Tag Archives: Marina Cruz Garcia


Rodel and Marina Take Jakarta

Rodel Tapaya and Marina Cruz introduce their paintings to a new audience through a joint exhibit that opened last week in

Rodel Tapaya, "Top Secret"

Jakarta.  Looking Back allows both of them to continue exploring their different takes on the concept of memories.  Rodel looks back at folk tales that have been passed down through oral tradition.  He once again immortalizes them through his painted narratives. His fantastic characters and wonderful colors bring these stories to life, beautifully compressed in one frame. Continue reading →


Poklong and Marina at the Ateneo Art Gallery

Un/Fold Marina Cruz Exhibit Installation

Un/Fold Marina Cruz Exhibit Installation

One year after winning the 2008 Ateneo Art Awards, Poklong Anading and Marina Cruz Garcia bring us two shows, both coming off from their respective residency grants  from the Common Room Networks Foundation in Bandung, Indonesia and the La Trobe University Visual Arts Center in Sydney.

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Marina in Beijing

A glimpse of Marina's show

A glimpse of Marina's show

Thirty three young artists from across Asia came together for Mapping Asia, a special project of CIGE (China International Gallery Exposition) 2009, Beijing’s annual premier art fair. From April 16 to 19, three contemporary Pinoys, Lirio Salvador, Kiko Escora, and Marina Cruz, held solo shows in conjunction with this event. Continue reading →


Viewing The Paulino Que Collection of Young Contemporary Artists (aka, The I Wish They Were Mine Show)

Three years ago, Ambeth Ocampo arranged for the

Kim Atienza and Ayala Museum's Ken Esguerra with Jojo Legaspi's "St Thelma"

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 →


Marina Invites Us In

Living Room

Living Room

Marina Cruz Garcia likes to dig deep into memories.  Whether she embroiders mementoes, impastoes on canvas, or moulds with resin, her pieces hearken back to personal remembrances of her family’s history.  In this exhibit, OPEN HOUSE,  at The Drawing Room, she takes us on an intimate tour as she revisits an ancestral home now bereft of marina-pianopeople, but still filled with objects that recount their presence. 

 

 

Each painting highlights a particular space in the house, giving us viewers a sense of what was.  Here in the garden, children used to run and play.  In the bedroom, a lady would preen on the old-fashioned vanity.  There, the family broke bread, perhaps after having said grace.  At the entrance, a menagerie waddled in and out under the watchful eyes of Sta Ana. 

Dining Room

Dining Room

The enchantment of these paintings, to me at least, lies with the color palette that Marina adopts.  To my mind, these rich autumn shades of deep brown, brick, and rust, injected with that bolt of blue and moss green, echo back to the works of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts artisans of the turn of the last century.  Her use of flat planes and determinedly skewed perspectives give the pieces that edge that stop them from sinking into sappy sentimentality. 

When Marina reminisces, she does so in such an interesting and arresting

Bedroom

Bedroom

fashion, she can’t help but draw us in, allowing us the privilege of walking  back to the past with her.

 

 

 

 

 

Open House with Marina Cruz Garcia is at The Drawing Room from 22 November to 15 December 2008  Ph: (632)897-6690  www.drawingroomgallery.com  

Entrance

Entrance


Meanwhile, back in Manila: Rodel and Marina at West Gallery, Sangviaje at Art Informal

Sonia and Helen by Marina Cruz

Sonia and Helen by Marina Cruz

UNCOMMON GROUNDS, RODEL TAPAYA AND MARINA CRUZ GARCIA 

After getting married late last year, Rodel Tapaya and Marina Cruz Garcia began 2008 with a solo show each, spent three months in Vermont on residency grants, had a joint homecoming show on their return, secured the Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards Grand Prize and the Ateneo Art Awards for her, a solo show in Singapore for him.  That doesn’t even cover everything.  How then can they manage to keep their works interesting and keep the art-collector- who’s-seen-it-all interested?

In this exhibit of small works, they show us that by fearlessly stretching the

Tulad ng Dati by Rodel Tapaya

Tulad ng Dati by Rodel Tapaya

 boundaries of their media, they not only offer refreshing alternatives, they keep us hankering for more.  Marina takes off from her winning Philip Morris piece and continues her foray with embroidery on printed canvas to exquisite fruition.  

Miguel by Marina Cruz

Miguel by Marina Cruz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rodel experiments painting on one side of transparent acrylic sheets, his images meant to be viewed from its reverse side.  The idea for this process came about after seeing the amalgam of colors created on the underside of his palette.  The result?  A  contemporary, striking, and altogether novel dimension to his pieces.

By Rodel Tapaya

By Rodel Tapaya

Marina and Rodel at West Gallery

Marina and Rodel at West Gallery

Uncommon Grounds, West Gallery Megamall from 13 to 25 November 2008.  www.westgallery.org  and www.rodeltapaya.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

PUTAJE, SANGVIAJE AT ART  INFORMAL 

 

Whenever these guys fron Antipolo journey together, be it a group show in

Joven Mansit Raw Meat

Joven Mansit Raw Meat

Singapore, in Malaysia, or here in Manila, it results in an intriguing collection of works, a combination of their various styles and strengths.  And this exhibit, at the newly-refurbished Art Informal, is no exception.  In fact, Putaje may very well describe how it would be if  you were to invite these guys over for dinner:  you would sit down to a potluck spread of disparate delicacies that somehow come together into one savory meal.

 

 

  The Sangviaje artists are:  John Paul Antido, Edrick Daniel, Dennis Fortoza, Guerrero Habulan, Joven Mansit, Jaypee Samson.

Jaypee Samson Alalay

Jaypee Samson Alalay

 

 Putaje is on view at Art Informal from 11 November to 8 December 2008.  www.artinformal.com

 

 

 

 

 

John Paul Antido Ittadakimasu

John Paul Antido Ittadakimasu