The Ateneo Art Awards Shortlist for 2012
A three-channel video installation documenting seafarers from a small Visayan island, two multi-piece sculptural installations, and a video celebrating the quirkiness of the jeepney: this year’s Ateneo Art Awards went to works firmly rooted on local sensibilities, translated by three talented artists with global perspectives. Continue reading
Goldie Poblador, "Immensity", detail
To conceptualize this show, Goldie Poblador turned to the writings of Jesuit paleontologist and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Throughout his life, Teilhard de Chardin courted controversy as he tried to bridge the gap between his scientific ruminations with the teachings of the Church. He posits that all matter undergoes evolution, and one day all will be integrated into one consciousness. Goldie attempts to capture this integrated consciousness by reducing living organisms to their essences, their souls. How does one transform a soul into a tangible object we viewers
Goldie Poblador, "You #23"
can visualize? Goldie returns to glass, a medium she works very comfortably with, to— literally— crystallize each of the souls of her living organisms. As a nod to Teilhard de Chardin’s work as a scientist, she mounts her essences/souls inside glass boxes, mimicking specimens in a natural history museum.
Previously, Goldie captured essences of a different sort. For her senior thesis project in UP, she mixed liquid scents of
Goldie Poblador, "You #5"
the city: squalor, pollution, the aroma of coffee. She contained them in glass bottles that she inflated herself. Her installation resembled a department store’s perfume counter. Goldie received critical acclaim for this piece. She made it to the Shortlist of the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards, and the Singapore Art Museum asked her to reprise a portion of it for their exhibit of Filipino art last November.
Goldie Poblador, "You #10"
In this show, The Within, Goldie plays to her strengths and delivers another winner. Her organisms, made with glass she again has blown herself, are delicate, fragile, wispy, yet full of detail—transparent facsimiles of the real things, exactly as souls should be. She has insects,
Goldie Poblador, "You #15"
spiders, jellyfish, plankton, fishbones, and coral, all true to size. Goldie covered the gallery’s walls with cut fabric that I thought resembled scales. She says that she had meant to fill the walls with feathers, but she could not gather enough of them. No matter, the fabric does a good job of providing a textured backdrop to her glass specimen boxes.
Goldie Poblador, "You #11"
Goldie partially enclosed the rear of the gallery to house her best piece. How does one capture the human soul? With clear glass balls attached to steel rods as she does with Immensity. Here is a human reduced to its barest form, even its visage has been stripped away, clasped before it by hands detached from its main body. Yet something of its essence remains. Pin lights inserted amidst the life-sized form give off an ethereal glow, emitting the presence of some form of life within.
Goldie Poblador, "Immensity"
The Within runs from 3 November to 3 December 2010 at the 4th Floor, The Picasso Boutique Serviced Residences, 119 LP Leviste St., Salcedo Village, Makati City. Phone (632) 828-4774 or visit http://www.artcabinetphilippines.com or visit http://www.picassomakati.com
Goldie Poblador, "You #12"
Installation of insects and a soul
Goldie Poblador
Installation view
Jose John Santos III, "Clouded"
In my book, Tin-Aw holds the title as Makati’s most convivial gallery (Art Informal gets my vote for the Ortigas area). How often have I stopped by for a quick look, only to end up staying longer than intended, chatting and laughing with other art lovers who also just happen to drop by? Where else do you run into art superstars Mark Justiniani, Joy Mallari, Geraldine Javier, or Alfredo Esquillo Jr., and get to sit down with them as old friends? Here, art is taken seriously, but is never intimidating. You get treated with the same amount of charm, and welcomed with the same offer for Chocnut or coffee, whether you happen to be super collector Paulino Que or Mr. Newbie To The Art Scene. Therein lies the secret to Tin-Aw’s success, the reason we all keep coming back to see what treasures their backroom holds. Continue reading
View of Sungdu-an Installation
While other countries regularly mount their biennials or triennials, our Sungdu-an is the closest thing we have to a nationally
Christine Sicangco, "Thou Son's Cranes"
organized visual arts event. Continue reading
Ateneo Art Awards Short-listed Artists with Fr. Nebres of the Ateneo, Richie Lerma of the Ateneo Art Gallery, judges, and sponsors (photo from Rani Jalandoni)
Michelline Syuco with a piece from "Armadillon"
Well, I got two of the three winners right, and the third I actually picked as a runner-up, so I guess I didn’t do too badly in predicting this year’s recipients of the Ateneo Art Awards. I had a feeling the two-dimensional pieces would be passed over, no matter how excellently-made. All in all, the quality of the short-listed artists only bodes well for the future of Philippine art. I am proud to say I saw all but two of the shows in situ. It was great to relive them at the Ateneo Art Gallery’s display at Shangri-La Plaza Mall. Of course the experience does not come close to actually viewing the shows (where was Patty’s lace piano?), but still, you do get a feel for the sensibilities of each of the artists. How exhilarating to witness the diversity!
Detail from Michelline Syjuco's "Armadillon", shown at Mag:net
Raul Manzano, Editor-In-Chief of Metro Society, one of the night's sponsors
Welcome to the Class of 2009!
Sometime in late March, I made my way to UP Diliman to try and catch the thesis exhibit of this year’s batch of Studio Arts graduates. Unfortunately, I got there the day before graduation ceremonies, the day maintenance men moved in to take down what had not been taken home. So when I received Dawn Atienza’s invitation to view this show, a reprise by ten selected artists of their thesis exhibit pieces, I told myself that I had better not miss it this time. Continue reading