Mac Valdezco, "Orange 524.558", detail
I know how obsessive Geraldine Javier gets about quality and workmanship. So it hardly comes as a surprise to see whom she invited to join her for her first go at curating an exhibit. Juan Alcazaren, Mac Valdezco, Eugene Jarque, Mike Munoz, and Ryan Villamael all share her reputation for fastidiousness, for fabricating pieces with careful attention to detail. Continue reading
Yasmin Sison, "Haraya (Underneath The Sky)"
Yasmin Sison revisits familiar elements in this solo exhibit, her first in Manila since her 2009 show, Into The Woods, at SM Art Center. She returns to her portrayals of children. This set brings them indoors, away from the forest and the shore that have served as settings for her more recent depictions of kids at play. These hark back to 2007’s Gingerbread Girls, with the kids seated against a plain backdrop, looking squarely at the viewer. Continue reading
Kiko Escora, "Bungi"
In the absence of any exhibit notes or artists’ statements, it seems safe to assume that The Death of Death (Is Alive and Kicking) is a group show about death. Simply go by the number of skulls up on the walls of the Art Center at SM Megamall. It would have been nice to understand what went behind the more subtle, less archetypal works. But then again, sometimes a piece should just hit you, make an impact on first impression. After all, art need not always explain the meaning of life. Or in this case, death. Continue reading
It turns out, I chose one per quarter. These are personal favorites, exhibits in commercial spaces I found unforgettable. I don’t expect universal approval. Feel free to disagree. Here goes (in chronological order): Continue reading
Alcazaren and Pacqing at Finale
As Israel pounds the Gaza strip, Barack Obama prepares to take his oath for the presidency, and the Alabang Boys reveal family secrets, the art scene in Manila forges ahead. Try and catch these three shows before Jan turns into Feb, and we find ourselves with one -twelfth of 09 already gone.
JUAN ALCAZAREN/ BERNARD PACQUING AT FINALE
Younger artists look to Johnny Alcazaren as a beacon, a former professor who until today inspires them to continue experimenting with their craft. When you come and view his two-man show with Bernie Pacquing, you understand why. The two artists worked closely with curator Nilo Ilarde to come up with site-specific, monumental pieces that take full advantage of Finale gallery’s cavernous space, putting together a fantastic, breathtaking display of paintings, hanging scuplture, floor installations. You imagine yourself transported to a show in Chelsea in New York, or one of the warehouses in the 798 District in Beijing.
Casting Aspirations by Juan Alcazaren
In my favorite piece, Casting Aspirations, Johnny reworks his pieces from his December show at Mo Art Space. Drawing inspiration from a Louis Vuitton window in Kuala Lumpur, his own fixation with mirrors, and Alice in Wonderland, he arranges plaster pieces cast from household objects atop square mirrors in a checkerboard pattern at a corner beside the gallery’s entrance. Once hit by light positioned at an angle
True Inspirations by Juan Alcazaren
from above, the whole piece comes together like a prism, entrancing diamond patterns reflecting on the wall. In another beguiling piece, True Inspirations, he lights used plastic chopping boards from behind, installing them randomly on the gallery’s far wall.
Paintings and Installation by Juan Alcazaren
Johnny’s large-scale paintings transfix with seemingly-repeated diagrams that mimic a television screen’s test pattern. Come closer and words come together: Nervous Painting enumerates parts of our nervous system, Muscular Painting lists down our muscles, and Bloody Painting details the different arteries. All three inspired by his father’s medical books.
Bernie’s Perfect Storm dominates the gallery’s central portion. About 480 bamboo reeds hang from seven-foot nylon strings attached to a painting mounted on the ceiling. Bernie painstakingly coated each one white before gluing feathers at gradated distances throughout the pole. The result? A piece at once majestic and light, appearing to float quietly, hovering between ceiling and floor.
The Perfect Storm and Ochre, Surrounded by Gray Matter by Bernard Pacquing
He also has two paintings, done in his signature Abstract Expressionist style: Ucello’s Chalice in a Firestorm, a diptych done in vivid orange to dark red, and Ochre Surrounded by Gray Matter, his more subdued triptych.
One MUST try and catch this show. Go in the late afternoon when the shadows lengthen, and the lights from Johnny’s and Bernie’s pieces come out brighter. Once you do, you’ll want to come back. I know I do.
Ucello's Chalise in a Firestorm by Bernard Pacquing
Juan Alcazaren Bernard Pacquing is at Finale Art File from 13 January to 7 Febuary 2009. Finale is at Warehouse 17, La Fuerza Compound, Pasong Tamo, Makati City. Tel (632)813-2310 or www.finaleartfile.com
ADAM EN GRISAILLE, ANDOI SOLON AT KAIDA GALLERY
Prevailing Prayers by Andoi Solon
At the opposite end of EDSA from Finale, inside a small gallery quietly making a name for itself in busy and bustling Kamuning, Andoi Solon marks his first solo show by celebrating a series of firsts. Curated by artist Ruel Caasi, Andoi’s pieces pay homage to Adam, the first man in the story of creation. Andoi mimics the Mannerist figures of El Greco and Cesar Legaspi, painting in grisaille, traditionally used as a foundation for painted images.
Adam's Apples by Andoi Solon
Andoi shifted careers, leaving behind a marketing job with a telecom supplies company. He went back to school, graduating from the UP College of Fine Arts in 2008. He has been generating a bit of a buzz among local art collectors. Next up for him is another solo show, this time at Utterly Art in Singapore, scheduled for March. Definitely one artist that bears watching!
L'Absence de Mary by Andoi Solon
Adam En Grisaille runs from 11 to 28 January 2009 at Kaida Gallery, GFO Building, Kamuning Road, Quezon City. Tel (632)414-4777 or www.kaidagallery.com or visit www.andoi.co.cc
FUNNY CRY HAPPY, CLAIRELYNN UY AT BLUELINE GALLER
You find art in the most unexpected places. Stroll around the 4th floor in Rustan’s Makati, and squeezed in between suitcases in the luggage section and the towels and linen in the home section you stumble onto an exhibit by Clairelynn Uy. In this solo show of five
Smile by Clairelynn Uy
paintings, she moves on from her usual photorealistic images of children’s toys and takes us to a carnival, bringing to life the carousel and bump cars that we so love to ride. Once on, we are transported out of our realities to a world of magic. Just as Clairelynn’s pieces do.
Baby Aint Got Horn by Clairelynn Uy
Funny Cry Happy is at Blueline Gallery from 29 December 2008 to 29 January 2009, 4F Rustan’s Department Store, Makati www.bluelinegallery.multiply.com