This is going to be the first of many (probably) posts on ManilArt 2011. For those who don’t yet know, ManilArt is an art festival in the Philippines. It’s on its third year now, and it features about half the number of participants last year. Personally, I think that it’s a good idea to pare down the numbers. Last year’s was just too overwhelming. I was there for the entire duration, so I got to spend time with all of the art and really just look at what was up for display. Some people only get a day to look around, so it’s nice that they can this time around.

Here are some photos from opening night. I’m hoping to get better photos of the pieces I loved today and tomorrow. You can click on the photos if you want to find out who the artists are and for what gallery they were made.

Please stop by the NBC Tent if you have the time! I have a few works up, if anyone’s interested in seeing them. My brother has a painting up, too. It’s gorgeous, for the record. Lots of great art up by other artists as well.

ManilArt 2011 will run until tomorrow (Saturday), the 27th. The festival is open from 11am to 8pm. Tickets are at Php 200 each but if you’re there, and I happen to be there as well, send me a text message and I might be able to get you in.

Hope to see y’all! Thanks to everyone who dropped by already. Much appreciated by the n00b. :)

(by Nilo Ilarde.)

Roberto Chabet is one of my favorite Filipino artists. I grew up around his work, with his name ringing and clanging along so very clearly in my head. Sometimes, I forget that not everyone was brought up in the same environment as I was, so I forget that not everyone is really acquainted with artists that came after the Amorsolos of the Philippines.

2011 marks the fiftieth year of Chabet’s career as an artist, so many galleries decided to mount shows in his honor. It’s a little more than halfway through the year, and so far, I’ve seen so many wonderful exhibits that celebrate Chabet’s contribution and talent, but one of my favorites is the latest one held by Manila Contemporary. It’s a group show entitled I Miss the 20th Century.

While a lot of the pieces are strong in themselves, I think that the strength of this group show also lies on the brilliance of its curation. A lot of people throw that word around these days, but I think that, to call yourself a curator, you must know and understand how works of art communicate with the space they inhabit. It doesn’t merely concern the selection of pieces, which I think is how it is being used right now.

Chabet has been (informally?) introduced as the father of conceptual art in the Philippines. I think it’s because he really tests ideas and pushes boundaries with his work. I think that the body of work presented in this show is truly strong in this respect. It is such an odd but delightful mix of ideas and experiments by people who had been inspired by the man.

This piece by Felix Bacolor, for example, is currently an unassuming black pool. The intention of the piece is to create an environment for mold to randomly grow, recreating constellations.

Yolanda Perez-Johnson’s “Pick and Throw Up” is an interactive piece, where one is invited to pick up sticks—possibly a throw-back to the children’s game—and throw it up into the netting, turning it into an almost collaborative effort between the artist and the viewer. Gerardo Tan’s “Self-Portrait” is a projected loop of his angiogram.

Lara de los Reyes’ piece is one of the most interactive ones, where everyone is invited to “set free” the balloon heads that resemble Mr. Chabet. The balloon bodies are filled with air, while the heads are filled with helium, and cutting the string causes the heads to flow up towards the ceiling.

Juan Alcazaren’s “The Guillotine Perspective” is one of my favorite pieces. It is so beautiful, and intriguing. I just love how you can look at it and keep on finding new things to be fascinated by.

(Roberto Chabet, left)

(Yolanda Perez-Johnson, above. Bernardo Pacquing, detail.)

(Soler.)

I’m so excited to see the last remaining shows. I wish I could have gone to all of them, but I’m really glad I went to this one. Try to catch it if you can. I think you’ll know what I mean about space and objects (and their relationship with one another) when you immerse yourself in the space.

I Miss the 20th Century will run from August 20-September 11, 2011.

