Tag Archives: manila art blogger


"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 →


At Maculangan and Katya Guerrero at Apt 1B

Hand carved revolver from Gemelina wood

Over at our house, we love Apartment 1B.  We get cravings for their pizzettas and truffle popcorn and Buffalo wings that make us head to Salcedo Village at a moment’s notice.   That they make an effort to show good art adds to their appeal.  A few months back, over the holidays, they reprised MM Yu’s photos from her show Waste Not Want Not, and I loved that I could enjoy her work again.  This time, paired with glasses of wine consumed in the company of family and friends. Continue reading →


Geraldine Javier’s Wild Things

Geraldine Javier, "The Vein", detail

Nothing ever appears haphazard in a Geraldine Javier exhibit.  Every element is carefully considered for cohesiveness, nary a detail out of place.  Always Wild, Still Wild, now on view at Finale Art File, demonstrates this yet again. Continue reading →


Dex Fernandez Rocks On!

I first encountered these Jesus Christ superstars of Dex Fernandez about a year ago at MO Space, at the group show Siren’s Hall.  If I

Dex Fernandez, "Hey Idol, how you doin'? Series 6", detail

remember correctly, he had three of these tattooed resin Christ figures making their debut in a show about rock and roll.  He brings out more of them for his second solo exhibit, this time to present us with a premise on idol worship. Continue reading →


Mariano Ching And His Portrait Series

Mariano Ching, "Portrait Series: Dog-Faced Boy"

The glossy, hyper realistic, gigantic celebrity portraits of American artist Richard Phillips stimulated the concept behind Even Bad Days Are Good, Mariano Ching’s solo exhibit now on view at SLab.  Phillips’ glammed up subjects, sourced from photographs of the famous, icons of popular culture, and even soft-porn movie stars, look out vacantly from within their frames.  They stare stiffly back at viewers, frozen in their perfection, devoid of emotion. Continue reading →


Lui Medina’s Raptus

Lui Medina’s Raptus, currently on view at Manila Contemporary, stands out for its marked contrast to anything else on exhibit in

Lui Medina, "After Raptura"

Manila today.  She has brought us wall- bound works notable for their minimalism and restraint, a break from the exuberant bursts of color and riot of figures that fill the walls of other galleries this month.  I thought it a welcome change, equally as enjoyable, even if diametrically opposed, to the street art at West Gallery or the Mariano Ching and Dex Fernandez exhibits at SLab. Continue reading →


Manuel Ocampo and His Co-boycotters of Beauty at West Gallery

Installation of Manuel Ocampo's paintings

What would you expect from an exhibit called Boycotter of Beauty and the Theoretical Steroid Defiled Modernist Chicken?   Continue reading →


Nikki Luna Says Thanks, But No Thanks

Almost two years ago, I stumbled onto Take Care of Yourself by French artist Sophie Calle.  A message from her boyfriend triggered the development of this powerful piece.  He broke up with her electronically, sent her an email that ended with the admonishment “take care of yourself”.  Calle spent the next twenty four months showing his message to 107 women (including one parrot) and documenting their reactions in poetry and prose, photographs and video.

Nikki Luna, "Gift and Grief"

Continue reading →


Jojo Barja’s Jungle and Rain

Renato Barja Jr., "How To Fight The Loneliness"

In The Jungle and The Rain, Renato Barja Jr. takes us on a stroll through his former neighborhood, an urban landscape he douses with the color of unpainted

Renato Barja Jr.,"Bumbo the Butcher"

cement, the same ashen hue that water turns into after it’s been used to scrub off grime.  He looks back at the love-hate relationship he maintained with this corner of Cavite, at the cast of characters he encountered for five years on a daily basis.  With them he shared in the din, the putrid smells, the overall drabness of a working class community, one that recession and Typhoon Ondoy had reduced to skid row. Continue reading →


Altarpieces at Artesan

Ronald Ventura's assemblage

While the parallel events around Art Stage Singapore marked the first time that Philippine art made such a collective impact on the Southeast Asian art scene, one gallery in Singapore has been working for years to introduce Pinoy artists to this market.  In a converted shophouse at a leafy residential enclave half an hour from busy Orchard Road, Artesan Galelry + Studio not only hosts exhibits of Filipino art.  They have also collaborated with the National University of Singapore to bring artists such as Ronald Ventura (2008) and Antipas Delotavo (2009) into the university’s museum.  Continue reading →