Phantoms and Glitches
Jason Montinola and Valerie Chua Duo Show
ジェイソン・モンティノラ & ヴァレリー・チュア
5 – 13 Dec 2025
会期
2025年12月5日～12月13日
12:00 – 18:00
会期中無休
GALLREY KOGURE
〒101-0051 東京都千代田区神田神保町2-14-19
GALLERY KOGUREは、画家Jason Montionla（ジェイソン・モンティノラ）とValerie Chua（ヴァレリー・チュア）による二人展を開催いたします。独自の視点で現代社会を見つめる、気鋭のフィリピン人画家2名による展覧会です。
モンティノラは、ファントム（幻影）として人物を描きます。彼にとって絵画は、現実に潜む見えない何かや人々の深層心理を、我々の日常を結びつけるものです。存在や魂という普遍的なテーマで、不可視のものを肖像画として顕在化させます。中世やルネサンス期のヨーロッパ絵画と、自らが生み出したキャラクター達を組み合わせ、その人物が持つストーリーや神話を背景に描き入れることもあります。虚構と現実、目に見えている世界と隠された真実を結びつけます。
チュアは、日常的なものや風景をコラージュしたような作品を描きます。元となるモチーフの立体感をあえてそぎ落とし、大胆な色彩で再構成した作品にはグリッチ（図像の乱れ）が生じており、どこか懐かしくも違和感のある世界が描かれます。商業イラストレーターとしての経験を持つ彼女の優れたデザイン性が遺憾なく発揮された作品は、視覚的に非常に魅力的です。一方で、その揺れ動く像はどこか危うく、現代社会における存在の希薄さや、あらゆるものの消費の速さを感じさせます。デジタルコンテンツに溢れた現代社会において、自己を形成するものは何かを問いかけます。
日本では初コラボレーションとなる本展を、ぜひご高覧ください。ーGALLERY KOGURE
ジェイソン・モンティノラは、古典的な視覚的影響と、神秘的でどこか不気味さを感じさせるイメージとを組み合わせた作品を制作する。古典芸術、精神性への好奇心、そして鮮明な内的世界で形成された背景を用いて、彼は、神話の世界のキャラクターたちが姿を現しているかのような肖像画を描く。彼が描く人物たちは、深い意識への扉を開き、隠された現実を暴き出し、見えるものと感じるものの境界線を問いただす。
本展では、人物たちは「ファントム（幻影）」として描かれる。幽霊という意味ではなく、部分的に姿を現した存在として。彼らはまだ姿を形成しつつある初期のイメージで、まだアイデンティティもはっきりとしていない。鑑賞者は、この「あわい」的な状態の彼らと出会い、生成の境界にあるキャラクターたちを一瞬だけ垣間見せられる。
一方、ヴァレリー・チュアの作品はある種の懐かしさを感じさせる。私たちが特定の文化の中で自己を形づくる時に、デジタル文化やスクリーン上の美学にどのように影響されるのかを追求している。彼女もまた古典古代をイメージさせる背景を描くが、商業イラストレーションの経験と、デジタル時代らしい質感により、より未来を感じさせる性質がある。
彼女が描くイメージは、グリッチ（＝画像の乱れ）が意図的に加えられていたり、切り貼りされていたりする。まるでロード中の画像が途切れたかのようだ。感覚は確かなのに、イメージは不完全で揺れ動いている。それは、私たちの記憶がどのように形成されるかを描き出しているようにも見える。チュアの作品は、記憶もデジタル・アイデンティティ（スクリーンの向こう側で形成される自分）も常に変化し、完成することはないこと、それでも非常にパワフルな感情に結びついていることを示唆している。ー作家より
Jason Montinola（ジェイソン・モンティノラ）
1979 Born in Manila, Philippines.
2003 Graduated with a B.S. in Art Education from Technological University of the Philippines.
EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
2010 “Black Carnival” at Big & Small Art Gallery (Singapore).
