新媒网 · 跨境数据社区

Nestor Perez Ong Matiwasay Na Umaga Sa Panahon Ng Pandemya 48in x 36in Oil On Canvas 2021 Artist’s Statement: Presenting another tableau from my caffeine-fueled steampunk surrealist universe. After several weeks of strict EECQ lockdown to prevent the disease from spreading nationwide, Manila was eventually put under mild GCQ by the Spanish colonial government. Families finally went out of their isolation to enjoy the outdoors. It was a halcyon morning, the first Sunday during GCQ when the Familia Dimaguiba attended Mass of Thanksgiving at the Iglesia Parroquial de Quiapo. Afterward, they shopped along Carriedo and Raon. Mom Celina purchased some housewares from MS, the leading variety store. Dad Joe, a Chinese chameleon, procured the latest steam-powered music machine. Lagartito, as usual, wanted a live poisonous Gila monster but his father bought him a harmless toy gryphon much to the boy’s chagrin. One could sense the lad’s seething temperament, his infamous temper which eventually surfaced many years later during the first steampunk rebellion. The family was on their way to the dirigible station to go home. Home was at the corner of Pennsylvania and Remedios Street in the old district of Singalong. Around them were the hoi polloi of the downtown. An old busker couple stood in a corner with the man fiddling his tin can violin while the wife was singing an operatic aria. A cat clown sat atop a pillar wooing his acrobatic inamorata. A derelict begged with his sleepy dog. Clans of automaton birds chattered with each other. A Nietzsche Ice Cream man rang his bell announcing to the world his thirst-quenching philosophy. A Chinese ambulant vendor passed by and a mechanic was fixing the steampunk generator. Thus, one peaceful morning during the dreadful pandemic.