Homage to Filipino barbershops

GET a cut of Philippine street life at a local Singapore gallery next week, as one artist brings the barbershop to life in his paintings and box installations.

Manila-based artist Francis Commeyne has taken photographs of barbershop facades in Metro Manila, and painted them in acrylic on canvas. The paintings are also accompanied by painted wooden boxes with objects.

This series focuses on this often-overlooked aspect of street culture in Manila, in his view as a semi-outsider. "It's my continuous exploration on the subject matter of the unique, random, witty, mundane, and often ignored aspects of Philippine culture/street culture," he shares. Coming from a mixed background (Filipino-Belgian, born in Sri Lanka) and having lived in several countries before coming to the Philippines, the 26-year-old artist explores the complexities of travel, place, memory, and identity in his art.