SANCTUS

SAME AS IT NEVER WAS

Cris Villanueva Jr.

Same as it Never Was

16 December 2008 - 5 January 2009

The retrospective renegade asserts itself through voluminous remakes, covers, renditions, revival, recycles - a complete rewind of what might be a hang up, a nostalgia, a strong personal impression that it is either irreconcilably never easy to forget, or simply the tendency to go back into a time where one might pick himself up for the now, so much so that it is evident to most music, fashion, film, visual art. A critique might recklessly say, "same, same", but hey...

The post of the modern world blurs most of what the old and the new know, it is perfectly twisted where it does not claim a single remark, to its absolute - it claims to all remarks uniquely. The post of the modern world is not static though it is and can be linear to change, but an ever sine of change. Sameness is but an illusion of what appears to be absolutely different things.

Cris Villanueva's show, entitled Same As It Never Was, is a collection of pieces in 4'x4', 3'x3' and 2'x2' frames. This one-man show is made to look as if this is a group show since each work is intentionally done in a different style, as to Villanueva who wants to go against the notion that one should have a particular style in painting'. Not to literally leave an artist mark or from what is openly said about the artist's signature.

The approach to painting using oil, for his work particularly entitled Something For Everyone, is a reproduction of a photo of a group show of small paintings dated back in 1987, it's a new work with a historical setting, yet it is blurred by the artist's style in painting, and is produced into a new light and kind of visual art technique. Taking note to works which are all original, though reproductions from other artists' work.

From the pack of redundant figures and things of the past to the present, the post of the modern world does not at all rewind a hang up nor a nostalgia, but simply asserts the new aesthetics of today and asserts the artist's accumulated grown idea being the artist that he is. It is very well "same, same" but really "different".

Same As It Never Was opens on 16 December 2008, and runs until 5 January 2009 at Mag:net Ayala. Mag:net Gallery Ayala, is at the ground floor of The Columns Tower 1, at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Buendia. For details or inquiries, contact the gallery at 929-31-91 or email info@magnetgalleries.com or visit www.magnetgalleries.com

HALAD HAN PASKO 2008

It is indeed fitting for the Visual Artists of Tacloban City to come into a collective exhibit where they could express their creative catharsis situated in the times of dynamic change...the ever burgeoning transition of the City to a “Highly Urbanized” society.

Yet deep in these “Urban Legends” hearts they still retain the folkways of the old, the convivium of the present and the hopes of the future…

Under the support and auspices of the Tacloban Sangyaw Foundation, the Artists of Tacloban gathered together to form the KANSIAGU Visual Arts Collective in reminiscence of the historic Pintado Rajah: Siagu (“Siani” in other chronicles), as evidence that they have never forgotten their creative past, as harbringers of artistry thru motifs and designs of the Pintado tattoo…

This exhibit showcases the fervor of these Tacloban Visual Artists amalgamating the past, the present and what is to come for the Tacloban Art Scene...Let as do hope, this fervor remains in every Artist’s hearts in every Christmas season now and always…

Dulce Cuna Anacion

Curator

In memoriam to Bobbi Valenzona (in inspiration for curatorial work)

PERPETUAL CREATION

PERPETUAL CREATION: ANDREW DE GUZMAN AT AYALA MUSEUM

The Ayala Museum presents “Perpetual Creation,” the first solo exhibition of Andrew Alto de Guzman, at the Artist Space, 2nd Floor, Ayala Museum , Makati Avenue , Makati City from December 16 – 31, 2008.

Based in Pulilan, Bulacan, Andrew graduated with a Management degree at the De la Salle University. He has participated in eighteen group exhibits, the first at the DLSU Art Gallery in 1993, and the most recent was at Galerie Anna this October 2008. A co-founder of the Jefarca Arts and Historical Society, Andrew was also instrumental in the establishment of the community museum of Pulilan , the Museo San Ysidro de Pulilan. Andrew also organized the First Bulacan Art Festival in 2003, and has executed major sculptural projects in the Philippines (The Great Cross of Malolos at Malolos Cathedral ) and in New York, U.S.A. (Convergence III at Smithtown).

“Perpetual Creation” is composed of ten paintings measuring from three by three to four by four feet. The paintings are abstract evocations of natural phenomena and the creative forces of nature that the artist has encoded and reworked into unusual but refreshing visions of form, color, and plane. With hints of cubistic strokes interspersed with washes and deft flat-tipped brush marks which segue from black and white to brilliant flashes of blue, red, and yellow, these paintings synthesize abstract elements derived from natural observation found in the work of such artists as Georges Braque, Jose Joya, Vicente Manansala, and Federico Aguilar Alcuaz. Andrew’s choice of subjects based on nature is his attempt to fuse his observations of the natural world with his meditations on the significance of natural forces, especially during their act of creation: the breaking of a new day, the fall of rain or the blazing power of the sun, and the flow of waters and winds that bring life to everything they touch.

For details, please call Andrew Alto de Guzman at Mobile # 0918-900-60-21, or email at aadeguzman2@yahoo.com.

URGENT PAINTINGS

TREK VALDIZNO
URGENT Paintings


Opens Sunday 14 December 2008 4:00 pm
Exhibition runs till Friday 9 January 2009

Artis Corpus Gallery
303 Haig Street Mandaluyong City
artiscorpusgallery@yahoo.com
Telephone 7174619

Conversations with the artist and presentation of the video-catalogue by exhibition curator Sandra Palomar on Thursday 8 January 2009



Trek Valdizno’s body of work is the only one of its kind that can account for, if need be, a genre of lyrical non-objectivism in the history of modern art in the Philippines. As a student at the U.P. College of Fine Arts, he was executing drawings with remarkable ease, in astounding number and at an incredible pace that went beyond an academic exercise called “a hundred drawings.”

