Despite what the name of the show may insist, “Nothing Is Present,” the solo show by JJ Miyaoka-Pakola at Rebekah Templeton Contemporary Art is so saturated with painted colors, shapes and patterns, it seems to be quite a hard sell on the artist’s part… or is it? Often working in a series of multiple pieces based around a common source image, Miyaoka-Pakola twists his starting line into a rippling montage of divergent and dizzying variations on a theme.

JJ Miyaoka-Pakola, “Nothing is Present #1-3.” Image via the artist’s site

A clear heavy hitter also happens to be the eponymous triptych for the exhibit. In “Nothing is Present #1-3,” each work revolves around a central shape that in no way betrays its origin. Utilizing this enigma to his advantage, Miyaoka-Pakola effectively presents a body of work with no body; a stream of abstraction reveling only in its headiness, not any particular thing.

To the left, a wavy foreground of thick, ribbon-like green lines alternates with multiple chunks of neon background washes in front of and behind the central rocky-looking shape. On the rightmost side, the same shape lies composed of violet zigzags,which emulate the rounded waves of the first piece. Instead of surrounding the focal point, these lines actually define it, while an airbrushed background melts and bubbles to the aft of these parallels like a slushy lavender soup.

Centrally located is perhaps the strongest single image in the show, with the primary immaterial shape mirroring and overlapping itself. Deep periwinkle and blue-green stripes lie solidly across and under the outer edges of these forms while the symmetrical center combination melts into an inky Rorschach. Easily the most subtle of Miyaoka-Pakola’s works here, it is noteworthy for its visual weight despite its more reserved overall appearance. This individual artwork is the smoky purple haze to the rest of the show’s heavy-handed psychedelia.

JJ Miyaoka-Pakola. Image courtesy Rebekah Templeton

It is as if the artist is attempting to portray the concept that ‘everything’ and ‘nothing’ are often semantically (and maybe functionally) one and the same. When confronted with too many options, is it not tempting to shut down altogether? When constantly bombarded by ideas, sayings, products, and symbols, disenchantment and nihilism are felt all the more acutely. In a way, Miyaoka-Pakola’s whirling, hyperactive pieces attempt to encompass so much that they ultimately represent nothing at all.

JJ Miyaoka-Pakola.

The press image for the exhibit may look vaguely like a theatrical stage, complete with billowing curtains, but there is no Shakespearean allegory about plays or players here. And while two works indeed contain a couple snippets of sprayed-on text (‘they’ in one, ‘said’ in another), they don’t actually say anything at all.

Warped and exuberant, Miyaoka-Pakola is a charlatan in presenting so much content with exactly no message in mind. Oftentimes infuriating, the phrase ‘it is what it is’ is rarely so poignant, but here, it is. “Nothing Is Present” will be at Rebekah Templeton through March 22.

Rebekah Templeton Contemporary Art is located at 173 Girard Ave., Philadelphia; [email protected]; rebekahtempleton.com.