Manila Contemporary
Tuesday – Saturday: 11am – 7pm
Sunday: 11am – 4pm
Closed on Mondays and public holidays

Whitespace 2314, Chino Roces Avenue
Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City, Philippines
+63 2 8447328

I was going to fix my room, but then I… just found new things to do with my photographs now. I was trying to figure out what to do with my prints, since my (re-)foray into film photography. Our new negative scanner (which, by the way, is a Canon 9000 or something and costs around Php 10,900, according to my dad) made it hurt less to try film because I didn’t have to print a bunch of rolls with duds, and just have the nice ones printed if I feel like it.

Anyway! So, I found a way. My room is still a mess, but I guess I’ll just deal with it tomorrow. Apologies to my sister, who has to share this pig sty with me.

P.S. Karen said that the second one (in the series of three) resembles a penis. I would like to apologize and say that it is supposed to be a mountain. Hopefully, you got that and did not think phallic thoughts. It’s a mountain!

Part Two: In which I show you what we made together

I attended the workshop with six other people: my brother, Meggie Ong, Jason Moss, Dex Fernandez, Jigger Cruz, and Paolo Ferrer. I did not know any of them, except for my brother, going into it. Obviously was very nervous and fake-shy, but that quickly went away, because they were all much better at being sociable than I was. This is where I will post pictures of what we made together along with Bongoût (Anna Hellsgård and Christian Gfeller), Manuel Ocampo, and Carlo Ricafort.

We made two-color covers, experimenting with many-colored ink passes through the screen. It turned out okay, I think. Some of the local inks were a bit tricky to deal with though, because you had to mix them with this thing called an extender (if I am not mistaken), but we were mostly happy with the results.

One layer of ink.

Two layers! You can’t see it very well, but there’s a purple overlay over than orange back layer.

Three layers! A blue, a grey-green, and then a purple-y rose color over everything.

Collaboration between several artists feat. a gradient from purple to some pinks and reds.

Each one was hand-sewn! The paper was sort of too thick, in my opinion, so it was harder to puncture and sew.

Some copies are available at DAGC Gallery, I think. You can drop by (Pasong Tamo Ext.) if you want to take a look. I have two in my possession (01 and 09), so you can also ask me to see them, if we’re friends! I’d be happy to show you.

Part One: In which I tell you about most of it.

Last weekend, I was a part of a three-day silkscreen workshop conducted by Bongoût (Berlin) and DAGC Gallery (which is located along Pasong Tamo Extension. I posted about their formal opening over here). I was going to be all profound and was planning on waxing poetic about how much of a privilege it was to have been part of the workshop, but I will spare you, whoever you are, and let these pictures speak for themselves.

A couple of things:

One, I did have a lot of fun.

Two, I learned a lot.

Three, sometimes being thrown into something big and meaningful with a bunch of people you don’t know is the best kind of adventure there is. Aside from my brother, I didn’t really know anyone else who was part of the group. I laughed like a lunatic, though. It’s great when you can joke around and work with the same people.

To breeze through the process, here’s what happened:

1.) We drew stuff. We had a bunch of books we could trace from. Sarie calls it cheating.

2. We exposed these drawings to BLINDING LIGHTS so as to make impressions on the silkscreen. The screens have been coated with photo-sensitive emulsion.
(P.S. This is one of our teachers, Christian. He’s been doing this since he was in school.)

3. We print them on with silkscreen ink! We made approximately 30 editions of each sheet.

5. We cut/trim, bind, and sign everything!
(We ended up just having 29 copies… because apparently, we cannot count.)

Anna! The other half of Bongoût.

A list of some of the things I took away from this experience:

• I never want to hold another 9-to-5 again. If I could do these things and just make stuff for the rest of my life, without having to live in a box, I would be very happy.

Which is to say, I really had so much fun. I imagined myself waking up every morning and just thinking about what I could draw or make or put together, and it was just such an attractive option for me. Of course, the dread of Living In a Box loomed over me, but I think I’d rather be happy this way, than sort-of happy with a bank account I don’t even get to use. If that makes sense.