With at least one solo show and three group exhibitions annually in the past seventeen years, the local art scene has familiarized with Valdizno’s imagery, familiar enough for early opponents to lose interest in challenging his chosen visual language. But how much more palatable have his drawings really become to viewers who are quick to dismiss abstraction as mindless scribbling?

Valdizno is above all a master draftsman in a novel way. With his brush he is able to draw paint. This may be a way to begin appreciating his abstraction. In his work only paint exists and we are witness to what it can literally do. In spite of myriad interpretations aroused by his sumptuous vocabulary of forms and figures, what is essential in the artist’s laboring is the transfer of terrestrial vibrations to his matter.

For his 25th solo exhibition at the Artis Corpus Gallery, Valdizno’s stimulus comes from making images out of “cotton like buttons”. The preamble to this new body of work in contrast to the complexity of what the artist achieves cannot be any simpler or more banal, making it appear that he is quick to grab any motif if only to prod and probe his materials.

Much more than a materialist, he is not merely content attributing adjectives to paint. Paint must skid, slide, fatten, thin, glisten, fly, chatter, quiver, tumble, soften, harden, laugh and cry. Valdizno’s act of drawing is a vehicle to infuse paint with verbs that make it live and breathe as if human.

More innocently than idealistically, Valdizno allows his gestures to do everything to pigment creating a picture more delicious than candy. He waits patiently till the last minute for a crucial starting point that will allow him to draw for hours and days on end, spewing works by the hundreds, unapologetic of his abstractions done over and over again. He will even deliver his paintings wet. It is the only thing he can imagine doing very urgently.

Trek Valdizno’s URGENT exhibition opens on Sunday, 14 December 2008, at 4 pm at the Artis Corpus Gallery, 303 Haig Street Mandaluyong City. Exhibition runs till Friday 9 January 2009. Conversations with the artist and presentation of the video-catalogue by exhibition curator Sandra Palomar will be held on Thursday 8 January 2009. Interested parties may call 7174619.

Written by
Sandra Palomar
Exhibition Curator

AGAINST MY BLACKHEARTED WORLD

Lynyrd Paras delivers his third solo exhibition Against My Blackhearted World with a passion and sincerity that we have come to expect of his work. Confronted by this group of seven paintings, one bears witness to a kind of psychosocial world symptomatic of the erosive decay of contemporary urban life, what could be described as a weathering of the spirit. These are deeply personal paintings.

While Against My Blackhearted World is an exhibition of great emotional challenge, it does not overshadow its audience with darkness. There is strength in its fire and illumination that pulls the portraits from their murky backgrounds, at times with a clumsy unease, but with a sensitivity and conviction in who they are. Paras' figures have great humanity. They are not wooden or wrapped in social ideals or art fashion.

Against My Blackhearted World opens on Sunday, December 14, 2008 6PM at the blanc compound 359 Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong City. For More information please call/sms 752-0032/0920- 9276436, email info@blanc.ph or visit www.blanc.ph.

*excerpt from Gina Fairley's "Fiery Apparitions

EXPONENTIAL INFRINGEMENT

You are cordially invited to EXPONENTIAL INFRINGEMENT, an Art Exhibition by Cesare A.X. Syjuco, Lirio Salvador, Lynyrd Paras and Raffy Ignacio on December 12, 2008 at the Blueroom Art Gallery located at 1354 Lacuña cor Apolinario, Bangkal, Makati City. Opening at 7:00 in the evening with art performances, and music by Bobby Balingit, Tupada, Electric Underground Collective and Biscochong Halimaw.

ANI34

CCP features 62 writers in “Spirituality and Healing” book

10 December 2008, Pasay City – The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) announced today that 62 writers are included in the annual literary anthology Ani. Ani, which means harvest in the Filipino language, is a project of CCP’s Literary Arts Division. For its 34th issue, Ani focused on the theme “Spirituality and Healing”, the book launching will be held on December 17, 7:00 p.m. at the CCP ramp.

The 62 writers who submitted prose and poetry featured in Ani 34 are Kris M. Alingod, Mark Angeles, Lilia F. Antonio, G. Mae B. Aquino, Carlos A. Arejola, Edgar Bacong, Isabela Banzon, Janet Tauro Batuigas, Gil S. Beltran, Herminio S. Beltran, Jr., Kristoffer Berse, Jaime Jesus Borlagdan, Nazzer C. Briguera, Catherine Candano, Desiree Caluza, Nonon Villaluz Carandang, Dexter B. Cayanes, Jose Jason L. Chancoco, Joey Stephanie Chua, Kristian Sendon Cordero, Genaro R. Gojo Cruz, Mario L. Cuezon, Maureen G. dela Cruz, Rodrigo V. Dela Peña, Jr., U Eliserio, Dennis Espada, Filipino L. Estacio, Rogerick F. Fernandez, Raul Funilas, Nena Gajudo-Fernandez, Jeneen R. Garcia, Luis P. Gatmaitan, Fernando R. Gonzalez, Erwin C. Lareza, Jeffrey A. Lubang, Nestor C. Lucena, Melba Padilla Maggay, Perry C. Mangilaya, Noahlyn Maranan, Francisco A. Monteseña, Ursula B. Nelson, Wilhelmina S. Orozco, Chuckberry J. Pascual, Noel P. Pinggoy, Dinah Roma-Sianturi, Hope Sabanpan-Yu, Joseph T. Salazar, Romel G. Samson, Aida F. Santos, Rakki Sison-Buban, Beverly W. Siy, Jason Genio Tabinas, Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr., Vincent Lester G. Tan, Dolores R. Taylan, Enrico C. Torralba, Gerardo Z. Torres, Joel H. Vega, Gina Verdolaga, Santiago B. Villafania, Ana Maria Yugalca, and Manuel Zacarias.

