JOSÉ SANTOS III：2HIDE

About

Singapore—Pearl Lam Galleries is pleased to present 2 hide, a major body of new work by 
Filipino artist José Santos III. This new series creates a heightened awareness of everyday 
objects by imbuing them with expanded meaning and new associations, It is a specific, 
interrogatory and novel engagement with the duality of interiority and exteriority embedded in commonplace objects.

Santos is known for presenting works that contradict the order of reality under a convincing 
veneer of naturalism. The works in this new series reflect the forays into a diversity of 
techniques and processes that Santos has engaged in over the past half-decade. Assemblage 
of objects, photography, digital intervention, deconstruction of the printed image, collage and painting are amongst the avenues through which Santos has fleshed out expanded 
possibilities in image-making in recent years, picking up on a thread of interest in the 
eloquence of inanimate objects from early in the artist’s career. 2 hide marks the germination of these earlier seeds of interest. The dictionary definition format of the exhibition’s title, 2 hide, plays on the twofold meaning of the word hide in its varying and at times overlapping usages; as a verb, describing the act of concealing something from open view, and as a noun, describing a skin that acts as a protective exterior surface. In these contexts, ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ do not merely alternate, but are at times simultaneous. 

The subject matter of this body of work consists of ordinary objects that routinely go 
unnoticed. They are things of the everyday; things that have been thrown away; things that we 
know very well, indeed, that we know inside-out. It is for this precise reason that Santos has 
selected them in his work, re-situating them in a visual vocabulary of images we routinely 
encounter and subconsciously store. Through representation and re-presentation, a 
heightened awareness of everyday objects is experienced, illuminating how our perception of 
these objects is colored by the value (or lack thereof) we imbue them with – and how the 
nature of their objecthood is, in turn, tempered by our perception. Here, a renewed 
appreciation for the unimportant is evoked – the trivial that otherwise goes hidden from our 
view. 

About the Artist

José Santos III was born in Manila, Philippines in 1970. He received his BFA from the 
University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts where he also taught for several years. He 
currently lives and works in Manila, Philippines. Santos’ early paintings consisted of collages and appropriated images from Western artworks, which he juxtaposed to create unexpected compositions. In the late 1980's, he  started building a strong cryptic iconography, producing a series of figurative works for several solo and group shows in the Philippines and abroad. His 2009 exhibition (Un) Commonsaw Santos making a marked departure from figurative painting: the series explored how it is not artistic prerogative alone, but also the natural processes of the creative act, that fulfill the inner demand for a body of work. His deliberate choice of subjects deal with a fascination with texture, and the selected objects, ones mined from the artist’s own immediate environs, show evidence of wear, tear and manipulation, each reflecting a peculiar history and scars bearing witness to it. In recent works, Santos continues his explorations of mundane objects, not merely to uncover their histories, but to complicate our perception and understanding of these everyday things.

In 2000, Santos was chosen as one of the Thirteen Artists Awardees by the Cultural Center of 
the Philippines. His works have been exhibited in Denmark, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, 
Singapore, Bangladesh and New York.

About Pearl Lam Galleries 

Founded by Pearl Lam, Pearl Lam Galleries is a driving force within Asia's contemporary art scene. With over 20 years of experience exhibiting Asian and Western art and design, it is one of the leading and most established contemporary art galleries to be launched out of China.Playing a vital role in stimulating international dialogue on Chinese and Asian contemporary art, the Galleries is dedicated to championing artists who re-evaluate and challenge perceptions of cultural practice from the region. The Galleries in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore collaborate with renowned curators, each presenting distinct programming from major solo exhibitions, special projects and installations to conceptually rigorous group shows.

Based on the philosophy of Chinese Literati where art forms have no hierarchy, Pearl Lam 
Galleries is dedicated to breaking down boundaries between different disciplines, with a 
unique gallery model committed to encouraging cross-cultural exchange.
Contemporary Chinese Abstract art is heavily represented in the Galleries roster. Influential 
Chinese artists Zhu Jinshi and Su Xiaobai, who synthesise Chinese sensibilities with an 
international visual language, are presented internationally with work now included in major 
private and public collections worldwide. The Galleries has also introduced leading 
international artists such as Jenny Holzer, Jim Lambie and Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA) to 
markets in the region, providing opportunities for new audiences in Asia to encounter their work.Pearl Lam Galleries encourages international artists to create new work which engages specifically with the region—collaborating to produce thought-provoking and culturally relevant work.