The stages of adult life, its pains and its triumphs, are the collective theme of Markers, an exhibition of stoneware sculptures by Salvador Joel Alonday.

Alonday, who has previously gained gained critical notice for his figurative works in resin and epoxy, turns to the organic medium of clay for this series, both as material and metaphor.  "Within clay is the residue of many things - bones, metals, trees – and fashioning images from it is like a resurrection, says Alonday.  Inspiration and subject matter come from the artist’s own experiences and he distills the essence of his past into poetic single forms whose figurative imagery are taken from diverse sources that includes religious art, myth, classical sculptures and folklore.

The sculptures depart from traditional pottery techniques as each were fired with different glazes, torched, assembled and welded onto wrought iron structures.  The resulting work consists of highly original textures and forms.

In choice of subject for this series, the artist tended towards the difficult, darker paths of existence, where his spirit was tested and survived.  Like his medium of choice, he commemorates hallowed events of darker nights, falls, the ebbing of life forces, follies and even death – and yet, also marking these way stations in the earthly pilgrimage, Markers also celebrates the triumph and resurrection of the will-to-live from fire and ashes.

Alonday is a recepient of the Metrobank Prize for Achievement in Sculpture (MPAS) in 2008.  He is a co-founder of Art Informal, a gallery and an art education center.