Herminio S. Beltran, Jr., CCP Literary Arts Division head and Ani 34 editor, wrote in the Introduction, “Reading the compilation of poems and prose in this year’s issue, there is indeed a close connection between creative or imaginative writing and spirituality, and with it, healing.” “It is as if the act of writing, and with it, reflection and meditation, is itself spirituality, which brings about healing, first in the writer, and consequently, the reader,” Beltran continued.

For inquiries on the next issue of Ani, which will delve on the experiences of the Filipinos in general and the Filipino writer in particular as members of the Asian community, please send an e-mail to aniyearbook@yahoo.com.

For inquiries or to schedule interviews, please contact Betty Uy-Regala at the following numbers: 0906-2604175; 832-1125 local 1706 (CCP Literary Arts Division) or email aniyearbook@yahoo.com.

EQUILIBRIUM

“EQUILIBRIUM” BY EGHAI ROXAS AT THE CCP

For the month of December, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) proudly presents the solo exhibition of well-known Abstractionist Eghai Roxas titled “Equilibrium”, from December 11, 2008 until January 11, 2009. “Equilibrium” will bring together twelve large works that the noted Filipino artist has produced over the past year utilizing the artistic forms for which Roxas has been celebrated in the Manila artistic community. This includes the use of delicate monochromatic washes of black and white, allied with strategic gestural strokes, bold lines, globes, and circles with shadows to create a synthesis of Western and Asian Modern Art. Eghai’s “Equilibrium” touches on the artist’s meditations on the nature of existence, and the interactive balance between emotion, nature, and the elemental human struggle to redefine meaning and the relevance of art to the greater society.

To be opened on Thursday, December 11, 2008, 6PM at the Pasilyo Guillermo Tolentino, 3rd Floor Hallway, CCP Center for the Performing Arts, Roxas Boulevard, Manila, “Equilibrium” also retraces the odyssey that the noted painter, sculptor, and performance artist has undertaken since his days as one of the youngest members of the Social Realist movement that defined cutting-edge Philippine Art with a social heart during the Seventies. Inspired by the Modernist irony of Abstract Illusionism, especially those of American artist James Harvard in his advanced art studies in the United States after 1986, Eghai has managed to channel his concerns for depicting social issues, as well as his practisanal concerns via this form of contrasting abstract patterns and cast shadows that question the formalist strictures of Abstraction during the early-mid 20th Century, redefining art in the present as an evolution of motifs and meanings that result in synergy and synthesis. The use of elegant contrasts of dense textural grounds, minimalist background wash, thick gestural strokes, geometric planes, and illusional shadows on large, rectangular canvases also produces a hybrid combination of modern Western abstraction and traditional Asian calligraphy that best exemplify the uniqueness of Philippine Contemporary Art.

Eghai Roxas is a product of the prestigious University of the Philippines (UP) College of Fine Arts in 1980, under the tutelage of National Artist Jose Joya, Roberto Chabet, and Abstractionist Constancio Bernardo; and has worked under renowned maestros like Gawad CCP Para sa Sining awardee Jose “Pitoy” Moreno. Eghai has mounted major exhibitions in such locations as the Ayala Museum, the CCP, the Vienna International Center, Ad Infinitum Gallery in Chicago, and New York’s Puffin Room. He has won many awards and distinctions, including Juror’s Choice at the 1994 Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards; one of the Ten Most Outstanding Artists of the 1994 Diwa ng Sining Awards organized by the Rotary Club of Makati West; and First Prize in Non-Representational Painting at the 1997 AAP Annual Art Competition. He is also currently concerned with performance art as an extension of the canvas in terms of foregrounding meaning and relevance to the greater social community, having co-founded the Electric Underground Collective along with Cesare A.X. Syjuco, Jean Marie Syjuco, and Lirio Salvador. His opening reception for “Equilibrium” on December 11 will feature one such interactive performance piece titled “Cycles.”

For more details on Eghai Roxas’s “Equilibrium,” please call the CCP Coordinating Center for Visual Arts at Tel. # 832-3702.

TABLE/TOPS

Table/TOP at Galerie Anna

Galerie Anna, a world-class service provider of Philippine and Global Art in the national and international market, proudly presents for the month of December a major exhibition of recent works by renowned and upcoming Filipino sculptors. Titled “Table/TOP”, the exhibition features the works of members of the Society of Philippine Sculptors (SPS) and other sculptors, such as National Artist for Sculpture Napoleon Abueva, Ral Arrogante, Ferdie Cacnio, Mervy Pueblo, Rogger Basco, Byron Salarza, Jecky Alano, Eghai Roxas, Ronel Roces, Rey Contreras, Tala Contreras, Julie Luch, Juan Sajid Imao, Arnel Borja, Pablo Mahinay, Jojo Sagayno, Uly Veloso, Dan Raralio, Noell El Farol, Evan Bejec, Jerry Araos, Julian Araos, Jenny Cortez, Dion Gonzalez, and Lirio Salvador.

Opening on December 5, 2008, at 5PM, and continuing until January 10, 2009, “Table/TOP” is a compelling journey that provides a tantalizing solution to the perennial problems of making sculpture relevant and significant in these contemporary times. Sculpture in the Philippines must cope with enormous challenges of sourcing often-expensive materials, unpredictable markets, and frequently short-term planning. Often, the only socially relevant form of sculpture is the public monument or statue that stands on plazas or street corners. On the other hand, such sculptures also deny the possibility of including sculpture as part of the domestic, indoor or interior space of home, office, or study. This emphasis on the public but often-remote application of sculpture may be noble, but it also brings to mind why so much of the people feel alienated or distant to this form.

