorously engaged to a television program. More so, he presents each work as a situational analysis that defines the viewer's cultural condition.