Amother and her two young children share a tender moment in a swimming pool; above them, the faint yellow sun of the Philippine flag.
The poignant image from a painting by 22-year-old Filipino-American artist Chels Munger-an homage to her Filipina mother who passed on two years ago-is part of the collection of visual and personal narratives the artist shares in her recent homecoming exhibition.
In ‘Glass Houses,’ held at the Big Gallery at Shangri-La Mall, Munger presents a collection of abstract expressionist works that explore the delicate intersections of vulnerability and strength, grief and memory, and her search for identity.
Deeply moving and emotionally resonant, the collection offers an intimate glimpse into the artist’s inner landscape while marking a promising debut in the Philippine art scene.
‘Glass Houses’ describes the transparency Munger seeks to establish with her audience, offering an intimate window into her world. Each work reveals fragments of the artist’s life, feelings, and experiences. Through every piece, she invites viewers to look beyond the surface and glimpse the stories behind the art.
‘It’s the way I felt in that moment, or those weeks at a time that I was creating the piece. I felt like ‘Glass Houses’ was the perfect way to describe the way viewers can look at these pieces of myself while allowing them to look into themselves as well,’ Munger told BusinessMirror.
Personal narratives
In ‘Where/Begin,’ a 48″ x 36″ acrylic on canvas, Munger revisits a tender fragment of her childhood, bringing an almost-forgotten photograph back to life. The painting reconstructs a cherished moment of her late mother, younger brother, and her younger self enjoying an afternoon in a swimming pool.
The Philippine sun turns the image into a meaningful tribute to her mother’s Filipino heritage, adding another layer of personal and cultural significance to the composition.
‘When my mother died, somehow that cord was cut. I was afraid I may not visit the Philippines as much, or I wouldn’t be as connected anymore because I kind of lost that piece of myself. I felt it was really important to put that flag there because I’m very proud of my mother and very proud of my Filipino roots,’ she said.
In the midst of loss, art became her solace, offering comfort and a means to process her grief.
‘I wasn’t painting nearly as much as I do now. I think her passing on pushed me to paint way more than I was doing originally. I started off doing a lot of digital and traditional illustrations. I was supposed to go into animation and entertainment design, but I discovered I couldn’t convey the level of grief I was experiencing through digital media.
‘And when I started painting, I realized, this is it. This is where I can really express myself,’ revealed Munger.
Mirror for self-expression
A self-taught painter in her younger years, Munger is currently studying Studio Art at the Pasadena City College in Los Angeles and plans to do more shows in the Philippines and the US.
Working with oil and acrylic paints, Munger doesn’t exactly believe in labelling her artistic style, saying it’s for viewers to say.
Munger says she rarely begins with preliminary sketches or studies, preferring to approach the canvas with an open mind. She lets her brush touch the canvas with spontaneous gestures, intuitively interplaying colors with forms.
‘I really like the looseness of gestural painting. I don’t think too much, honestly, about the outcome. It’s really more of an expression of how I’m feeling. So, sometimes certain areas will be thicker with paint, and some will be thinner because I also like the contrast in textures,’ the artist explained.
Working with a palette of rich, solid hues, including Phthalo Blue, Naples Yellow, green, pink, and red, she builds her compositions through layers of paint and overpainting images on existing figures. Layers of color and figures give the work a translucent and tactile quality, creating a dynamic surface with depth, texture, and visual dimension.
The tension between belonging and displacement resonates in ‘Life on the Picket Fence,’ a 30″ x 30″ acrylic on canvas. A semi-transparent image of a house stems from the artist’s practice of layering paint, scraping, and adding and peeling off tape. The ghostly imagery evokes the feeling of being an outsider that Munger feels in the suburban community where her family lives.
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‘American suburbs are very cookie-cutter, very conservative, and everyone is trying to maintain an image. Even if most people are living paycheck to paycheck, they want the new car, the new RV, or the new motorcycle just to keep that image; I always really felt like an outsider there. So, I wanted to portray that,’ she stated.
In ‘Disruption,’ smeared strokes and scratches capture the emotional flutter of a young woman facing the unexpected news that her crush is now in a relationship. The expressive marks translate her ambivalent emotions into a playful yet poignant visual language.
Peeking through her proverbial ‘glass house,’ the artist hopes viewers will also find reflections of their own innermost feelings within her works.
‘I hope my paintings allow a space for people to go inwards. I think that’s really important, especially nowadays everything moves so fast. I’m a big advocate for mental health, so I hope there’ll be some self-discovery in seeing my paintings as well.’
In Munger’s ‘Glass Houses,’ art emerges as a space for healing, self-expression, and the search of identity, while inviting viewers to confront and process unsaid thoughts and feelings.
For more information about Munger’s art, check out Gallery Big on Facebook and Instagram.