Tabletop-sized sculptures, on the other hand, are more conducive to the tangible experience of viewers, who can not only view them at closer range, often at table height (hence the term “table top”); they can also touch and feel their surfaces with greater precision, and time to size up the effect of the sculpture in relation to their users. Tabletops are often derided as “commercial-friendly” because of their portability—and thus their easy disposal. However, we must also remember that the pleasure of handling and moving these small sculptures is precisely part of their appeal among collectors, as well as ordinary people drawn to the intimacy of the scale—and thus greater interaction and understanding results, something that a public statue oftentimes cannot achieve.

“Table/TOP” thus looks at the phenomenon of the small but significant, and locates the force of art not at the table itself, but what is on top of it—the unique creations of three generations of Filipino artists who have inherited the tradition of sculpture from the giants of the 20th Century, as well as centuries of native traditions and modern innovations that have enriched our culture. This includes the expressionistic but humane figurative pieces of Napoleon Veloso Abueva, the first National Artist for Sculpture and former disciple of Conservative great, National Artist Guillermo Tolentino. Abueva’s Modernism, which came of age in the early-mid Fifties, is highly nuanced but elegant, reducing natural elements to gentle curves on hardwood or concrete; or the drama of human action and allegory in his figurative statuary, a Romantic sensibility that he inherited from his master. Then there is the figurative works of those who came of age in the Seventies, like Jerusalino Araos’ sinuous figurative pieces; Julie Lluch’s evocative curvaceous forms; the curvilinear abstracts of former Abueva disciple, and now New York City-based artists Pablo Mahinay; and the socially committed and indigenously-themed social realist works of husband-and-wife sculptors Rey Paz and Tala Isla Contreras.

In the Eighties and early Nineties, the sculptural works of emerging artists shows the heritage gained from the emergence of both abstract as well as figurative traditions in Philippine Modernism—the fusion of the two achieved through the tireless experimentation and courageous open-mindedness of Abueva and fellow National Artist Abdulmari Imao. Ral Arrogante’s subtle and infectiously cute “Scrapologies” made from recycled scrap metal; Eghai Roxas’s abstract boxes and cubes; Dan Raralio’s segues from an almost academic figurism to a totally abstracted minimalism; Noell El Farol’s innovative use of colored and collaged glass; Ulysses “Uly” Veloso’s ironic and psychologically-dense treatises; Arnel Borja’s deftly-executed “balancing” sculptures executed in refined metallic and machine-like forms; and Juan Sajid Imao’s equal emphasis on curvilinear abstraction and human figures were all part of this process of digesting and meditating upon the aesthetic landscape that emerged in the wake of the Filipino Modernist giants.

In the latter Nineties and into the Second Millennium, this process of expanding upon Philippine Sculpture also acknowledges the contributions of those of the regions outside Manila, such as Cavite-based Rogger Basco’s Art Deco-ish figurative minimalism; Cebuano sculptor Evan Bejec’s submlime curvilinear sculptures executed exclusively in hardwood; fellow Cebuano Jojo Sagayno’s recycled-from-the-garbage-bin metal sculptures; and Ilonggo potter Jecky Alano’s ceramic sculptures of rotund human bodies. The younger generation of sculptors has also continued to redefine the tabletop in terms of form and meaning. Lirio Salvador’s ingenious “sound sculptures” are reconfigured to question the solemnity and silences of the household; Mervy Pueblo’s muscular concrete forms encased in steel defy the expectations one assumes about “women’s art”, and Ferdie Cacnio’s brass human figures of dancers exemplify the concern for defying gravity and pushing the boundaries of media to its fullest.

To expand upon the importance of Philippine Sculpture on this exhibition, two major activities will also be held on the duration of this exhibition. On Tuesday, December 9, from 2-5PM, there will be a public discussion on Philippine Sculpture by selected participants of the exhibition. On Tuesday, January 6, 2008, the curator of the exhibition, Dr. Reuben Ramas Cañete, will deliver a lecture on “Philippine Contemporary Sculpture” from 2-4PM. Both events will be held at Galerie Anna. The public is also invited to witness and participate in this event.

Galerie Anna, the presenter of this show, is as much a gallery for young emergent artists as for celebrated artists recognized nationally and internationally. The Gallery aspires towards significant showings of Philippine Art and discerning fresh artistic ideas with a view to making connections with the wider audience. We believe in Art that probes new frontiers, pays homage to individuality, and emulates the diverse ideas and values of society that can be stimulating and enterprising, especially at this juncture when the plurality of its expression in the Philippines throws new challenges for artists. Located at 7/F Ramon Magsaysay Center, Roxas Boulevard corner Dr. J. Quintos Street, Malate, Manila, Galerie Anna maintains a high-profile name recall among artists, art lovers, artworld administrators, and collectors by mounting a robust, well-curated exhibition based on a professionally planned exhibition calendar. Such exhibitions of art works in all media - paintings, art prints, sculptures and mixed media works are also the avenues for art acquisitions for collection and investment.

For more details and information about “Table/TOP”, please call or contact the Gallery Manager at Tel. # 567-94-83; or email at info@galerieanna.com. You may also click your Web browser at http//:www.galerieanna.com.

TECHKNOW

"TECHKNOW AT THE BIG AND SMALL ART CO."

