Mac Valdezco and Eugene Jarque call this exhibit Riding In Circle, an awkward title for a wonderful display of their latest work. Unfortunately, the show ends in a few days. This post comes a bit too late, but I thought it a pity to let the show pass and allow
Mac Valdezco, detail, "Mini Rider", monoprint on bed of strings
it to simply disappear, swallowed up by the general chaos of the holidays. Continue reading
Iggy Rodriguez, "Toxin", acrylic ink on arches paper, 45x34 in.
In the November 2010 issue of Vanity Fair, an article on Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, makes passing mention of three schools he set up to run programs that keep traditional arts alive. One of them is the Prince’s Drawing School, organized as a means of “reviving traditional methods that had largely been abandoned by the art-education establishment….” The article goes on to say that the idea for the drawing school came about because “…the Slade, the Royal Academy, the Royal College—all the big graduate schools in London— were closing their life rooms.”
Mike Adrao, "Demakina 5", ballpoint ink on paper, 11.5x8 in.
In our part of the world, art enthusiasts maintain a healthy respect for the technical skills of our artists. Perhaps because most notions of what comprise art still veer towards the traditional. Paintings, however, tend to receive the bulk of attention. So when Iggy Rodriguez and Mike Adrao decide to mount a show of purely drawings, majority of them no bigger than a standard A4 bond paper, it feels like a novelty. Mano Mano makes us pause and appreciate this return to the basics. Both, as we can see from the images, are clearly masters of drawing, of capturing the most minute details while working with ink and charcoal. Prince Charles will definitely approve.
Iggy Rodriguez, "Delusions of Grandeur", acrylic ink on arches paper, 48x48 in.
Mano Mano runs from 16 to 30 November 2010 at Blanc Compound, 359 Shaw Blvd. (Interior), Mandaluyong City. Phone (632) 752-0032 or visit http://www.blanc.ph
Mike Adrao, "Demakina 4", ballpoint ink on paper, 11.5x8 in.
Iggy Rodriguez, "Sa Kaibuturan ng Pag-unlad", acrylic ink on arches paper, 24x24 in.
Mike Adrao, "Demakina 8", ballpoint ink on paper, 11.5x8 in.
Mike Adrao, "Demakina 10", ballpoint ink on paper, 11.5x8 in.
Mike Adrao, "Mekanismo 3" and Iggy Rodriguez, "Coming of Age"
Mike Adrao, "Mekanismo 2", charcoal on paper, 48x48 in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFV-GALrZfc
As I walked around Blanc’s original space to view Dina Gadia’s current solo exhibit, I remembered a cramped hole in the wall
Dina Gadia with "Action 2"
that I chanced upon two years ago in Hong Kong. Squeezed in between antique stores and art galleries in Hollywood Road, the tiny space sold vintage Chinese cinema banners and bundles of ancestor portraits. Dina’s current crop of paintings would have fit right in.
Jay Pacena, Allan Balisi, and Dina with "Walk"
How Does That Grab You Darling takes off from Dina’s fascination with B-movie posters from the 1930s to the 1970s. She uses bright, even acidic, shades that give off a retro vibe. Her compositions, usually of various images and texts juxtaposed as if pasted atop each other in layers, look more like collages than painted images. Her background in advertising and graphic design comes out very strongly. As do her Pop Art influences.
Dina Gadia, "Foul Horror"
You hear a bit of a buzz about Dina Gadia from art collectors these days. This show certainly provides sustenance to her fans.
How Does That Grab You Darling runs from 16 April to 8 May 2010 at Blanc Art Space, 2E Crown Tower, 170 HV Dela Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati City. Phone(632)752-0032 or visit http://www.blanc.ph
Mixed media piece by Dina Gadia
Dina Gadia, "Dynamite 2"
By Dina Gadia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKUKwX8WAKE
Janet Balbarona, "Ricochet 2"
To spark the inspiration that took the Man of La Mancha on his impossible quest, Manuel de Cervantes reportedly wrote while sitting immersed up to his knees in pails of freezing water. He believed that the cold stimulated his literary juices. Artist Janet Balbarona can definitely relate to such unorthodox creativity boosters. She herself has not been averse to donning a ball gown or two while completing her paintings. To prepare for her second solo exhibit, she has taken up residence at the artist’s studio of Blanc Compound in Mandaluyong. Two suitcases crammed with outfits and accessories, plus a horde of shoes, fill her bedroom.
