Secret Fresh presents "Sugar Crushed” by Angeli’

Solo presentation
A project with The Working Animals

Angeli’s “Sugar Crushed” is a strange lullaby from the bottom of the well—sung in neon and candy and fragments of a bad dream you can’t shake. The Manila-based artist takes everything we shove under the rug—panic, guilt, disconnection, the soft violence of overthinking—and turns it into a cartoon world that breathes, bleeds and sometimes bites. These paintings are not cute. They’re survivors wearing cute as camouflage. Where intrusive thoughts creep up, and the ghost of Absence looms as heavy as the flesh of Presence itself. There’s weight in the whimsy. Anxiety wears pastels.
In “Monsters,” we see the artist sinking. In “It’s All My Fault,” she tries to forgive herself. “Muffled” is the visual equivalent of overwhelmment. And “Privileged” is a balancing act with too many moving pieces. This isn’t therapy, but a map of a nervous system in revolt.
Angeli’ paints like she’s stitching herself back together, one warped figure at a time. Her universe is populated by soft-bodied beings with big eyes and bigger feelings, glowing brightly in the saddest of blazes. There’s a kind of language here, a grammar of heartache and humor. She doesn’t promise answers. What she offers instead is a flashlight and a weird, wonderful trail to follow into your own mental jungle. “Heavy Liquid” is a reminder that the monsters under your bed and the light at the end of the tunnel might just be parts of the same eerie tale.

Secret Fresh Gallery, Ronac Art Center
April 13 – 25, 2025