BDO Unibank, Inc. presents the work of Filipino artist David Medalla, Cloud Canyons No. 31, at its Corporate Center in Ortigas (CCO). Permanently installed at its lobby, the Bank welcomes everyone to visit the sculpture.
Cloud Canyons No. 31 was first exhibited in 2016 when Medalla was one of the shortlisted artists for the inaugural Hepworth Wakefield Prize for Sculpture. Made of plexiglas tubes, wood, fibreglass, water, soap, and oxygenators, it is part of a series often referred to as the "bubble machines."
The first of these was produced in 1961 and inspired by Medalla's memories of a dying Japanese soldier's frothing mouth, clouds during tropical sunsets in Manila, the bubbling ginataan (coconut milk) of his mother's cooking, a brewery in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Skyline of New York. It was initially exhibited in 1964 at the Signals Gallery in London.
Other Cloud Canyons can be found in the collections of Tate Modern and National Gallery Singapore. The series is considered one of Medalla's seminal artworks
Medalla is increasingly recognized as an important figure in contemporary art, and his contributions to sculpture and performance art have inspired many. His Cloud Canyons No. 31 is a rare sight but is a very historically important work of art-and it gives BDO great pleasure to be able to show it-permanently-for all to see.
David Medalla is a Filipino artist who has practiced abroad for most of his life. His work ranges from sculpture to kinetic art to painting, installation and performance art. He currently lives in Manila.
Medalla is recognized as a key figure in the development of installation, kinetic and participatory art. His practice challenges the idea of sculpture as solid, timeliness and monumental by producing objects and situations that never be repeated and are continually changing form and matter.
The artist moved to London in 1960, and was included in some of the more important exhibitions during the 1960s and 70s that defined minimal and conceptual practice in Europe and the US.