The Big and Small Art Co. proudly presents "TECHKNOW." This is the first solo exhibition of Derrick Macutay whose works have evolved from the thematic rural to the more insightful theme on humanity and technology. The montage of curated works combined establishes a dream-like nightmarish environment and co-existence of automatons, cyborgs and machines. It portrays visions of biomechanical humanoids.

Much influenced by the Swiss artist Hans Rudi Giger, Macutay’s figures and characters render a pictography of the current and a vision of what is beyond, via a portal or a gateway to the future; much to the preoccupation of the current generation in the latest in technology. Such can be vividly perceived in the piece “The Machines Are With Us, In Us.” And the awe and wonderment of a younger generation, suggesting altogether a future that is breathtaking and full of promise is all bound by the dictates of mechanical cables in the work “Fly Away Icarus.”

Macutay’s oeuvres clearly portrays the decay of what lies ahead and yet there is this aesthetic that thrusts the works to an echelon of that elegant beauty and the transcendent revelation of something wonderfully alien. The centerpiece of the exhibit is his painting “Ecce Homo Technologous” that won him a Jury Prize in the recent concluded Philip Morris Art Awards. Dr. Patrick Flores notes on the piece, “Behold the Man, Thus says Pilate when he presents Christ to the populace. There is persecution in this intricately textures and well-wrought painting. Half human, half automaton, the cyborg survives in an atmosphere of fumes and the toxic hues of ominous blue. In this brave new world of hypermedia and cyberspace, he is fastened to and enslaved by the machine, ensconced on a toilet seat, the data base of his embodied, dehumanized existence.”

Macutay’s pieces are a testament to the human imagination. Only the then-President of the Czech Republic and renowned playwright Václav Havel could have given a hopeful description of the postmodern world as one based on science, and yet paradoxically “where everything is possible and almost nothing is certain.”

In this post-postmodern arena of visual arts where artistic revolutions are made by a few key individuals and wherein at the heart of every revolution is an artist who achieves originality, Macutay presents a novel theme, employing the inventive use of composition, figure, and color to mark a beginning.


"TECHKNOW" opens on Wednesday, November 26, 2008, 6:00 p.m. at The Big and Small Art Co., located at The Artwalk, Level 4 Building A of the SM Megamall, Ortigas Complex, EDSA, Mandaluyong City. The exhibition will run until December 5, 2008.

GARBO SA BISAYA

10TH VIVA EXCON PRESENTS “GARBO SA BISAYA” AT BLUEWATERS GALLERY

Now on its 20th year, the Visayan Islands Visual Artists Exhibition Convention (VIVA ExCon) is a coming together of visual artists from all over the Visayas for three days of exhibitions, seminars, interactive projects, performances, workshops, and art congresses to help develop the Visayan artist to be the best of their respective area of expertise. Sponsored by the National Commission for Culture of the Arts, this year’s 10th holding of VIVA ExCon will be held on Cebu city on November 27-29, 2008, and is organized and managed by Pusod, the Open Organization of Cebu Visual Artists, Inc. Additional sponsors include: SM City Cebu, Maribago Bluewater Beach Resort, the University of the Philippines Cebu College, the University of San Carlos – College of Architecture and Fine Arts, Pow! Designs, and the City Government of Cebu.

The last major program of the 10th VIVA ExCon will be the exhibition titled “Garbo sa Bisaya”. To be held at the Bluewaters Gallery of the exlcusive Maribago Bluewaters Beach Resort, “Garbo sa Bisaya”was conceived by the organizers of the 10th VIVA ExCon specifically to address the legacy of these senior artists, by presenting their work to new generations of practitioners in a professionally curated and presented manner similar to a short retrospective of remembrance of those who have gone before. Such a project identifies and includes those senior Visayan artists participating in the exhibition as those who have made a name for themselves internationally and nationally through constant citations and presence in articles, essays, and reports from internationally-respected art publications, art catalogues and monographs, and official histories of art, and whose artworks grace the collections of major national art institutions, art galleries, and are held in high esteem among major art collectors, museum curators, and the art community in general. The project would also wish to prioritize first the living Visayan artists who have achieved this rarified stature, so that they may be honored and celebrated during their lifetimes, and their contributions engaged with by the community not only as a historical fact, but as a living presence.

For this year, the selected artists for “Garbo sa Bisaya” includes: Ceramic artist Nelfa Querubin (originally from Iloilo, and now working in Colorado, USA); master printmaker and painter Ofelia Gelvezon Tequi (originally from Iloilo, and now working in Provence, France); painter Charlie Co of Bacolod City, Negros Occidental; painter Nunelucio Alvarado, of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental; Father of Philippine Printmaking and painter Manuel Rodrguez, Senior (originally from Cebu, and now working in New York, USA); Romulo Galicano (originally from Cebu, and now working in Quezon City); National Artist for Sculpture Napoleon V. Abueva (originally from Bohol, and now working in Quezon City); Raul Isidro (originally from Western Samar, and now working in Parañaque City); and Raul Lebajo (originally from Leyte, and now working in Muntinlupa City). The exhibition will honor these artists with an exhibition of their works, biographies of the artists, and critical commentaries on their works by the curator of the 10th VIVA ExCon, Dr. Reuben Ramas Cañete.

“Garbo sa Bisaya” will open on November 29, 2008, 6PM, at the Bluewaters Gallery, Maribago Bluewaters Beach Resort, Mactan. For more details, please contact: Dr. Reuben Ramas Cañete at reubencanete@yahoo.com; Mr. Yayo Yambao at yayoo_com@yahoo.com; Prof. Dennis Montera at dennismontera@hotmail.com; and Prof. Jose “Javy” Villacin at javy_villacin@yahoo.com.