2012 “Sinister” at West Gallery (Philippines).
2013 “Infamous” at Artesan Gallery + Studio (Singapore).
Solo exhibition “Theatre of Absurdities” at MIA Art Centre (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).
2014 Group Show “Relative Realities” at Yuchengco Museum (Philippines).
2015 ”Absent” at West Gallery (Philippines).
Group Show “Jogja Art Moments” at Jogja National Museum, Jogjakarta (Indonesia).
2016 Group Show “2664 km – 5 Filipino Contemporary Artist” at YOD Gallery, Osaka (Japan).
2017 Group Show “Let the right one in, Let the wrong ones go” at Underground Gallery (Philippines).
2018 ”The fall of the old god” at Provenance Art Gallery (Philippines).
2019 Group Show “Anyway Anyhow Anywhere” at Underground Gallery (Philippines).
2020 Group Show “Displacement” at La Lanta Fine Art, Bangkok (Thailand).
2024 Group Show “Light in the Shadow of Terror”at Kanazawa Mercury Cave, Ishikawa (Japan).
2025 Group Show “Langit at Lupa” at VINYL TAPE, Kyoto (Japan).
Valerie Chua（ヴァレリー・チュア）
1987 Born.
2010 Earned BA in Humanities (University of Asia and the Pacific, Manila, Philippines).
Before 2015 Worked as a commercial illustrator / watercolorist, doing commissions for brands (e.g. beauty, fashion).
2013 Attended a continuing-education painting program at the New York Academy of Art.
Worked as a studio assistant to contemporary figurative artist Erik Jones in New York.
2014 Became a “Studio Member” at Brooklyn Art Space (New York).
Received Bronze Award (“Amarging Artist”, via PT Bank UOB Indonesia).
2016 Solo exhibition “Recent Works” at Secret Fresh Gallery (Manila, Philippines).
2019 Solo exhibition “Ellipses” at Pinto Art Museum (Philippines).
Solo exhibition “Vestiges” at Underground Gallery (Philippines).
2020 Participated in group exhibition Displacement at La Lanta Fine Art (Bangkok).
Solo exhibition “Telephone Game” at Underground Gallery / ALT Philippines.
2025 Solo exhibition Pretty Pointless Things at West Gallery (Quezon City, Philippines).
Group Show “Langit at Lupa” at VINYL TAPE, Kyoto (Japan).
Details
5 – 13 Dec 2025
12:00 – 18:00
Everyday
GALLERTY KOGURE
2-14-19 Kandajinbocho Chiyoda-ku TOKYO
#101-0051
GALLERY KOGURE is pleased to present a duo exhibition by painters Jason Montinola and Valerie Chua, two notable Filipino artists who offer distinctive perspectives on contemporary society.
Montinola depicts figures as phantoms, using painting to connect everyday reality with the unseen—whether it be hidden emotions, subconscious layers, or intangible presences. Through universal themes such as existence and the soul, he gives form to the invisible. His works often combine references to medieval and Renaissance European painting with characters of his own creation, embedding narratives and myths behind each figure. In doing so, he links fiction and reality, and reveals the tension between what is visible and what lies beneath.
Chua creates works that resemble collaged scenes of everyday objects and landscapes. By intentionally reducing the physical depth of her subjects and reconstructing them with bold color, she introduces visual “glitches” that evoke both familiarity and subtle dissonance. Drawing on her background as a commercial illustrator, her compositions possess a strong sense of design and visual appeal. At the same time, the unstable imagery hints at the fragility of identity and the speed at which things are consumed in contemporary life. Her work questions what shapes the self in an age saturated with digital content.
We invite you to enjoy this exhibition, marking the first collaboration between the two artists in Japan.
