Susan Hobbs

Patrick Cruz: CANADA

30 Nov 2023 - 13 Jan 2024

After a re-encounter with a clock from his first studio in Quezon City, Patrick Cruz began to think about the time in-between studio spaces and the differing contexts in which he made work in both the Philippines and Canada. The clock was initially given to Cruz's parents as a wedding gift in the 80s, and after its time in his studio, it somehow found its way to his auntie's garden, where it was left rotting. Although the clock had stopped working, it was sentimentally charged. Cruz brought it back with him to Toronto, where he repaired it to its former function while also leaving space for it to take on a new role as a kind of conceptual anvil. Cruz is interested in the clock as a signifier for time, metaphorically and literally, and as an index of the time collapsed since migrating from the Philippines in 2005 to his exhibition at the gallery.

On the second floor, Patrick Cruz has organized a group show titled "To pluck eternity along the lines of circadian rhythm." It brings together artists whose works drift between the numerous states of being and temporality. Together, the artists and their work meditate on notions of ephemerality, entropy, and the passing of seasons as a way to deeply engage with the imminence of mortality and the fragile artificiality of our current postmodern condition.