BASIC PREVENTIVE ART CONSERVATION LECTURE AT UP CEBU

Basic Preventive Art Conservation Lecture at UP Cebu

Deterioration in art conservation may be defined as any undesirable change in the properties of an organic, inorganic and composite materials caused by the essential activities brought about by chemical, mechanical, biological and physical influences. These are well-recognized problem in tropical regions, where environmental factors such as fluctuations in temperatures, relative humidity levels, and heavy rainfall favor the growth and sustenance of a wide variety of living organisms on the objects’ surfaces and such other destruction affecting the artworks.

The effortless and most economical way to look after an object or collection is to prevent its deterioration in its earliest stage possible. Be it in a home or in a museum; the same causes of deterioration apply. Information on basic methods on preventive conservation will be discussed and will concentrate on the environmental factors and other agencies that cause deterioration in material. Preventive conservation is also the least invasive means of protecting the artworks. One must not be a qualified conservator to undertake preventive conservation but must have full knowledge on the situations involved. The topics are aimed to provide an individual the understanding and confidence, which are vital to implement preventive conservation practices.

The seminar talk will feature Mr. Peter John S. Natividad, chief conservation officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila and will be held on November 28 at the Conference Hall of U.P. Cebu College starting at 9 o’clock in the morning. The lecture shall cover basic topics on theory, ethics and practice in preventive conservation towards people who are caring and accountable for heritage collections, and will be helpful and appropriate to those working in museums with community and private collections, general cultural public, art schools and all visual artists as well.

The lecture is part of the activities of the 10th Visayan Visual Artists Exhibit-Conference (VIVA EXCON) in Cebu City from November 27-29, 2008 and is brought to you by Pusod, The Open Organization of Cebu Visual Artists Inc., National Commission for Culture and Arts and UP Cebu College through Dean Enrique Avila. For interested participants there is a seminar fee of PhP 500.00 including lunch. For details please contact Prof. Dennis Montera at 09173295626 or log on to www.vivaexcon.tk.

SINUGATAN

SINUGATAN is a parallel conception of the collaborative exhibit Uswag Lambigit Bisaya! of the 10th VIVA Ex-Con. Referring to "presents" and "offering" brought by a traveler, SINUGATAN will allow individual delegates of the VIVA to bring one artwork that they executed themselves, and hang them in the area outside of the main entrance to the Uswag-Lambigit curated show. This concept allows for individual artists to participate in the 10th VIVA ExCon, and was conceived recently due to the availability of additional space for the delegates' art activities. The guidelines are the following:

The artworks should be no larger than 3 x 3 feet (91.4 x 91.4 cm.) for wall pieces, or 1 x 1 x 2 feet tall (30.48 x 30.48 x 60. 96 cm.) for three-dimensional works/sculpture.

Art works must be appropriately framed or in box-frame format. Scroll-type works will be accepted if within the size limitation specified above.

The said pieces shall be displayed in the open area leading to the curated exhibition, and will be offered for sale with a 15% commission for the organizers (as a means of defraying the exhibition space rental-fee).

Only a limited number of slots are available.

The artworks may be brought with the delegates during the conference registration period on the morning of November 27.

Pullout will be on November 30 between 10am-8pm.

All artworks shall be subject to approval based on the Exhibition Policy of SM City Cebu. (Nudity in the works is not recommended in any SM malls)

Art works must be ready for hanging and should not be wet.

Delegates should inform the organizers about their intention to bring an artwork no later than November 22, 2008 by submitting an artist's data sheet (title card information) that includes name of the artist, title of the work, medium, size in cm., year, price, and place where the artist comes from, and artist's contact number.

You can email this information before the deadline to dennismontera@hotmail.com or text us at 0917.329.5626(Sio Montera) or 0927.439.4152 (Javy Villacin)

FULL PRESS RELEASE : 10TH VIVA EXCON PRESENTS “USWAG LAMBIGIT BISAYA” AT SM CITY CEBU

PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

10TH VIVA EXCON PRESENTS “USWAG LAMBIGIT BISAYA” AT SM CITY CEBU


Now on its 20th year, the Visayan Islands Visual Artists Exhibition Convention (VIVA ExCon) is a coming together of visual artists from all over the Visayas for three days of exhibitions, seminars, interactive projects, performances, workshops, and art congresses to help develop the Visayan artist to be the best of their respective area of expertise. Sponsored by the National Commission for Culture of the Arts, this year’s 10th holding of VIVA ExCon will be held on Cebu city on November 27-29, 2008, and is organized and managed by Pusod, the Open Organization of Cebu Visual Artists, Inc. Additional sponsors include: SM City Cebu, Maribago Bluewater Beach Resort, the University of the Philippines Cebu College, the University of San Carlos – College of Architecture and Fine Arts, Pow! Designs, and the City Government of Cebu.

Among the most significant aspects of the 10th VIVA ExCon will be the exhibition titled “Uswag Lambigit Bisaya!” To be held at the Trade Hall A, 4th Floor, SM City Cebu, “Uswag Lambigit Bisaya!” is a curated exhibition concept focused on the notion and practice of artistic collaboration. It is composed of two Visayan words that literally mean ‘move forward’ and ‘collaborate’. As an innovation to the VIVA Ex-Con, the participant’s exhibition will present carefully planned works done in collaboration at a predetermined site. The artists or groups will be given a specific area to work with and can even utilize the entire floor and wall area through paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media installations.

