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Not even the threat of getting blown up could keep them away.
Eight million people joined this year’s procession of the Black Nazarene, a horde of devotees that packed the five-kilometer stretch from Luneta to Quiapo. The January 9 feast commemorates the Translacion, the transfer during the late 18th century of the 17th century icon to the shrine that now bears its name, more popularly known as Quiapo Church. Continue reading
Alwin Reamillo, "Untitled (Crab Eye)", shredded bank notes and mixed media on crabshell in plexiglass
I approach group shows with trepidation, frequently hoping I don’t find a hodgepodge of pieces haphazardly thrown together merely to make up the numbers. Although Manila’s most recent group exhibits (at least the ones I’ve managed to catch) have not given cause for complaint. Neither does Post No Bill, just opened at Manila Contemporary. Continue reading
Elmer Borlongan, "Laklak", 1994
Kim Atienza inadvertently set me on the road to art addiction. In 2003, one of the pieces from his collection, Alfredo Esquillo Jr.’s Mamakinley, held me in thrall at the Whitney Museum. The quest to learn more about an artist I hadn’t heard of till then lured me into the world of contemporary Philippine art. I’ve been fixated ever since. Continue reading
Alfredo Esquillo Jr., "Fruit Of Thy Womb", detail
The Filipino-English dictionary translates kalooban into three words: heart, mind, will. Alfredo Esquillo Jr. considers it the most spiritual word in the Tagalog language. “We can use it in our daily living or we use it in our relationship with God. That we have this one word must mean it is innate in us.” Continue reading
Elmer Borlongan, "Pag-ahon"
I never thought I’d wish Manila Contemporary had more space. But when an exhibit like Monumental comes along, even the vast proportions of Metro Manila’s most capacious gallery seems crowded. Continue reading
The celebration continues at Tin-Aw with the second installment of their anniversary exhibit. I must say I enjoyed this show more
Detail, Pamela Yan Santos, "Sugar Coated"
than the first. Perhaps it had to do with the combination of pieces. Perhaps the smaller number of artists included in this show made me appreciate each artist’s effort more. Perhaps the exhibit’s installation just felt easier to navigate. Perhaps it was all of the above! Continue reading
Alfredo Esquillo Jr., and "B.I. Joe"
In the series of paintings which he calls Tragicomedy, Alfredo Esquillo Jr. displays his more surrealist bent. For these works, he makes repeated use of an image he christens as the wheelchair-jeepney. A product of his imagination, he paints this as a jeepney’s dashboard without an engine. Instead, the large wheels of the wheelchair appear to mechanically power the hybrid vehicle. Through the years, Esqui has employed this in several of his pieces: on its own in Third World, pushed around in circles by several buffoons in Survivor, carrying a load of cartons in Lipat-Bahay. He uses the wheelchair-jeepney as a device to underscore the hobbled and disabled state we Pinoys find ourselves unable to shake off, the legacy of repeated missteps by our political leadership. Another conveyance that we see repeatedly in his tragicomedies is the double-faced jeepney, two jeepney dashboards facing opposite directions. Esqui has used this as a metaphor for the Philippines’ lack of progress. The state has two drivers pulling it in opposite directions. Continue reading
Alfredo Esquillo Jr., "Pangakong Langit"
When we think of Cavite, we think of Emilio Aguinaldo hoisting the flag of the first Philippine Republic from his balcony in Kawit, of the tulisans that struck fear and terror on average folk, of Ramon Revilla, as Nardong Putik, brandishing his agimat against the forces of evil. We also know the agimat as the anting-anting, an amulet against danger and death, one’s defense against bodily harm. Continue reading
Three years ago, Ambeth Ocampo arranged for the
Kim Atienza and Ayala Museum's Ken Esguerra with Jojo Legaspi's "St Thelma"
Board of Trustees of the Museum Foundation of the Philippines to view Paulino and Hetty Que’s collection of Philippine art and historical objets. Ambeth, perhaps only half-kidding, dubbed the occasion the tour of the”… real National Gallery”. As he took us through the assembly of works, from Juan Luna’s canvases, to Fabian dela Rosa’s landscapes, then onto the Amorsolos, and the Thirteen Moderns, from the Ben Cabs to the Ang Kiukoks, we realized what Ambeth meant. The staggering display covered the whole gamut of Philippine art history from Damian Domingo’s Academia de Dibujo to the 1980s. Continue reading