He Painted, She Sang: This Exhibit Features Art by Martin Honasan and Music by Barbie Almalbis-Honasan 

When the lives of two individuals are intertwined, their respective personal journeys are likely to run parallel to each other. This is what happened to singer-songwriter Barbie Almalbis-Honasan and artist Martin Honasan. 

Presenting Martin’s paintings and Barbie’s new album together, however, was curator Ren Aguila’s idea. Martin was already in the process of creating artwork while Barbie was in the middle of writing and producing songs for her album when Aguila suggested that the couple put on a joint show. The result is Parallel Psalms, which showcases Martin’s paintings alongside excerpts of lyrics of the songs from his wife’s new album, Not That Girl. Nine paintings and nine songs, one exhibit/music event. 

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“The songs and paintings were done separately; they weren’t an echo of each other,” said Barbie in an interview with Esquire Philippines. “It’s his own journey as an individual, my own journey as an individual; but definitely, our lives and our art are intertwined, anyway. Somehow, they will connect.”

The biggest painting in the collection is as powerful and emotive as its namesake on the album. “Not That Girl” the painting juxtaposes colors and textures the same way the music does. Martin used acrylic and shaped fabric to add dimension and texture to his work. It will be reproduced and used as the cover art for Barbie’s new album, which was produced by Nick Lazaro.

Matching the paintings with the songs happened organically. 

“When I made the album, I didn’t start it with a concept in mind,” Barbie explained. “It was really just my journey, my emotional journey during that season and it’s the same with him, because he didn’t start this series with a particular theme. It was just whatever he was going through at the time.” 

“Unloading emotions, unloading feelings [while painting],” Martin volunteered. The painter and son of former senator Gringo Honasan says that he can go through a myriad of emotions while engulfed in his craft, and this is what happened while he was painting the pieces for Parallel Psalms. 

The couple's studios are beside each other, so it was easy for them to, albeit unintentionally, catch each other’s ‘vibe’ while working. Barbie says she feels as if she knows the paintings because she also knows what her husband was going through while making them. 

Barbie and Martin agree that they want viewers of the paintings and listeners of the songs to bring home one common message, the same message delivered by a Bible verse, from 2 Corinthians 4:7-9

“⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

“These paintings and these songs came about at a time of trials, individual, internal struggles, but at the same time, it’s a time for us to like deepen our walk with God,” said Barbie. “Parang it’s a time that we saw Him more. So if anything, we’re hoping that people can relate to it, that even through the struggles, there’s hope, that God is doing something good and God can still use you when you’re going through stuff.” 

Parallel Psalms is on exhibit at the Whitewalls Gallery in Makati until November 19.