Category Archives: philippine contemporary art


Patty Eustaquio, Nona Garcia, Geraldine Javier, and Yasmin Sison Take A Turn As Photographers

Geraldine Javier, "Overkill"

In 1893, when Paul Delaroche first encountered the then new-fangled art of photography, he famously declared painting’s demise.  The death of painting has since triggered numerous debates in the annals of art history. While developments in contemporary art have made this a non-issue, viewers of Strip 2011 Painters As Photographers may find themselves in agreement with M. Delaroche.  For this exhibit, Patricia Eustaquio, Nona Garcia, Geraldine Javier, and Yasmin Sison, four artists known primarily for their paintings, essay into photography. Their works

Nona Garcia, "Whiteout Series"

prove that, should they choose to, they can very well leave painting behind. Continue reading →


Peewee Roldan Collects New Histories

Norberto Roldan, "The Beginning of HIstory and the Agony of Power"

"The Beginnning of History and The Agony of Power", detail

In her essay, The Hint of Transition, curator Joselina Cruz writes “Norberto Roldan is first, and foremost, a collector.  A collector of objects and paraphernalia, of images and imagery, of symbols and text.”  The essay had been penned for the catalogue of The beauty of history is that it does not reside in one place, “Peewee” Roldan’s solo exhibit at Art Stage Singapore.  He mounted the show for Taksu, the gallery that represents him in Singapore and Malaysia. Continue reading →


Alwin Reamillo’s Balut Rain and Reign at Tin-Aw

Exhibit installation view

You didn’t need to hunt for eggs at Tin-aw this Easter.  Alwin Reamillo had them everywhere:  hanging from the ceiling, leaning on shelves, spread out over the low table at the center of the gallery.  On opening night, he even had some of them warming inside a pot, ready to be put in a basket, then taken out into busy Makati Avenue.  AngBalutViand, A Transcultural Project by Alwin Reamillo represents the Manila leg of an undertaking that started in Hong Kong, part of the territory’s annual Art Walk. Continue reading →


Elmer Borlongan’s Everyday Realities

Elmer Borlongan, "Sto. Nino and Monsters Mattress"

“Not a day without a line” has been stenciled onto a wall at the rear of Pinto Art Gallery.  This quote, from Vincent Van Gogh, welcomes viewers to a room full of Elmer Borlongan’s drawings, a section of his exhibit devoted to pen and

ink studies of the oil paintings scattered elsewhere in the gallery.  It repeats a mantra that Emong lives by, one that may very well provide the secret to his continued success. Continue reading →


Roberto Chabet: 50 Years Comes To Manila- Ziggurat at West Gallery, onethingafteranother at Finale

Roberto Chabet, "Ziggurat Drawings 5"

After exhibits in Singapore and Hong Kong in January and February, the Manila leg of Roberto Chabet: 50 Years opened with two shows running almost simultaneously.  Ziggurat at West Gallery and onethingafteranother at Finale are the most recent events in this yearlong project. The series of exhibits celebrates Roberto Chabet’s half a century of influence in the Philippine art scene. Continue reading →


Corinne de San Jose and Christina Dy’s A Very Short Flowering Season

There is something powerful in the simplicity of A Very Short Flowering Season, a collaborative show by photographer Corinne de San Jose and artist Christina Dy. Sixteen small light boxes, each measuring about 10 inches high, hang as a grid on 20Square’s main wall.  Each one carries a photograph, printed on cloth, of women’s torsos taken from behind.  Dainty patterns have been embroidered onto the sepia-toned photos, branding the bodies with wispy floral scribbles. The color of the gallery’s walls echo the dull golden hue given off by each piece.

Continue reading →


Maria Taniguchi’s Echo Studies

Patrick Flores uses the word contemplation to describe Maria Taniguchi’s process of completing her drawings.  She has mounted three of them on wooden plinths to stand at the main floor area of UP’s Jorge B. Vargas

Maria Taniguchi, "Untitled (Mirrors)", detail

Museum.  The graphite drawings of negative shapes set against panels of wood have been completed with the use of a brush.  Just as Patrick did, one marvels at how she has achieved the varied tones demanded in simulating wooden grains.  “I asked her if she speaks to her brush”, Patrick remarked, perhaps only half-joking.  In these drawings, the grains resemble more than just patterns on wood.  Maria has made them fluid, almost like seascapes.  To use her words, “ The grain has moved out of its shell, out of its material dimension, it’s moved on to being a more abstract encounter.” Continue reading →


The Acid House at Pablo

I swung by Pablo in the middle of one afternoon, almost as an afterthought. I actually had no previous intentions to do so.  I happened to drive by and suddenly remembered that I received an invite for a show opening that evening. I caught Ivan Despi just as he had ironed out the last kinks of Glass Feathers, currently on at Pablo’s space at the Fort.

Ivan Despi, "Belief Bluff 1", video still

Ivan and Pauline Vicencio run The Acid House, a production company that does commercial work for television networks and advertising projects. This exhibit allows them to channel their talents into video art, a project they worked on with four colleagues. Continue reading →


Louie Cordero Gives Us A Slow Education

Fresh from the Singapore Biennale, where his installation My We must rank as one of the event’s most photographed pieces, Louie Cordero returns to Manila with Slow Education.  Louie hasn’t had a solo exhibit back here since 2008’s fantastic Absolute Horror, so this comeback to MO Space generated excitement and curiosity among his collectors.  Personally, I wanted to witness the direction Louie would take, given that before the Biennale, he was coming from another big project:  Sacred Bones, his solo at New York’s Jonathan Levine Gallery. Continue reading →


"Mabini Art Project: 100 Paintings" Now Belongs to the Ateneo Art Gallery

"Mabini Art Project: Seascape"

It sure feels heartening to witness big business come to the support of the visual arts.  Last weekend, the Ateneo Art Gallery formally unveiled an awesome addition to its already fabulous collection:  Alfredo + Isabel Aquilizan’s Mabini Art Project:  100 Paintings.  Security Bank acquired the piece for the university museum, a special project to celebrate the bank’s 60th anniversary.  This is not the first time that Security Bank has come out for the arts.  For the past three years, they have been one of major sponsors of Art In The Park, the annual project of the Museum Foundation of the Philippines. Continue reading →