Triple Twerk: Exploring Queer Artistry at Thirst Trap

Triple Twerk

Three queer artists stamped their mark at Thirst Trap, the group exhibition recently held at gallery. sort of.

Tokwa Penaflorida headlined the show, with his standard homoerotic nymph lords romping in droopy, dreamy scapes. The fantastical worlds where Tokwa situates his figures are always strange and difficult to situate within our hemisphere, although one small sepia work, Holdem, could not but evoke Ang Lee’s cowboy epic, Brokeback Mountain.

Representing the Aklan region, Gelo Zarsuelo offered neon-glow canvasses that spot-lit radioactive men. One might think his duo of “Rush” paintings referred to the timely Troye Sivan hit of the same title, but Gelo actually makes tongue-in-cheek reference to the low-cost sexual health supplement that’s advertised to boost nocturnal appetites.

And finally, from Bacolod, Mark Espuerta submitted meticulously dripped line figures marked against purple and orange desertscapes, their curvaceous buttocks and muscular pecs still managing to manifest despite the scarcity of brush strokes. This was a welcome departure from his normal wistful alpha males, and perhaps, a sign of the future direction for this on-again, off-again visual artist.

To round out the quintet of artists included in Thirst Trap, Kurt Manzano showcases jeans-and-nothing-else hip-hop dancers, while Erika Mayo, another Bacolod artist, seduced with bikini babes plonked amidst a beach of queer circumstances.

Thirst Trap was a harbinger of the coming hot summer months, with its sizzling theme focused on the human body. As the curatorial notes point out, amidst a photographic smorgasbord brought on by digital imagery, these five artists successfully offer alternative snapshots of humanity within their own physical canvasses.