In 'Glass Houses,' Chels Munger journeys through grief and heritage
By S.C. Fojas
MEET THE ARTIST Chels Munger
Sometimes the path we think we’re supposed to take stops making sense. For Filipino-American artist Chels Munger, working in digital design felt increasingly distant from the real feelings she wanted to share. So she stepped away from the screen and picked up a paintbrush instead. That leap of faith culminates in “Glass Houses,” her first solo exhibit, where she uses bold abstract art to process the loss of her mother and reconnect with her Filipino roots.
Running at Gallery BiG, located on the 4th floor of Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong City, the exhibit marks both an essential homecoming and an intimate evolution for the 22-year-old artist.
From pixels to pigment
Chels’ journey to canvas was not a straightforward trajectory. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and currently studying Studio Art at Pasadena City College, she initially pursued a career in entertainment design. She spent years immersed in digital media. Screen-bound pixels, however, eventually felt inadequate for the weight of the stories she needed to tell.
“I was doing a lot of digital work, but it slowly began to lack a certain feeling I was trying to convey,” Chels reflects. “Eventually my digital work was doing everything to look painterly, so I figured, why not just paint? I found that painting was the only place I could access the emotion I was trying to convey.”
Describing her signature style as “a mix of abstraction and expressionism,” Chels channels visceral emotion into raw visual statement. Working primarily in oil paint while frequently incorporating acrylics and mixed media to build layered, tactile surfaces, her canvases weave recurring themes—childhood memories, grief, family relations, upbringing, growth, and guidance—seamlessly across every piece.
A defining characteristic of Chels’ work is her distinct integration of text as a visual and narrative element. By incorporating paper cutouts, repeated phrases, song lyrics, and fragments of old letters or personal documents directly into her compositions, these textual components act as emotional markers, deepening her visual storytelling and guiding viewers through subtle layers of each painting.
A tribute to heritage and heartbreak
At its core, “Glass Houses” serves as both a tribute to Chels’ late Filipina mother and a journey through her personal heritage in the Philippines. The collection traces a year-long trajectory through loss, transforming personal heartache into shared human connection.
“‘Glass Houses’ is somewhat a homecoming for me,” Chels explains. “It is also a tribute to my late mother. After her passing, I was struggling with handling the grief, so everything in this exhibit is really a display of that grief throughout this past year, as well as a way for me to reconnect with my heritage here in the Philippines.”
The title itself highlights her commitment to emotional openness with the viewer.
“I chose my title because of the transparency I was trying to have with my audience about who I am and what I feel. To me, art is all about connection, to empathize with one another, human to human, even just for a few moments. ‘Glass Houses’ is a safe space for that,” she says.
Every collection has a turning point. For Chels, two key pieces anchored the trajectory of “Glass Houses.”
“Counting Sheep” served as the foundational spark. “I had been painting for months, but it wasn’t until ‘Counting Sheep’ that I felt ready to work on a possible exhibit,” Chels notes.
“You Won’t See Me on Monday,” by contrast, provided the central motifs and atmospheric imagery that defined the rest of the collection.
The spontaneous spark
Chels’ creative process thrives on sensory triggers: a fleeting sound, an evocative phrase, or a sudden visual image that demands realization.
“Sensory things are what give me the best leads to a new painting,” she says. “Some paintings are done in an hour; others take me months of scraping and refining before I’m satisfied.
Her studio setup mirrors this organic, unpretentious ethos. Rather than a formal, pristine workspace, her studio lives in everyday domestic corners.
“My studio is basically either my desk next to my dining room or the floor of my garage. So it’s hardly a studio, but I think that’s okay,” she says. “My grandparents’ house is the same way; the whole house is the studio. Wherever you find space to paint, that’s where you will do it.”
This physical constraint adds an authentic dynamic to her canvases.
“I think this helps apply a bit of tension to my work because I am forced to work with the elements around me while also conveying the message I want. It’s somewhat of a balance,” she says.
Knowing when a piece is finished requires delicate intuition. Chels describes an internal gut feeling that signals completion, often accompanied by a wave of anxiety that warns against further interference.
When viewers step into Gallery BiG to view “Glass Houses,” Chels hopes they approach the collection with an open interpretation and personal resonance.
“Take with you what sticks, and toss the rest,” she ends.
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