Three Great Art Shows, and a Big Frakking Lunch at Omakase. // June 24, 2010

Last Saturday, before dropping by 20/20 at The Collective, I hung around my family’s gallery because it was the last day that three great shows are going to be up. New ones would be mounted on the following Tuesday, so it was my last chance to see the shows. Glad I went to take a peek! These are probably three of my favorite shows to be mounted at the same time. Quite a combination, I was super impressed.

Kaloy Sanchez.

Frederick Sausa.

Michael Muñoz.

The shows were by Kaloy Sanchez, Frederick Sausa and Miguel Muñoz. I honestly can’t pick a favorite among the three. I’m super attracted to the aesthetic of Sausa’s work. It’s really the kind of look that I love, especially this one piece that was all wrapped up and ready for pick-up (sniff, sniff). You’ll see the photo later. I love the ideas behind Muñoz’ work, and obviously, the look is very striking and bold. Sanchez works for this show are mostly black-and-white, but his show is far from muted. The strokes are bold, and the resulting look is intense.

Obviously, I’ve lost a little bit of my ability to articulate these things in an art majorly manner, but I hope the photos speak for themselves.

M.m.’s calculator watch! Jealous.

(After my viewage of the exhibits, I had lunch with the parentals, M.m. Yu, and Nona Garcia in Omakase. The pictures I took of the food sucked, but the company was great and I left the restaurant as happy as a stuffed clam. Not that I know how happy stuffed clams get.)

Click for the actual photos. The pieces are quite lovely.
Continue reading Three Great Art Shows, and a Big Frakking Lunch at Omakase….

 

PHOTO POST: Shanghai, Birthdays & Homecoming. // June 23, 2010

Last Shanghai installment, finally! These are photos from the last two days, the 11th and the 12th, during which my sister celebrated her birthday and we flew home. Not very detailed, but I just wanted to remember.

pretty shirt from Bayo.

Hi.

Papa & Isabel.

Papa and Kuya.

We got lost.

LOL this couple was super cute. I have more pictures of them.
I am not ashamed. Just kidding, I’m slightly ashamed of my creeper self.

Airport.

Hehehe.

Continue reading PHOTO POST: Shanghai, Birthdays & Homecoming….

 

Things I Have Learned From Beatles Rockband: Life and Art Edition. // June 19, 2010

So, in case you had been wondering, I have actually been working on my painting right now. (“Which painting?” you ask. This one, n00b.) For some reason, a week ago, I got a silly idea in my head: “Carina, why don’t you go make a painting?” And here I am now.

It’s silly, because despite my bachelor’s degree and my “lineage,” I’m really not a very good art person, and I say this void of fake humility. No fishing, really. I’m a sort of… whatever-comes-to-me type of artist. No thinking or drafting or sketching. Until now, that is. I’ve been spending an average of three hours every day, trying to make this work, and over my despaired wailing, my parents and brother have been assuring me that that is what it is really supposed to look like at this stage.

So, what does Beatles Rockband have to do with this? Well, I am getting there. See, a couple of months ago, my brother purchased a limited edition Beatles Rockband set. I’m not really very good with video games, either, but as he is my brother and he was excited to play it, I relented and we played a few songs with my sister. Obviously, I had won the major suckage award, because I sucked, majorly. I would lower our rating so badly, I got the feeling that they would rather be a two-piece band (like The White Stripes, but an actual brother-sister band), but they just didn’t want to be mean.

The problem is that I kept on hitting the notes prematurely. I see a yellow beat, hit yellow early, and miss the opportunity. So, that’s what it has to do with painting, and life, in general, I guess. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, “Carina, that’s kind of pushing the metaphor, isn’t it?” But it’s really not.

That’s the problem with me. I mean, I’m decent at most of the things I try (except public speaking and arts of the performing persuasion), so when something goes my way, I would milk it and go with it, until it does a disservice to me. In which case, I will drop it. I like trying new things (rushing into them, really), and I keep getting these ideas, but I let them fizzle out. Like, taking that editorial assistant job. I went to work the day after I got the call. I quit exactly a month later. Things Like That.

The thing is, I think I need to really spend some time trying to learn how to make this… art thing work. Or, I guess, in the broader context, my entire life. Because I just can’t bank on what I have, and not try to be better. Because, the painting is not going to look like the picture, unless I spend time on it and be careful with it. Because my life is not going to go anywhere, if I don’t take the right opportunities, or wait until my timing is right. Because, I can’t keep on hitting the yellow beat, before I should.

(See, I told you it would get somewhere.)

Anyway, here is something like a time lapse of the work I have done today. I’ve been coloring outside the lines (accidentally), but my mother has assured me. “That’s OK,” she said. “You have about five more layers to go.”

And then I suffered an imaginary aneurysm and wrote this post.

I don’t know if this ties in with the whole “message of the post,” and frankly, I cannot be bothered to think it through, past midnight with a sinus infection, but in the words of The Album Leaf, poignantly: One Day, I’ll Be On Time.

 

 

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