Janet Balbarona, "Dear"
“Kailangan ma- feed ko ang fashion fix when I paint,” the 27-year-old Janet reveals, laughing. Tonight she wears a bright orange, a-line tube, her black bra straps exposed on otherwise bare shoulders, neon yellow sneakers on her feet. A patch of scalp lies visible beneath the close shave of her asymmetric haircut. “I love Vivienne Westwood and anything from the eighties,” she shares. But she goes by what feels right as she works. “Sometimes as I paint a particular detail, feel ko dapat naka red ako. So, palit ako in the middle of painting that object. Sometimes, magkaiba pa ang shoes ko!” Unsurprisingly, Janet’s pieces resemble collages put together like a designer’s look book of clothing illustrations. As the daughter of tailors, fashion figures largely in her compositions.
An onlooker for "Staring Finger Print" and "The Second Round"
Detail, "The Second Round"
“My pieces look like pages of a scrapbook, parang unfinished, ungrounded, raw. I put in what seem to be random elements, pero may meaning lahat yon.” Beneath the insouciance, the brilliant hues, and the trendy vibe, lie deeply personal stories. In this exhibit, Peeling Peaches For The Sharpest Tongue, she fills her canvases with various depictions of herself, each one a narrative of her life in Beijing. She includes mementos gathered as she partied and painted her way around the Chinese capital.
Janet Balbarona, "Online Candy"
Janet moved to China in 2008, four years after graduating with a Fine Arts degree from Far Eastern University, and a year after a stint in Perth doing commissioned portraits for an aboriginal rights group. In Beijing, she gravitated around the club scene, hanging out with DJs and young fashion designers. Inevitably, Janet hooked up with some artists and started working on her art. The galleries in the 798 arts district, although interested in her portfolio, felt that the market would not take her seriously until she had a few one-man exhibits in her resume. Early in 2009, she headed home to make her Manila debut. Her pieces have since found their way into the collections of the local art cognoscenti.
Janet Balbarona, "Sweet Thoughtfulness"
In this current body of work, Janet weaves images of peaches into all her paintings. She throws them in, innocuous and hardly apparent, amidst her self-portraits. The peaches and peach blossoms serve as ornaments, the same way they adorn classical Chinese paintings. You can tell which of her works relive good memories. For these, Janet renders her peaches plump, pink, juicy. Otherwise, she depicts them rotten and decayed, decomposing amidst scavenging rats.
Janet’s pieces possess the frankness of Janet herself. She goes through unexpected lengths to portray the truth. Before she could bring herself to get started on this show, even as her canvases had already been stretched and primed, and her frocks lay waiting to be slipped on, she found herself flying to Hong Kong. She spent a week seeking closure to an incident that she wanted to include in this exhibit. Her paintings deliver sincerity in a stylish package.
Janet
If each painting recounts an episode, then this entire show can be viewed as a full account of Janet Balbarona’s eventful year. Through her pieces, we find ourselves vicariously reliving the life of a hip, peripatetic romantic. Manuel de Cervantes may actually have a word for her: quixotic.
Peeling Peaches For The Sharpest Tongue runs from 22 February to 12 March 2010 at Blanc Makati, 2E Crown Tower, 107 Dela Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati. Phone (632)752-0032 or visit http://www.blanc.ph
Janet Balbarona, "Staring Finger Print"
This post is a slightly edited version of my article for Rogue Magazine Feb 2010 issue. See http://www.rogue.ph
Detail of Art Sanchez, "Saturation Point"
Art Sanchez, "Between Raindrops and Sunshine 6"
Art Sanchez works with collages on mirrors. I first saw his work a few weeks ago when some friends and I set out on a sojourn to Quezon City to check out the art scene away from our comfort zone of Makati. We all agreed he seemed an artist to keep an eye out for. For his first solo show, he brings us even more interesting collages. For two of them, his larger pieces, he combines the mirrors with oil paintings on canvas. He starts by scratching out the paint behind mirrors and seals his cut outs with lacquer or paint. As you can see from the photos, they come out kinda cool!
