Silverlens is pleased to announce Dina Gadia’s exhibition titled Situations Amongst The Furnishings. This is her sixth solo show with the gallery, and her first show of all paintings. Known for her book sized collages that bring together unexpected juxtapositions of vintage comics, text, and popular culture, she ventures bravely and successfully into more complex constructions with Situations. Presenting large paintings, she culls from popular quotidian materials bringing a mix of potent political and personal issues full of wit, wrapped in restraint.

WARNING: Nonsense art is the best bullshit. Gatekeepers are lazy, dead. Their high brows shaved while snoring. It’s inevitable to be political in this country. All the dead presidents are still alive. Zombies rule. How does one mask incapacity with six rolls of tape? In this exhibit, the viewer is the one viewed, not the usual other way around. You are a walking painting, a talking piece of art. Make the reader respond with gasps, grunts, groans. This is not about your penis, your vagina, your dildo, your fake tits. Haven’t you noticed, for the first time ever, we are actually conversing? And it’s a shallow grave. The profound is for sale every day in all the malls. God is a snob. My personal esoteric narrative is more important than your satisfaction as a party crasher. Domestic ultraviolence is nothing new. Improve your house, and your life will improve. What else do you do in the toilet? Is it enough to be imperfect in this planet? Stop pressing your agendas. Don’t be a beautiful appliance. In this kingdom of cyclops consumers, which is more sacred: 20/20 or the blind? Straight jackets pretending to escape the asylum of latte. Disappointment is the goal, is bliss. The higher you anticipate, the harder you disappoint. What is essential should never be uttered. Use your one-eye. Paintings are only good as the last-door stopper. I promise to never ever change your mind. It’s all dense connective tissue.

Words by Khavn dela Cruz 

Khavn (born 1973, Manila, Philippines) is a poet, novelist, songwriter, pianist, and filmmaker known for his punk, innovative, genre-bending cinema. Considered the father of Philippine digital filmmaking, Khavn has made 51 features and 115 short films. He has served as a jury member at the Berlinale, Clermont-Ferrand, CPH:DOX, Jeonju, BiFan, Jihlava, & Dok Leipzig film festivals and has exhibited at the MoMA, Guggenheim Museum, Tate Modern, Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, National Museum of Singapore, Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, & Venice Biennial Architecture. He has lectured at the Berlinale Talent Campus, Bela Tarr's Film Factory, Goethe Institute Nigeria, and the Danish Film Institute, and has curated programs for Viennale, Edinburgh International Film Festival, & Sharjah Biennial. He is currently working on two features, and is the best freestyle barber in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Dina Gadia (b. 1986) has exhibited extensively since 2005. She received a bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts Major in Advertising and Design from Far Eastern University. Gadia was shortlisted for the Ateneo Art Awards in 2012 for her exhibit Regal Discomforts. Her work has been the subject of numerous publications, and her interest on the creative output and history of print design and illustration extends to her collaborative publishing project in Saturnino Basilla. She has had solo and group exhibitions in New York, Miami, Taipei, Singapore, and Tokyo and been part of exhibitions in Berlin, Sete, and New York City as part of The Bastards of Misrepresentation curated by Manuel Ocampo.