Category Archives: arts and culture


Roberto Chabet’s To Be Continued at the CCP

Roberto Chabet, "PIERO", 1999

The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) throbbed with activity when I arrived Saturday morning.  Even if I did beat the crowds who would come later for Mamma Mia’s matinee, an activity in the Little Theater, plus Cinemalaya auditions, meant more groups of people than usual milled about the basement and the fourth floor.  In the third floor, however, the usual quiet reigned over Pasilyo Guillermo Tolentino and Bulwagang Juan Luna, the main gallery, where the bulk of the pieces for Roberto Chabet’s To Be Continued had been installed. Continue reading →


Jose Tence Ruiz and His Dried Up Pieces of Portable Faith

Jose Tence Ruiz, "BungeeFixion According to Sam Raimi", acrylic on paper

Familiarity with Jose Tence Ruiz’s body of work holds the key to understanding his new show, Dessicated Proxy, running until the end of this month at Galleria Duemila in Pasay City. Continue reading →


More From Singapore: Lehmann Maupin at STPI, Morimura Yasumasa at Ikkan Art Gallery, and MONUMENTAL Southeast Asia

At STPI, Do Ho Suh, "Floor", detail

At STPI, Do Ho Suh, "Floor", detail

As it is in most cities, local galleries time their exhibits to coincide with the frenzy of art fair week.  In Singapore for Art Stage, I had time enough to catch three.

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Chimera At The Singapore Art Museum

Tabaimo, video still from "Midnight Sea", from the collection of the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art

The Wall Street Journal got it right.  Collectors did rule at Art Stage Singapore, from the marketing campaign to the biggest fringe event of the week.  The people behind the art fair did not shy away from promoting its commercial aspect, they made no bones about who exactly they wanted to come and see at the event (and what they expected them to do with their wallets).  But that didn’t mean that the rest of us could not enjoy some pretty good art. Especially not at Chimera, an exhibit at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) of select pieces from select collectors, contemporary works from Asia. Chimera belongs to a series called The Collectors Show that runs concurrent to Art Stage Singapore every year. Continue reading →


Art Stage Singapore 2012: Our Asia

I thought they nailed it with their marketing campaign, using the tagline We Are Asia to position the fair as distinctly from this part of the world.  Quite Asian too to make use of celebrity endorsers (i.e. the region’s biggest art collectors) to promote the event in a series of eye-catching ads.  While one did not see groundbreaking pieces from the art world’s biggest names, and the organizers could have laid out the spaces in a less confusing manner, overall, the art did not disappoint at the second edition of Art Stage Singapore. Continue reading →


Nikki Luna, Zean Cabangis, Jojo Serrano, and Jet Pascua Open 2012 for the Silverlens Group

Nikki Luna, "Leaf Cuttings 1", detail

And so we begin again.

A young man in his 20s who has just come to his own joins forces with a staunch advocate of women’s rights, a painter resurrects from oblivion, while an expatriate Filipino reflects on his home country’s history.  The silverlens ladies started their year—and ours too— by setting the bar high.  If this trio of shows serves as harbingers for what we have in store for 2012’s art scene, we’re in for some pretty good stuff. Continue reading →


My Top Three For 2011

Louie Cordero, "My We", image from www.singaporebiennale.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manila’s art lovers will remember 2011 as the year when Rodel Tapaya made us proud with his APB Signature Art Prize win, Roberto Chabet proved that he’s still at the top of his game after fifty years, and Mideo Cruz exposed the need for Filipino audiences to encounter more  varied forms of artistic expression to broaden their perspectives. Continue reading →


Leeroy New’s Psychopomp’s Reef Launches BGC Offsite Gallery

Leeroy New's Psychopomp's Reef at the BGC Offsite Gallery

I’ve always believed that we should all have access to good art, and that making it available means expanding the experience of art to beyond the gallery or museum setting.  Unfortunately, the scarcity of open areas in Metro Manila has meant that we get very little public art— and no, monuments to historical personages don’t count! Continue reading →


On Rodel Tapaya’s APB Signature Art Prize Win

Rodel Tapaya, "Baston Ni Kabunian, Bilang Pero Di Mabilang"

Most of us know by now that Rodel Tapaya won the Grand Prize of the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Signature Art Prize, one of the richest prizes in the region, a triennial event organized by the Singapore Art Museum.  Undoubtedly, this counts as one of Philippine art’s highlights for 2011 as Rodel’s work was chosen from an initial list of over 130 nominees from across Asia Pacific, later pared down to 15 finalists by an international panel of judges.  He exhibited the majestic Baston Ni Kabunian, Bilang Pero Di Mabilang at the UP Vargas Museum one year ago, part of Bulaklak Ng Dila, his most ambitious, compelling solo show to date. Continue reading →


Louie Cordero: To Infinity And Beyond

Louie Cordero, "Meta I", detail

The Greek word Meta means beyond or after, an extension of what is known.  Louie Cordero uses it as the title of his latest solo exhibit, and true to its definition, he takes us beyond Earth, beyond his previous works, to share his current fascination for outer space—his kitschy-Pinoy, densely packed, brightly colored version of it anyway. Continue reading →