Artwork proposals for the exhibition will be accepted on a grouped basis, with at least two to at most five artists collaborating together to submit a single artwork that may be executed and installed in the premises of the exhibition, the CebuTrade Hall of SM City Cebu. The organizers of the exhibition, along with curator Dr. Reuben Ramas Cañete of the UP Department of Art Studies made the rounds to the various islands and cities of the Visayas from late-August to October 2008 to spread the news on this concept, distribute the required forms, and informed the artists of their submission of exhibition concepts, which must be approved before they can mount their arworks at the venue.

The Artwork Proposals that were accepted into “Uswag Lambigit Bisaya!” adhere to the following regulations:
-All artist proponents must fill up and submit to the Organizing Committee the official Application Form for “Uswag Lambigit Bisaya!” Proposals that did not fill up and submit using the official Application Form will not be entertained;
- Acceptable dimensions must be between 5 x 5 x 8 feet and 9 x 9 x 12 feet (length x width x height) for floor-mounted pieces; or 3 x 3 feet and 8 x 8 feet for wall-mounted pieces.
- Can be executed using any medium or combination of media;
- All materials for the collaborative artwork must be sourced by the artist proponents;
- Accepted proposals must be executed and/or installed by the artist proponents. The Organizing Committee will assist in the installation of the artworks;
- Executed proposals must follow the prepared design concept as executed in their submitted Application Form;
- Artist proponents must ensure that their installed artworks do not pose imminent physical and/or chemical hazards that will endanger the safety of visitors and viewers.
-Ingress of approved artwork proposals will be on Wednesday, November 26, from 9 AM to 8 PM, at the Cebu Trade Hall, 4th Floor, SM City Cebu, Cebu City. Exhibition opening will be on November 27, 2008 at 6PM. Exhibition dates are from November 27 to 29. Egress of artworks will be on November 30, from 10AM until 8PM

To be opened at 6PM of November 27, 2008, “Uswag Lambigit Bisaya!” is a testament to the strength, originality, creativity, and unity of the Visayan artist community as they progress forward to the future with a common purpose and vision. For more details on the exhibition “Uswag Lambigit Bisaya!”, as well as other programs of the 10th VIVA ExCon, kindly contact: Dr. Reuben Ramas Cañete at reubencanete@yahoo.com; Mr. Yayo Yambao at yayoo_com@yahoo.com; Prof. Dennis Montera at dennismontera@hotmail.com; and Prof. Jose “Javy” Villacin at javy_villacin@yahoo.com. Or you cal log on to www.vivaexcon.tk.

TUTOKKK: KRISIS, KALUNASAN...ANONG K MO?

TutoK Exhibits at Blanc, November to December 2008:
“TutoKKK: Krisis, Kalunasan... Anong K Mo?”

TutoK is about visual artists collaborating for advocacy. In celebration of its third year this 2008, it is holding its annual exhibit at Blanc’s spaces in Mandaluyong and Makati with almost 200 artists contributing new works on the theme of crisis: probing into its metaphors and transmutations as it collectively forms an active stance beyond resistance.

Primarily conceived as a recount of a crisis-laden period, “TutoKKK” is also an invitation towards a more in-depth scrutiny of pressing issues. Crisis marks a point of instability in the same way that it highlights a turning point: we are in a crucial moment where decisions will and have to be made.

Paintings, sculptures, installations and residual performance comprise the initial salvo to be held at the Blanc Compound in Mandaluyong from November 25 to December 10. A flow of wall-bound works in uniform format will dominate the space, interspersed with sculptures and assemblages of objects that overall, will interact with the action and residue of live art performances. The high point will be an Artists’ Reception on Sunday, November 30 with performances and other events starting at 4:00pm. The party will go on till evening with music provided by various bands.

Coming next is an installation of works on paper by the same artists at Blanc Art Space Makati from December 6 to 31. Using various media, but also following a uniform format, these vignettes on crises will also be the basis of an installation/ performance that will echo the outcry and ephemera of paper. The exhibit will open on Saturday, December 6 with performance starting at 7:00pm.

“TutoKKK” is presented in partnership with Blanc, and is jointly curated by Noel Soler Cuizon, Buen Calubayan, Jef Carnay, Mark Salvatus and Wesley Valenzuela. TutoK is grateful to PAG-IBiG, Utterly Art, and Mr. Julius Babao for their support.

BLANC COMPOUND Mandaluyong
359 Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City

BLANC ART SPACE Makati
107 H.V. Dela Costa Street, Salcedo Village, Makati City

+63.2.7520032 +63.920.9276436
Email info@blanc.ph Log on to www.blanc.ph

WORK LIKE NOBODY IS WATCHING

Lindslee: Work you should be watching

November 27 at the Hiraya Gallery sees the opening of abstractionist Lindslee's new exhibitIon, "Work Like Nobody Is Watching.”

With works that straddle between completely non-representational abstraction and the 'pure painting' of Orphism, the artist interrogates the romanticized notion of art-making as a solitary, almost auto-erotic process with the employment of thick strokes on large-scale canvasses that tackle themes of focus and distraction, destruction and wholeness, solitude and company.

If the self as psychological subject splinters into the phantasmatic mirror-image of the Symbolic order, is the lonesome artist truly without audience in the private performance of his painting, or is he the secret exhibitionist whose watchers are his own multiple selves?

Culture as the psychic police that structures by way of implicit laws gestures for painting and rebellion: watch Lindslee engage and revel in it using colors that clash and collide, then ultimately captivate. Hopefully, the audience will be greater than just the artist's innumerable selves.

