The year starts off with great news for us art lovers—- our favorite Filipino artists have been invited to a show that travels to Milan and Beijing. Southeast is B(l)ooming opens on Febuary 11, with a special client preview sometime January, at the Marella Gallery in Milan. The show brings together the current crop of contemporary art darlings that dominate both the auction and gallery circuits of Southeast Asia. Continue reading
With apologies to Madonna….. Continue reading
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
Suspension
Until he was 11 years old, Tatong Recheta Torres wished he could be a superhero and fly, take himself off into another realm, transform. Instead life happened, bringing with it all its attendant ordinariness
Blame It On The Mirror
and routine. Lucky for us, despite the physical impossibility of fulfilling this childhood desire, Tatong- the-now- grown-up- artist wistfully revisits these long-ago longings in his latest exhibit, The Most Genuine Regret, on view at Art Informal in Greenhills.
Tatong’s art has always been about his incursions into a fantastic, alternate world, at once fascinating and
Duo Eradicat
horrifying. He transfixes as much as he makes us recoil, until slowly, we come to accept this parrallel reality. What at first seems like pistules festering on rotting flesh acquire the patina of the commonplace. Decayed matter turn into objects of beauty, leaving us captivated. Tatong sucks us into his universe. And here, enthralled, we choose to stay.
The Great Reward
Red Card Galore
Figure 1 to 5
Fly Factotum
The Most Genuine Regret by Tatong Recheta Torres is at Art Informal from 11 December 2008 to 11 January 2009, 227 Connecticut St., East Greenhills, Mandaluyong City, phone (632)725-8518 or visit http://www.artinformal.com
Early this year, sometime in Febuary or March, the Museum Foundation of the Philippines went on a cultural tour of Ilocos. We visited the churches of Paoay and Sta. Monica, enjoyed the famed empanada of Batac, drove all the way up north to Pagudpud, and on our last day, spent time in the heritage town of Vigan. Throughout our stay, we had as our base Sitio Remedios, the lovely resort of art patron Dr. Joven Cuanang, beautifully situated by the sea in Currimao, Ilocos Norte. From here, after a hearty breakfast of longganisa and rice, we would start our day, driving off to see the sights. In the evenings, we returned to sunset cocktails and dinners by the beach, unwinding amidst the glow of hundreds of candles. Continue reading
Plainview Goal, Mixed Media Installation by Don Salubayba
Maps have fascinated for ages. Picture crude etchings discovered in caves, a diagram of the heavens crafted by ancient man to guide his destiny. Or the rudimentary representations of land and sea that steered Balboa, Columbus, and Magellan to historic conquests. In those days, cartographers depicted a flat planet that ended in a precipice, beyond which lay the great
Patricia and Patring by Tina Fernandez
unknown. What would the legendary explorers make of the GPRS features in cars and phones of today, when one touch of a button steers us precisely two kilometers to the east or west, or pinpoints locations with precision? Proof that maps serve both as guide and historic document, getting more sophisticated as man marches on to progress.
Makina Anatomika by Brendale Tadeo
Detail, Leeroy New Hanging Installation
In this show, Art Cabinet Philippines challenges 12 artists to come up with their take on maps, each one alloted a space of their own choosing in a recently-vacated penthouse. The non-traditional venue, with its commanding views of the city skyline, help unleash the powers of their imagination, fueling creativity in what promises to be a truly unique show. Hopefully, this heralds the beginning of a series of great concepts, a different way of viewing and appreciating the visual arts.
Allegorical Partition by Anton del Castillo
Alice by Lea Lim
2805B Map Ruminations by Anton del Castillo, Marc Cosico, Tina Fernandez, Mark Gaba, Mark Andy Garcia, Lea Lim, Leeroy New, Sandra Palomar, Alwin Reamillo, Don Salubayba, Brendale Tadeo, and Ian Victoriano is on view from 4 to 14 December 2008 at Apt. 2805B, Three Salcedo Place, Tordesillas St., Salcedo Village. Viewing times are from 5 to 8 pm. Contact (+63928) 5504816 or www.artcabinetphilippines.com
By Sandra Palomar
Detail, Who are the People in Your Neighborhood by Don Salubayba
Crab Ilokandia by Alwin Reamillo
The Kumot Adventure by Marc Cosico
Detail: Neil Pasilan Installation
TUTOKKK: KRISIS, KALUNASAN…ANONG K MO? AT BLANC COMPOUND
Three years ago, a core group of concerned artists came together to make a stand against the spate of extra-judicial killings that hit unrecognized, anonymous, mostly rural, Filipinos. Since then, this loosely-organized band of artists, headed by Manny Garibay and Karen Flores, have made it
Manny Garibay and Racquel de Loyola
tradition to put together an exhibit on or around December 1, Human Rights Day. To quote core member Noel Soler Cuizon, “Tutok employs art as medium, message, and motivation” to call attention to important issues affecting our daily lives, collaborating with NGOs like KARAPATAN and educational institutions such as the University of Sto. Tomas, St. Scholastica’s College, and Ateneo de Manila University.
For this, their anniversary show with an array of over a hundred 18 x 24 inch works, TutoK challenges both artists and the community at large: what do you make of a nation, and a world, in financial crisis?
The show is on view from 30 November to 10 December 2008 at Blanc Compound, 359 Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong, Ph: (632)752-0080 www.blanc.ph
Mark Andy Garcia and Lynyrd Paras
Entrance Installation by Don Salubayba
By Bogie Ruiz
Detail: Mimi Tecson Collage
By Jay Pacena
ECLECTIC BY MICHAEL CACNIO
Michael Cacnio’s brass sculptures, with their decorative, often humorous, take on everyday Philippine life may seem poles apart from TutoK’s more
Detail: Subok
thought-provoking pieces. Mike’s works are easy and whimsical and popular; his shows quickly sell out. But the underlying viewpoint perhaps falls within the same spectrum: that of celebrating one’s Pinoyness with aplomb, no matter what life hands you.
Buking!
Eclectic by Michael Cacnio, 24 November to 7 December 2008 at 1/0f Gallery, The Shops at Serendra, Bonifacio Global City, Ph (632)901-3152 Email: 1of.gallery@gmail.com
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 
people, 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Putaje is on view at Art Informal from 11 November to 8 December 2008. www.artinformal.com
John Paul Antido Ittadakimasu
Hearing that Geraldine Javier opens a show in KL this week and Leslie de Chavez exhibits in Switzerland as we speak may not be as groundbreaking as electing the first African-American President of the United States. But surely, we Pinoy art lovers can also walk a little taller. After all, those who follow their careers know that when these two perfectionists strut their stuff, we all have something to crow home about. Continue reading