Things, words, feelings

A solo exhibit by Aldron Anchinges

There’s a thin boundary between the physical world of touch and the thoughts it inspires. Connecting them, the oscillating words, building associations as rapidly as they shift and evolve. Creatures and animals reminiscent of childhood; vehicles and machines recalling emotional turmoil. The associations appear arbitrary to some, but to others, they recount years of experience built from the moment one first learns to interact with the world around them. Pondering these three pillars of our existence, Aldron Anchinges wonders, between things, words, and feelings, is there truly a difference between the three?

In Things, Words, Feelings, Anchinges delves into the sensory and psychological facets of visual impressions. As an artist, he has honed his skill toward still life, rendering in meticulous detail vignettes of objects with a sensibility that taps into both his own personal narratives and the wider breadth of his viewers’. His works for this show use the pervasively ingrained iconography of children’s toys to reflect the way the sensory experiences they foster at an early age resound and grow well into adulthood. Present in each work are letters – alphabet blocks, word jumble cubes, candy wrappers. Some words jump out clearly, whole and conspicuous in the memories they evoke. Others, coupled with their images, entice a game of sorts: what words or feelings come to mind when faced with these images?

The works of Anchinges draw from the theory of semiotics: the study of signs and symbols. Inherent in this study is the search for definition – in the visual, as it surpasses sensory, metaphorical, and cultural barriers. As one sees in Anchinges’ works, these visuals, anchored as they can be in certain stages of life, are both ephemeral and transcendent. They pass through notions of perception and become a part not just of experience, but of the self. Things, words, and feelings blend together until in the most mundane of objects – a toy, a plant, a piece of candy – one can find a perpetual pursuit of meaning.

- text by Mara Fabella