ArtHK 2012 Diary: Day 2, Pinoy Power

Jose John Santos III, "Clockwise", detail

While briefing the press right before officially opening the doors to ArtHK 12, Magnus Renfrew, fair director, announced that beginning next year, Art Basel officially takes over the Hong Kong art fair. Henceforth, it shall be known as Art Basel Hong Kong, the third fair in the franchise after the original Art Basel (the one that actually takes place in Basel) and Art Basel Miami Beach.

Seven hundred galleries from all over the world vied for 266 slots, not entirely unexpected given that in 2011, ArtHK attracted 63,000 visitors. The organizers tweaked the layout this year, distributing the galleries on two levels, integrating Asia One within the main galleries. Last year, Asia One had been designated its own floor. This is the section of the fair reserved for one-man exhibits by artists from the Asia Pacific region.

Right after securing my kit, I scanned the map to mark out the Philippine delegation: three Manila galleries with their own spaces, and four artists represented by galleries from Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan . I didn’t want to miss out on any of the Pinoys. They did get into this select group, and in the case of Silverlens and The Drawing Room, that makes five years in a row.

These two galleries, old hands at art fairs, always choose their pieces well. They brought beautifully executed work. We know their artists and the work these guys do, yet they’ve managed to up their games and pull out surprises for this fair.

At Silverlens, Patricia Eustaquio’s lace sculpture dominated one side of the gallery. Two layers of crochet give the impression of a coverlet and blanket spread out over a bed underneath. She continues her Cloud Country series of animals morphing into blossoms via a diptych, Soft Boiled Symmetry, and a ceramic sculpture Untitled (Violin). Dina Gadia’s collages from vintage magazines make you pause to savor her wit. Mariano Ching, as usual, does excellent work on his pyrographed pieces. This time, his wooden relics have been mounted in glass vitrines. I have not seen Ryan Villamael’s latticed paper as intricate before. This guy definitely bears watching. Yasmin Sison revisited her desaperecidos with Candlesticks and Flowers, a 5×4 ft oil on canvas. Elaine Navas and Luis Lorenzana also had paintings on view, while Gina Osterloh had her photographs.

At Silverlens, Rachel Rillo and Isa Lorenzo with Dina Gadia's collages

The Sivlerlens booth

Mariano Ching's pyrographs on wood in glass vitrines

Mariano Ching, "Spit Out The Explosives"

Mariano Ching, "Perpetual Commotion Series: Hands"

Mariano Ching, "Perpetual Commotion Series: Legs"

Mariano Ching, "Perpetual Commotion Series: Heads"

Mariano Ching, "Perpetual Commotion Series: Arm"

Patricia Eustaquio, "Untitled (Violin)"

Patricia Eustaquio, "Soft Boiled Symmetry"

Luis Lorenzana, "Robo Clara"

Dina Gadia, "Nude Happening"

Ryan Villamael, "Untangled"

Yasmin Sison, "The Still Room"

I loved both of Roberto Feleo’s pieces, glass-enclosed tableaux, over at The Drawing Room. On one of them, The Glow In The Dark Maguayen, he recreated the two boatmen from the prehistoric Manunggul Jar. Equally impressive, In-habit, Project Another Country, Alfredo + Isabael Aquilizan’s ship cum squatter colony, put together from the cardboard remnants of their work for the Liverpool Biennale. Great for us to see again: the couple’s portraits drawn from jigsaw puzzle pieces. Also on the walls: Jose Legaspi’s charcoal drawings from a suite originally exhibited in Japan, Roderico Jose Daroy’s disintegrating paper, and more from Freddie and Isabel.

At Asia One, Y++/ Wada Fine Arts of Japan opted to show Rodel Tapaya as they did for Art Stage Singapore. Rodel resurrected Chicken Army from his Bulaklak ng Dila exhibit in Vargas Museum two years ago, sprucing up each piece with individually painted patterns. Meanwhile, Japanese patrons had already reserved his biggest paintings at the time of the Vernissage.

At The Drawing Room, Jun and Kat Villalon and Sidd Perez

The Drawing Room's booth, with Roberto Feleo vitrines at the foreground

Detail of Alfredo+Isabel Aquilizan's " In-habit: Project Another Country"

Roderico Jose Daroy, "Blossom of The Poison Tree"

Roberto Feleo, "The Yellow Submarine Entombed"

Alfredo+Isabel Aquilizan, "Foreigners", from jigsaw puzzles of European landscapes

Rodel Tapaya's "Cloudland" at YY++/Wada Fine Arts

As hard as it is to believe, Jose John Santos III has never featured prominently in an art fair before. Clockwise, at Art Informal’s space, more than makes up for this delayed debut. John began infusing life into mundane objects three years ago, for 2009’s (UN) Common. This piece in Hong Kong may very well be the apex of this series.

Twelve multimedia assemblages hang equidistant from each other on light gray walls. Each piece corresponds to an hour of the day. Long slim white boxes serve as receptacles to objects that represent how John spends that particular time of his day: painted sheep indicate sleep, a selection of folded shirts for when he gets up to choose what to wear, rolled canvases for the hour spent preparing to work. All these painted in the photorealistic style and muted palette that we have come to associate with him. He gives depth to each of these receptacles by adding non-painted details, a touch of surrealism that has always been present in his work: human feet sticking out from the bottom of a few boxes, papier mache bottles of wine, crumpled sheets in resin.

Clockwise, sold as one installation, will soon make its way to an important Philippine collection. Hopefully, we get to see it again, mounted for a longer period than that limited by an art fair setting.

Jose John Santos III, "Clockwise", installation detail

Ed Cua, Tina Fernandez, Gigi Lapid, Riel, Grace, and Marielle Hilario at Art Informal's space

John Santos with his work

Pinoy works in other Asian galleries include Louie Cordero and Roberto Chabet at Hong Kong’s Osage, Geraldine Javier and Leslie de Chavez at Korea’s Arario Gallery.

While I spent a good part of today preoccupied with Filipino art, in truth, it makes up for just a tiny fraction of the fair. The art world’s biggest names are here, and there’s much more to see and discover tomorrow.

ArtHK 12 runs from 16-20 May 2012 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centery, Wanchai. For more information, visit www.hongkongartfair.com