Tag Archives: pow martinez


Here and There: Pow Martinez, Maria Taniguchi, Alice and Lucinda, Catalina Africa, Maria Jeona Zoleta, and Melted City

At Blanc Compound's Melted City: Hazel Lee Santino, "Lemert Park", oil on tracing paper on oil on watercolor paper

The past two weeks saw a flurry of shows opening in Manila, and I’ve spent the last few days catching up: Continue reading →


Pow Martinez Destroys Planets

Pow Martinez liberally throws around the word astig.  He uses it nonchalantly, with a casual shrug.

George Condo, the American artist who paints caricature-like figures with pursed lips, bulging eyes, and scrunched up heads?  He’s astig.  Philip Guston and his cartoonish renderings?  Yup, him too.  Ditto the Scottish animator David Shrigley, and provocateur Dash Snow, he of the hedonistic lifestyle who died of an overdose two years ago.  On the local front, the word is reserved for the likes of Manuel Ocampo and Jayson Oliveria, purveyors of chaotic and sexually explicit images. Continue reading →


Romeo Lee and Pow Martinez Wreak Mischief and Mayhem

Romeo Lee and his mural

The exhibit may have taken its name from Manuel Ocampo’s favorite wine,  but Mischief and Mayhem perfectly suits the works of Romeo Lee and Pow Martinez.  Those who follow these two know that their art hews closely to the messy, racy, and raunchy aesthetic, favored by the likes of Jonathan Meese and indeed, by Ocampo himself.

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Pow Martinez Gets LOST

Pow Martinez, "Flushed", oil on canvas, 6ftx 7ft

I got lost getting to LOST.  I made a wrong turn the first time I dropped in on LOST Projects, Manila’s newest alternative art space.  I came two days before the venue formally opened, and the sign outside had still been covered up.  The ground floor gallery slash artist’s studio smelled faintly of paint, and its walls dazzled with a fresh white coat. Continue reading →


The 2010 Ateneo Art Awards

Just like everybody else in the audience, I eagerly awaited the announcement of winners for this year’s Ateneo Art Awards.  The

Shattering States: The Ateneo Art Awards 2010 Winners: Pow Martinez, Leslie de Chavez, and Mark Salvatus

Ateneo Art Gallery staff kept the final results under tight guard, even to us jurors.  Thankfully, they paced this year’s awards night programme so that none of us had long to wait. Continue reading →


Portraits from Inside: Martha Atienza, Bea Camacho, Sam Kiyoumarsi, Pow Martinez

Now this is my kind of group show.  The concept is simple, and you don’t get overwhelmed by the range of pieces on view.  Four

Pow Martinez, "Walking Corpse"

artists seem to be a good number for the venue, both to give each artist enough space to showcase their work, and for the viewer to take in the variety of styles present. Continue reading →


Hyper Blast Abominations from Pow Martinez

Pow Martinez, "Sidekick"

I find them quite amusing, these globs and squirts and drips that Pow Martinez uses for his paintings.  I first came across his work a little less than a year ago at West Gallery.  Aptly titled 1 Billion Years, that show introduced us to Pow’s unique way of rendering figures, somewhat like the crude illustrations of primitive man.  He had small pieces, nothing bigger than 2ft x 2ft, or 2ft x 3 ft if I remember correctly, of faces made from smears and clumps of paint.  The kind you could also imagine up on the walls of a kindergarten. Continue reading →