Chelsea, New York
Group Exhibition
Galleon Trade
SilverlensCarmen Argote, Patricia Perez Eustaquio, Jorge Rosano Gamboa, Patrick Martinez, Elaine Navas, Bernardo Pacquing, Carlos Villa, Jenifer K. Wofford Silverlens is proud to present Galleon Trade, organized by Katey Acquaro, Silverlens New York Director. The exhibition draws its conceptual framework from the Spanish colonial Manila Galleon trade route, a historic network that connected the Philippines, Mexico, and California from the 16th to the 19th century. These voyages charted one of the earliest maps of globalization, carrying not just goods but also ideas, techniques, and cultural aesthetics. While shaped by legacies of colonization and displacement, the exhibition explores the parallels that have emerged across the Philippines, Latin America, and their diasporas in the United States—parallels forged through a shared history of geopolitics and exchange. Gathering contemporary artists primarily from the principal stops of the galleon route, the exhibition becomes both a metaphor and a mechanism for contemporary exchange. Some artists turn directly to the materials and imagery of the trade—rope, spices—while others reflect its spirit through the act of scavenging, transforming construction materials and detritus into works of poetic resonance and formal precision. What Western frameworks might categorize as Arte Povera or Assemblage reflects a deeper shared ethos of resourcefulness, ingenuity, and resilience. California, a historic gateway for the Asia Pacific and Latin America, becomes a focal point of the show and a stage for connecting the Chicano and Filipino American communities of San Francisco and Los Angeles in a broader dialogue.