-GALLERY KOGURE
Jason Montinola’s work combines older visual influences with imagery that feels mystical and slightly uncanny. With a background shaped by classical art, spiritual curiosity, and a vivid inner world, he creates portraits that feel like emerging mythic figures. His characters open a path into deeper awareness, revealing hidden parts of reality and questioning the line between what we see and what we sense.
In this exhibition, the characters appear as “phantoms,” not literal ghosts but partial presences. They are early glimpses of figures still taking shape, beings whose identities are not yet clear. Montinola invites viewers to meet them in this in-between state, offering brief visions of characters on the edge of becoming.
Alongside this, Valerie Chua’s work turns toward nostalgia and the ways people shape their image in a culture influenced by screens and digital aesthetics. Although she also comes from a classical background, her direction moves toward something more future-leaning, shaped by her experience in commercial illustration and by the look and feel of digital life.
Her images often appear glitched or spliced, as if slightly interrupted or caught between loading frames. This mirrors how memory forms: the feeling is strong, but the picture is incomplete or shifting. Chua’s work suggests that both memory and digital identity are always changing, never fully fixed, yet emotionally powerful.
-Statement by the artist
Jason Montinola
1979 Born in Manila, Philippines.
2003 Graduated with a B.S. in Art Education from Technological University of the Philippines.
EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
2010 “Black Carnival” at Big & Small Art Gallery (Singapore).
2012 “Sinister” at West Gallery (Philippines).
2013 “Infamous” at Artesan Gallery + Studio (Singapore).
Solo exhibition “Theatre of Absurdities” at MIA Art Centre (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).
2014 Group Show “Relative Realities” at Yuchengco Museum (Philippines).
2015 ”Absent” at West Gallery (Philippines).
Group Show “Jogja Art Moments” at Jogja National Museum, Jogjakarta (Indonesia).
2016 Group Show “2664 km – 5 Filipino Contemporary Artist” at YOD Gallery, Osaka (Japan).
2017 Group Show “Let the right one in, Let the wrong ones go” at Underground Gallery (Philippines).
2018 ”The fall of the old god” at Provenance Art Gallery (Philippines).
2019 Group Show “Anyway Anyhow Anywhere” at Underground Gallery (Philippines).
2020 Group Show “Displacement” at La Lanta Fine Art, Bangkok (Thailand).
2024 Group Show “Light in the Shadow of Terror”at Kanazawa Mercury Cave, Ishikawa (Japan).
2025 Group Show “Langit at Lupa” at VINYL TAPE, Kyoto (Japan).
Valerie Chua
1987 Born.
2010 Earned BA in Humanities (University of Asia and the Pacific, Manila, Philippines).
Before 2015 Worked as a commercial illustrator / watercolorist, doing commissions for brands (e.g. beauty, fashion).
2013 Attended a continuing-education painting program at the New York Academy of Art.
Worked as a studio assistant to contemporary figurative artist Erik Jones in New York.
2014 Became a “Studio Member” at Brooklyn Art Space (New York).
Received Bronze Award (“Amarging Artist”, via PT Bank UOB Indonesia).
2016 Solo exhibition “Recent Works” at Secret Fresh Gallery (Manila, Philippines).
2019 Solo exhibition “Ellipses” at Pinto Art Museum (Philippines).
Solo exhibition “Vestiges” at Underground Gallery (Philippines).
2020 Participated in group exhibition Displacement at La Lanta Fine Art (Bangkok).
Solo exhibition “Telephone Game” at Underground Gallery / ALT Philippines.
2025 Solo exhibition Pretty Pointless Things at West Gallery (Quezon City, Philippines).
Group Show “Langit at Lupa” at VINYL TAPE, Kyoto (Japan).
Valerie Chua In Between Time (oil on canvas) 45.5x38cm 2025
Jason Montinola
Valerie Chua Obsolescence (oil on canvas) 45.5x38cm 2025
Valerie Chua Solitaire (oil on canvas) 45.5x38cm 2025
Valerie Chua Upside Down (oil on canvas) 45.5x38cm 2025