More photos under the cut! Under which, we draw a lot, drink some beer, and act silly. Also, you may notice, I may or may not be really attracted to tattoos. Not people with tattoos, just tattoos, in general. I just love how they look, but that is all I have to say about it. They have a knack of disappointing you, though.

And, since this is pretty image heavy already (and maybe also to prolong the suspense—although, not really, really), I’ll be posting photos of the finished books in another entry, aka part two.

Continue reading Avant-Garde Silkscreen Sweatshop!…

Or, there are way too many awesome shows going on in the Philippines right now, and I can’t possibly go to all of them, but here is a post in which I try to go to as many as I can in a night.

(I am itching to update about the weekend, only because it was super awesome—until the very, very end, and then it kind of went to the nearest, shit-sparsiest part of Shitville. But that is another tale for another day.)

I don’t go to a lot of shows (at least, not as much as I’d like to), but apparently I go to them more than the average person. The usual reason is that people don’t really know when shows open. My family goes to them a lot, and I kind of joke about how these excursions are actually family field trips, because I have a lame sense of humor. But anyway. On the 27th of April, I went to properly see 3 shows, all of which were, on most levels, inspiring.

Geraldine Javier

Painters as Photographers is a group show featuring photographs taken by artists who usually work on paintings, rather than photographs. It was curated by Racehl Rillo, and featured the works of Geraldine Javier, Patty Eustaquio, Yasmin Sison, and Nona Garcia. It was interesting to see how they worked with a medium that they didn’t really use in most of their works. I felt like the whole show wasn’t very cohesive, like they weren’t telling the same story. I love that they moved away from their typical mediums and did work that they weren’t particularly known for, though.

Lara delos Reyes

An Impossible Farewell is the first show of Lara delos Reyes’ that I’ve seen, so I’m not familiar with her work, but I am impressed and moved. I love it when artists use unexpected mediums, and in this case, she rendered many images and text using embroidery done with hair. It’s interesting to see also the contrast of dark imagery with the delicateness of what she used as her base (which look to be vintage embroidered handkerchiefs, correct me if I’m wrong). I get really excited when people play around with new ideas, so this was especially refreshing to me.

Lara delos Reyes (detail)

I’m not sure until when these shows will be on view, but you can drop by Silverlens and SLab at 2320 Pasong Tamo Ext. Warehouse 2, Yupangco Building, between 10am and 7pm (M-F) or 1pm and 6pm (Sat). You can give them a call if you want to make sure they’re open when you plan to go: (632) 816-0044.

Anna Hellsgård and Christian Gfeller from Bongoût, Berlin.

RE:SURGO! is a two-man show by Berlin-based artists Anna Hellsgård and Christian Gfeller. They run Bongoût, which is “an independent artist-run space.” Re:Surgo! is “a silkscreen & design studio, an art publishing company, and a retail store devoted to the diffusion and promotion of innovative creation.”

Re:Surgo! is the inaugural show of the newly-opened DAGC Gallery. The show featured large format prints that are unique (meaning, they’re producing only one of each). I have a couple of favorites, but no money to burn, so I’m just going to stand in the distance and admire them. What I love about them is that they produce a lot of unique books using traditional screenprinting techniques, some of which are on display. They seem to believe in the power (and magic!) of collaborative work between artists, because as much as they create art together, they also have a lot of pieces and collaborations with other artists from all over the world.

Over the last weekend, they also held a three-day workshop for people interested in silkscreen printing, and it was a lot of fun. I’ll be posting about that when I get the time (which I hope is soon). In the meantime, bask in the greatness of these works.

RE:SURGO! is going to be on view until the 4th of June at the Department of Avant-Garde Clichés Gallery, located at 2289 Pasong Tamo Extension, UPRC III Building, Makati City. You can give them a call at (632) 817-2042 for gallery hours.

P.S. Organic beer!

This way to more photos. Continue reading A little bit of artistry….