I like it when my parents’ gallery opens exhibits. Aside from the obvious reasons (e.g. convenience, relentless bias), it’s always enjoyable because there are usually four shows up for display and consumption. Last Tuesday, four amazing artists—Mark Andy Garcia, Jigger Cruz, Dexter Fernandez, and Bjorn Calleja—had their works up! And I was pretty excited.

My favorite of the bunch were, predictably, Jigger’s and Dex’s. I don’t know if it’s because I’m most familiar with their work—it’s probably not—but I just felt so excited looking at their work.

Dead End
Jigger Cruz
Gallery 2

The one on the right is called “The Extremist,” and it’s a portrait of Jacques Derrida. My brother thought it was Freud. At one point Jigger was telling us the story behind it, and it fascinated me that there even was a story behind it.

Jigger’s work is the most aesthetically appealing to me, though, I like his old colors better. Comparing these pieces to his old works, there’s a lot more figurative images at play (vague but more pronounced renditions of what seem to me to be flowers?, for example) and a lot more paint. His applications are more liberal and seem more deliberate.

And, look! There was a sculpture, too.

X O X O X O
Dexter Fernandez
Gallery 3

Dex’s work is so cheeky to me. Looking through these works (I think there were about 40), I giggled and chortled so many times. In the words of someone that was there that night, but whose identity I have conveniently forgotten, to Dex, “Mabait ka kasi, kaya dinamitan mo sila.”

It made me think about subliminal messages, and what image our brains process, even when there’s nothing really obscene about what we see. Strictly speaking, Dex’s images are a bunch of people, with lots of different photos and colors strewn about around them. What’s funny is that even though those images and colors are loud and sort of in-your-face, it’s hard to keep your mind away from what you’re supposed to be seeing but aren’t (i.e., pornography).

I think it’s pretty clever, too, that these cover-ups actually somewhat calls to attention the lack of obscenity that you kind of expect. You end up filling in the blanks, whether you like it or not.

My favorite pieces were the ones with illustrations, and the one with cut-out holes that form a pattern. Optical illusion, sure, but you kind of know what you’re supposed to see anyway.

Acquainted with the Night
Mark Andy Garcia
Gallery 1

Some Failed Attempts In Creating A Good Image for Painting
Bjorn Calleja
Gallery 4

All shows will be up until the 8th of October.

What to do with a good head on some shoulders? The face you are now seeing is that of Lauren Hutton (shot by Irivng Penn in 1960) and is the “base” for Roberto Chabet’s Head Series, on display at Galleria Duemila currently. Works on Paper is comprised of several pieces from the Head Series spanning from 1986 to 1992.

The writeup that accompanies the exhibit was written by Ma. Victoria Herrera, who was my professor for “Narratives in Western Art” back in Ateneo. I thought it was an interesting piece, since she chronicles the history and progression of Chabet’s work, noting influences by Kurt Schwitters (who was referenced in one of pieces in this series). She also goes into the workings of collage-making, in an effort to understand the appeal of the process and the medium, as well as to provide its historical background.

A different and condensed version is up here, but I’ll try to scan the printed writeup soon because I loved reading it a lot. Nothing like a well-researched piece, really!

Anyway, onto the show! Works on Paper features over thirty works. It’s really cool to me, because it reminded me of the iteration exercises we used to have for design. By setting a limit or a boundary (in this case, that photo of Lauren Hutton), the artist is tasked to rework it several times. It’s kind of like trying to solve a problem using more than one solution, or looking for more than one way to draw a line. Or something.

For one project we had that dealt with iteration—it was aptly called “8×8″—we were tasked to make eight designs (that fell under a theme; e.g. mine was “animals”) and find eight ways to apply them on apparel/merchandise. It was fun because you really had to think outside the box and, usually, when you’re at your wit’s end, that’s when you come up with the best solutions and results.

Here are some of my favorite pieces. My camera setting was absolutely wrong for their lighting set-up, so I only have a few photos. You can view the exhibit over here, anyway. Or you know, go visit the gallery!

Galleria Duemila
210 Loring Street
1300 Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines
(view map)

Tel: (632) 831-9990 or (632)833-9815
Fax: (632) 833-9815
Email: gduemila@gmail.com
Website: www.galleriaduemila.com

Read the rest of the entry & see the rest of the photos!

A friend of mine told me that he liked it best when I blogged about my day. I used to lug my (dad’s) Nikon D70 around school and would systematically pick out the day’s highlights, resize each photo and upload all 50+ of the selecteds on Photobucket, to be uncovered by the clicking of a cleverly-worded LJ-cut.

It’s safe to assume that I don’t really do that now. I actually have way too many photos that I don’t really know what to do with. I suppose I’m just saying that I sort of miss doing that, and I sort of miss updating for no reason. Having an open space like this kind of makes me want to look for something profound or intelligent or beautiful to say, and I grow silent when I don’t have any of those things to share.

But sometimes, I forget that I have also learned how to tell stories using photographs that could very well mean nothing at all. In any case, a few photographs of the continuation of this day. I spent the night at an exhibit in Pablo Gallery with my brother.

Then we went to Mercato Centrale to meet up with Sarie and Therese. After a failed attempt at getting to taste the infamous beef belly (with steak rice!) from Rodrigo’s, I was finally able to that night. I loved it a lot. Everyone ended up getting it.

… except for Sarie, who got “cheese steak.” (IDK, that’s all she told me that it was.)

I don’t have photos but the ice cream from Merry Moo (get it?) was frakking awesome. I’ve tried Honeycomb (it had actual honeycomb bits!), Strawberry Basil, Sea Salt Caramel, and Candied Bacon (which is less tasty than it sounds), but the best flavor was Earl Gray.

Sometimes I wish I could breed bees.

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

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!

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