Don’t Sweat The Technq, Domnq
Portly Filipino ladyboys with miraculously small waists parade around the cobblestone streets of Brussels. Performing hit songs of Bananarama for the unsuspecting locals and tourists, this rambunctious septet are fanatics of the Group of Seven (Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933). They appropriate the colors and motifs of the paintings on the design of their outfits and accessories and perform fake voodoo rituals using symbolic objects that reference icons often depicted in contemporary Philippine paintings. Posers and flirts they are, but not lazy bums as they keep regular jobs as crew members aboard Norwegian cruise line.
Dominic Mangila holds a BFA in studio art degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA degree in visual arts from Columbia University where has taught in the visual arts department. He has participated in the 2018 Gwangju Biennale at the Philippine Contemporary Art Network Pavilion and had solo exhibitions at Marvelli Gallery and Chashama in New York, Reserve Ames in Los Angeles, Alberta Society of Printmakers in Canada and Vargas Museum and Drawing Room in the Philippines. He has also participated in artist residencies such as Skowhegan, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Yaddo, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Woodstock Byrdcliffe and Seven Below Arts Initiative. He is a recipient of New York Community Trust Art Grant, Lotos Club Foundation Art Award, D’ Arcy Trust Fund, Agnes Martin Fellowship and Chicago Community Art Grant.
