I’ve been stranded in the seven kingdoms of Westeros these past few weeks, ensnared by the five mammoth volumes of The Game of Thrones.  I thought it high time to come back to reality, to catch up on Manila’s art scene—my original form of escape.  I wanted to see some exhibits that were due to close, and to make sure I made it to some of this weekend’s more promising openings.

My two-day art binge took me from the heart of Taguig’s Global City, to the streets of Makati and yonder, all the way up to the hills of Antipolo.

From The Black Lagoon, DAGC Gallery

Allan Balisi, Mariano Ching, Dina Gadia, and Dex Fernandez headline the latest from Metro Manila’s only gallery devoted to contemporary printmaking.  Old sci-fi and B-horror flicks served as the inspiration for what these four put up on the gallery’s walls.  Nano and Dex proved prolific.  Dex especially, as he varied the surfaces onto which he reproduced silkscreened images, allowing viewers to appreciate the effect of his work when printed on a plain background or against found photographs.

Nano returned to his printmaking roots, affirming his dexterity in whatever medium he chooses to work with.  I wanted to see more from Dina and Allan, and by that I mean in terms of quantity, not the quality, of the pieces they produced.

From The Black Lagoon runs from 9 June to 14 July 2012 at DAGC Gallery, 2289 Pasong Tamo Extension, UPRC Bldg. III, Makati City.  Phone (632) 817-2042 or visit www.dagcgallery.com

 

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Hairy Things, Pablo Fort

An all-girl ensemble featuring Catalina Africa, Tin Garcia, Maria Jeona Zoleta, and Carina Santos.  It’s hard to tell Catalina and Jeona’s work apart as both bask in a rough and raunchy D-I-Y aesthetic.  Carina has adopted collages from cut up books as something of her signature (more on her work later in this post).  The pieces I enjoyed the most belonged to Tin: an ensemble of small paintings, framed in gilded wood, of Alice’s more lascivious adventures in Wonderland.

Hairy Things was on view from 26 May to 23 June 2012 at Pablo Gallery The Fort, Unit C-11 South of Market Condominium, Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.  Phone (632) 506-0602 or visit www.pablogalleries.com

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Direct From The Studios Of…Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, Leeroy New, Maya Muñoz, Romeo Lee at Manila Contemporary

Manila Contemporary brings us this year’s edition of Direct From The Studios Of… an exhibit that transforms the workspaces of selected artists from wellsprings of art into the art objects themselves.  The four artists in the lineup, Ling Ramilo, Leeroy New, Maya Muñoz, and Romeo Lee, all have very different modes of expression.  We get a taste of their varied approaches to creating work via these (admittedly stylized) recreations of their studios.

Direct From The Studios Of… runs from 23 June to 15 July 2012 at Manila Contemporary, Whitespace, 2314 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City.  Phone (632) 576-5024 or visit www.manilacontemporary.com

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How Still, How Fast, Blanc Peninsula

Carina Santos, 23, may have started out with some good artistic genes.  Daughter of artists Soler and Mona, sister to artist Luis, granddaughter of the venerable Malang, can you get a better pedigree than that?  The decision to become an artist, however, did not come until after college at the Ateneo de Manila, whilst working as a freelance graphic designer.

I started hearing the buzz about Carina’s collages a year ago.  They display a strong Rauschenberg/ Roberto Chabet vibe— two artists she readily professes admiration for.

For this show at Blanc, her second solo exhibit, Carina completed a good number of pieces.  Each piece serves as an album of sorts, a collection of photographs and related objects contained within wooden frames.  The three pieces I liked best were put together from playing cards.  One set of 52 cards serve as a record of events for a particular year; the faces of each of the cards have been wrapped with pictures taken from publications that highlight that year’s memorable occurrences.

Incidentally, Carina writes just as well as she does art.  Her blog Nothing Spaces (www.nothingspaces.com) is a favorite online read.

How Still, How Fast runs from 23 June to 14 July 2012 at Blanc Peninsula, Peninsula Manila Hotel Arcade, Makati Avenue, Makati City.  Phone (63920) 927-6436 or visit www.blanc.ph

 

 

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Iskultura, Pinto Art Gallery

When Dr. Joven Cuanang calls you himself to invite you to come to the opening of the latest exhibit at Pinto Art Gallery, how can you refuse? The truth is, I didn’t try very hard to do so.  You could do worse than spend your Sunday afternoon enjoying sculpture and merienda courtesy of one of Manila’s most noted art aficionados.

Nine artists and one collective come together for this show of mostly small works, scattered around the gallery’s cozy space.

As you enter, the terracotta pieces of Roberto Acosta and the wooden carvings of Luisito Ac-ac welcome you.  Acosta hails from Baguio, and works with clay largely sourced from La Union.  At first glance, his pieces look Latin American, as if they had been fabricated in Mexico or Peru.  After awhile you appreciate that each piece is a narrative, the details molded in relief around a main figure tell very Pinoy stories.  Ac-ac on the other hand, is a master carver from Paete.  He carves each work from one piece of wood, idyllic scenes of the Philippine countryside described by artist Jim Orencio as “three-dimensional Botong Franciscos”.

Alma Quinto’s soft sculptures, multi-colored dragonflies, hang above the doorway that ushers viewers into the main hall.  Inside, bronze pieces from Anton del Castillo, wall reliefs by Paul Albert Quiaño, urnas from Riel Hilario, terracotta heads from Noi Gonzales, and beaded animals from Steph Lopez fill up this ground floor space.  In the alcove upstairs, the work of students from Escuela Taller in Intramuros deck the walls and complete the show.

Iskultura runs from 24 June to 15 July 2012 at Pinto Art Gallery, 1 Sierra Madre St, Grand Heights, Antipolo City.  Phone (632) 697-1015 or visit www.facebook.com/pintoartmuseum