Art Sanchez, "Saturation Point"
Art Sanchez, "Afterthoughts...thoughts after"
Afterthoughts by Art Sanchez runs from 6 July at Blanc Art Space, 2E Crown Tower, 107 HV Dela Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati. Ph (632)752-0032 or visit
Art Sanchez, "Test Subjects"
Detail , "Test Subjects"
Art Sanchez exhibit installation, at center is "Floating Moodswing"
Leeroy New's colored fiberglass saints (or aliens?)
Lynyrd...
Lynyrd’s eyes lock with mine from every corner of the gallery. In my favorite, Ang Dilim…Hindi Na Muna Ako Pipikit (How Dark It Is…I Will Not Close My Eyes), they look at me through a mist, an otherwordly, ghostly gaze. In Manhid (Indifferent), they beg in
Ang Dilim...Hindi Na Muna Ako Pipikit
mute appeal, trapped in an unconscionable plight. In Lynyrd, surrounded by a sheen of black, one set of eyes look away, unable to meet mine, as harsh, painful words spurt from his lips, while the other set expresses regret, beseeching forgiveness. In Wala ng Plano Plano (Forget Making Plans), his eyes turn dead, determinedly closed, immune from feeling. In the last of his self-portraits, Apoy…Nakakasilaw (Blinded by Flame), sunglasses deliberately shield him, closing off his vulnerability.
Manhid
Wala Nang Plano Plano
Apoy... Nakasilaw
As in every piece he does, Lynyrd does not fear letting it all out, bringing his pain and rawness to the fore. We feel his jumbled thoughts, articulated as shadowed layers of texts and figures that hover beneath the surface of his images. We wonder what he has gone through to curse himself as blackhearted. More than his incredible skill as an artist, more than the excitement that his future will surely generate, we know that when we acquire a Lynyrd Paras work, we bring home a piece of the man himself.
Sirain Mo Ako
Against His Blackhearted World, 3rd Solo Show is on view from 14 to 31 December 2008 at Blanc Compound, 359 Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong City. Phone (632)752-0032 www.blanc.ph and www.lynyrdboxes.com
Ngayon Sabihin Mo Paano Mo Pa Ako Masasaktan
Like can mean so many different things. Like as akin to. Like as a predisposition for. Like to denote approval of. When you view Pam Yan-Santos’ latest solo show, you come to understand that like also reveals the longing that a young mother hopes for the future of her son.
Color the Picture
All Pam’s seven pieces revolve around Juno, her only child. In Color the Picture, he gets his hair cut, the first time without embracing arms to support him, the repeated clicking of metal shears inducing unavoidable unease. In Open Line two children, a boy and a girl, stand not quite close enough, yet not too far apart, their eyes almost, but not really, making contact. What does the future hold for the chance of relationships? Positive Thoughts turns into a mantra chanted repeatedly by a young father to keep his frustrations at bay. We forget that the innocuous birthday party of Make A Cake! Make A Cake, all pink and pretty and filled with balloons, actually serves as a child’s first foray into social relationships, a chance for friendships forged or awkwardness magnified. In the diptych Circle Time boys come together and play. In the revelry and boisterousness of their games, who can detect who is different?
Open Line
Positive Thoughts
The richness of Pam’s work lies in her success at combining her skills as both printmaker and painter. The multiple layers of serigraphs and silk screens, finished off by her acrylic images, all come together in one impeccable, robust, textured, completely satisfying whole. I like.
Circle Time
Like by Pam Yan-Santos is on view at Blanc Compound from 3 to 21 Nov. 2008. Blanc Compound is at 359 Shaw Blvd., Mandaluyong City. Log on to www.blanc.ph or call (632) 752-0032 for more details. Exhibit is curated by Leo Abaya
Hello Everybody
Pam with Eileen Ramirez of the Lopez Museum