Review of Roberto Chabet's solo exhibition 'Cargo and Decoy' titled Open End: Ancient ritual in Chabet’s new works, written by Armando D. Manalo and published in Philippines Journal on 2 December 1989.

'Cargo and Decoy' is the closing exhibition of The Pinaglabanan Galleries from 10 November to 17 December 1989. In 'Cargo and Decoy,' Chabet refers to the South Pacific cargo cults from which the title of the work is derived. It is the last of a trilogy of works, which began with Russian Paintings in 1984 and House Paintings in 1986. In these works, Chabet utilises his signature material – store-bought plywood boards. 'It is a material which has become not only the surface and support of his paintings, but to a large extent its subject matter and content.'

Manalo wrote, 'The ritual is Mr. Chabet's apparent subject, but it is the decoy which leads to his deeper meaning...There is a sense in which all art is illusion; it seeks merely to approximate reality. But art exists, as it were, in a special niche; in art, the illusion is often also the reality. Mr. Chabet touches on a metaphysical question: the distinction between illusion and reality and where perhaps the distinction itself is an illusion. It is an unresolved question; artists can only try to propose solutions... If they sound abstruse to the viewer, he should keep this mind. Art is also fun and for fun. Even on this everyday, common-sense level, Mr. Chabet's new works should touch a chord in the viewer.'