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.
Anna Varona, "Revolution No. 9"
What a terrific coincidence that two leading galleries opened shows this week featuring terracotta and ceramic sculpture, pottery, and other stoneware pieces. What a great opportunity to see works from a cross-section of artists working with clay, from the old established hands of Jon and Tessy Pettyjohn and Julie Lluch, to the Negros sculptors Joe Geraldo and Mark Valenzuela, to up-and-coming artists Anna Varona and Pablo Capati. All the great civilizations, from the Egyptians onward, have molded
Aba Lluch Dalena, "Askal"
earth with their hands. These artists help us appreciate this creative expression today. Continue reading
Three years ago, Ambeth Ocampo arranged for the
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
Noell El Farol Death Mask (Black) and Death Mask (Clear)
Aftermath with Lara delos Reyes
We’ve all been there. Had one of those nights that began innocuously enough. Continue reading
Push and Pull by Jose John Santos III
In the great CS Lewis classic, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Professor Kirke’s seemingly run-of-the mill armoire becomes the portal to enchanted, magical Narnia. Upon entering its doors, four children transport from war-ravaged Britain into a world of pathos, quest, achievement, adventure. Continue reading
Siyam-Siyam
I have Alfredo Esquillo Jr. to blame for my art addiction. In 2003, I stumbled upon his work while viewing The American Effect, an exhibit at the Whitney Museum in New York. That piece, Mamakinley, depicting a bonneted and beribboned William Mckinley cradling a little brown Filipino baby in his claws, stayed rooted in my mind, so
Prodigal Son
arresting and powerful it was. Up til then, my exposure to Philippine art had been that of the so-called masters, the artists of my parents generation. I did not realize that the art of my own time could be just as compelling. Continue reading