A Deluge of Art: Art Sanchez, Marina Cruz, and Pam Yan Santos

Arturo Sanchez, Jr., "Caught In A Time Warp", collage on convex mirror, detail

What a difference a week makes! Hard to believe, as we bask in today’s sunshine, how torrents of water engulfed our fair metropolis just seven days ago. While mundane matters deservedly took a back seat to stories of despair, hope, and good samaritanship, these exhibits prove that art can still offer some solace for the soul. Catch them while you can— while the good weather lasts:

Arturo Sanchez, Jr., Remains of the Day

Collaged mirrors have become something of a trademark with Art Sanchez. He uses them extensively in his work, and of late, has embedded them onto oil on canvas pieces. His painting style recalls the early works of Geraldine Javier, melancholic scenes from found photographs translated seamlessly in oil. The novelty of Art’s combination pieces have catapulted him onto the top of collectors lists. They’ve garnered him critical recognition as well. Art received an Award of Merit at the recently concluded Philippine Art Awards for a similarly rendered piece.

The surprise in this show comes from his installation of convex mirrors in various sizes. In Caught In A Time Warp 1-13, Art layered snips of nostalgic images that capture cinema and television of half a century ago.

Remains Of The Day runs from 28 July to 19 August 2012 at Blanc Compound, 359 Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong City. Phone (63920) 927-6436 or visit www.blanc.ph or https://www.facebook.com/blancgallery

Arturo Sanchez Jr., "Into The Deep Downfall", oil on canvas, collage on sand-blasted mirror

Detail

Arturo Sanchez Jr., "Within Here Lies A Memory", oil on canvas, collage on sandblasted mirrors

Arturo Sanchez, Jr., "Stranger I Wish I Knew", oil on canvas, collage on sandblasted mirror

By Arturo Sanchez Jr.

Detail

Installation view

Arturo Sanchez, "Caught In A Time Warp 1-13", collage on convex mirrors

Detail

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Marina Cruz, Corners of My Sleep

You can’t help but envy Marina Cruz, the 30-year-old artist with talent and good fortune aplenty. She has just received word of her inclusion in the list of Thirteen Artists, another feather in a cap that already includes an Ateneo Art Awards win (2008), a Philippine Art Awards Grand Prize (2007/2008), and commercially successful shows to go with the critical acclaim. Now the mother of two toddler boys, and wife to the equally celebrated artist Rodel Tapaya, you can pretty much say she has everything she wants. How hard to imagine that just three years ago, things looked much different.

Corners of My Sleep, the title of Marina’s exhibit at Art Informal in Greenhills, comes from a piece of the same name. “The ‘germ’ or inspiration of this show came from an unfinished work from 2009, a sculpture of a casted suitcase of my aunt, which I turned into a miniature bed,” she confides. “This piece is quite a personal one because I made it when I was saddened by my doctor’s findings that it would be hard for me conceive.” On top of the bed lie two sleeping forms, one of her and one of the baby she never thought she would hold.

“When we gave up on having a child and adopted an infant boy, I suddenly found out I was pregnant!” Things have continued to look up since then, and despite having her hands full with two boys of about the same age, Marina has forged on ahead with her career. Earlier this year, a solo exhibit in Taiwan, In The House of Memory, at MSAC (Mind Set Art Center), proved just how much of a following her art enjoys, even outside the Philippines.

Marina replicates Corners Of My Sleep into five editions that welcome you into the gallery. They complement a series of paintings that, like her Taiwan show, reflect on interior and personal spaces. She takes a wistful look at an abandoned family home and invites the viewer to share in her memories. Marina attempts to capture the imprints that several generations have made on this abode.

At the end of the year, Marina goes back to Taiwan for another show, around the same time that she joins the other Thirteen Artists winners (one of them, her husband Rodel) for an exhibit at the CCP.

“I am so blessed to have a fantastic family: a great partner and husband, and two energetic boys. And I feel doubly blessed to be doing what I love to do. I just make sure to have fun in juggling my different roles!”

A version of this post appears in the August issue of Town and Country Philippines. Visit https://www.facebook.com/townandcountry.ph

By Marina Cruz, oil on canvas

Marina Cruz, "Corners Of My Sleep"

Detail

Installation view

Marina Cruz, "Old School Visual Aids", oil on canvas

Marina Cruz, "Sanctuary of Random Objects"

Rodel Tapaya and Joel Alonday

Marina Cruz, "Walking Bedroom"

Marina Cruz, "Umbrella Collection"

Installation View

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Pamela Yan Santos, Back To Basics

You can say that Pam Yan Santos revels in parenthood. Her last few exhibits have focused on the joys and challenges she goes through as mother to Juno, her eldest boy. This year, she and husband John welcomed baby Mano, and it is to him that we owe the elements that bring this show together— and glimpse another side to Pam’s talents.

Two single beds lie side by side in the middle of Art Informal’s secondary space, in the gallery’s second floor. The sheets that cover the bed have been printed with the handwritten records of Pam’s nursing schedule. We are meant to lie on the bed to enjoy the video she produced and projected onto the ceiling. The disjointed images that appear on the film, accompanied by random sounds of a household, allow us to experience the world through the infant’s point of view.

Three sets of 24 prints hang on the walls around the bed. Pam has always taken pride in her printmaking, always incorporating it into her works on canvas. Joel Alonday’s exhibit essay shares their implications best:

“The three large groupings of monoprints that surround the two beds reiterate some samplings of what is essential to the artist: ‘to appreciate life’s simplicity despite its complications… that the apple is red, the egg is white, and the wheel is black’”

Corners of My Sleep and Back to Basics run from 13 to 26 August 2012 at Art Informal, 277 Connecticut St., Greenhills East, Mandaluyong City. Phone (632) 725-8518 or visit www.artinformal.com or https://www.facebook.com/Artinformal

Thank you to Yorkie Gomez for some of the photos in this post.