‘Work Like No One is Watching’ runs till December 15. Hiraya Gallery is located at 530 U.N. Avenue, Ermita, Manila. For more information, please call 523-3331 or email hiraya@info.com.ph or visit www.hiraya.com

KEOMBAE

Sam Penaso- a visual & performance artist from Bohol, will present his recent abstract paintings in his 10th solo exhibition opens on November 21 (6pm) to December 4 at the Galerie Astra, 2nd level, LRI Design Plaza, Nicanor Garcia St. (Reposo) Bel Air ll, Makati City, Tel. 8903988.

Penaso recently has been invited to do his Performance Art at “Asia Performance Art Festival” in Seoul & Gwangju Biennale, Korea and also a Group exhibition at Gallery Nuri, Korea Foundation Cultural Center.
His exhibition entitled “Keombae” is taken from the Korean term for “cheers” inspired by his short trip around Seoul & Gwangju Biennale,

A Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate from the Technological University of the Philippines, Penaso also took units in sculpture at Philippine Women’s University Institute of Fine Arts, He is one of the core members of the Tupada Action and Media Art (TAMA) group of Performance Artist.

SILENT WITNESS

"Silent Witness"
recent works by Keiye Miranda-Tuazon
opens on November 19, 2008, 6 pm
runs until December 9, 2008
at Finale Art File, Warehouse 17, La Fuerza Compound,
2241 Chino Roces Ave., Gate I, Makati City.

KAMUSMUSAN

KAMUSMUSAN
Norlie Meimban



Kamusmusan, Norlie Meimban’s sixth solo exhibition, opens at the WhiteBox Studio on November 21, 2008, Friday, at 6 PM.

Reminiscent of childhood games and reverie-misted adult remembrances, Meimban’s figurative paintings showcase children at vigorous play and in unguarded moments, gazing pensively with hopeful eyes or mischievously imagining cartoon characters. Drawing on his extensive experience in animation, the artist combines his impressionistic style with brisk brushstrokes of anatomy in action, most likely inspired by the early motion studies of Edveard Muybridge and Marcel Duchamp.

In Luksong Baka and Pitik Bulag, children painted in grayscale are combined with dynamic depictions of their playmates reduced to lines of continuous movement like those rendered in animation’s cel drawings. With one participant to the game fleshed out in black and white seemingly from fading memories, and the other rendered in bare lines that suggest action yet also imply invisibility, the viewer will pause to think—are there two individuals playing in each framed scenario, or is one a manufactured fantasy of the other?

It is also this predilection to flights of fancy and imagination that reverberate in Meimban’s other works, as in Happy Thought where a boy thinks up his own playmates in the image of cartoon characters familiar to any child who has ever set his eyes on early morning TV or mass merchandised kiddie products, or the hopeful look in the eyes of a little girl in Musmus whom we might surmise to be waiting for the arrival of someone special, like her father, with pasalubong or any treat from the store, no less.

As Meimban combines a sense of playful abandon with the timeless appeal of nostalgia, he brings forth a selection of images from our own Kamusmusan, our own childhood, when life was simpler, imaginations were untamed, colors were brighter, friends were closer, open spaces were wider and dreams were more likely to come true. The artist integrates concepts from his intensive understanding of animation into current art practice, merging movement, transformation and the combination of figures with surrounding space bounded by the canvas’ edges.

A graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, Norlie Meimban has participated in numerous local and international exhibitions, mounting collaborative efforts with FourArtGroup and Kulay Art Group which he leads as president. Kamusmusan is on exhibit until December 4, 2008. WhiteBox Studio is located at the Cubao Expo, Quezon City . For inquiries and other details of the exhibition, please contact the gallery at Mobile : 09279119528 and tel : (632) 4373839.

Kaye O’Yek

5TH NEO-ANGONO PUBLIC ART FESTIVAL

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Japan Foundation-Manila, Metrobank Foundation, Shoe Mart (SM)-Taytay, Museum of Three Cultures ( Capitol University , Cagayan de Oro), Office of the Mayor, Municipality of Angono and Municipal Tourism, Culture and the Arts Office present the 5th Neo-Angono Public Art Festival on November 20-22, 2008 at Angono, Rizal.

Around 250 artists and performers of Angono and from Manila and Mindanao will participate in the 3-day-art event featuring street art, site-specific works, action art, art installations, in-transit poetry project, art and photo exhibit, film and video showing, projections, music and poetry fusion, dance and theater, artist talk and symposium, and band performances.

This year’s public art festival also presents Japanese contemporary dance-artist Jun Nishio, recipient of Neo-Angono’s residency program. Mr. Nishio will give workshop on dance, interact with local artists and art students, and immerse in the community of Angono until November 25 or after the town fiesta and “Higantes Festival” of Angono.

The first night of the festival features poetry and acoustic performance; film showing, stage play and dance performance of Jun Nishio on the second; and closing party/artists night featuring various ska and alternative bands caps the festival night and eve of the town fiesta.

For festival schedules, please log on to htttp://www.neo-angono.com.

100 OBLATIONS

Artist’s Statement

I use my art to express my views and emotions. It is through my paintings, sculptures and songs that people get a glimpse of my soul.

Inspired by Gary Granada’s version of UP Naming Mahal, I wanted to pay tribute to the 100 years of existence of an institution that has been a major instrument in the making of the history of our country. 100 years of offering naked ideas, naked freedom.

I like to believe that UP is still a combination of the University of the Streets, University of the Markets, University of the Slums, University of the Farms, …, University of the Heart. I hope that academic freedom, service to the country and the people, and nationalism are still in the bloodline of the university. May the eskolar ng bayan be true when he/she sings

“ Malayong lupain, aming mang marating,
Di rin magbabago ang damdamin.”

However, in truth, what I think the eskolar needs to sing today should be

“ Malayong lupain, di kailangang marating,
Dito maglilingkod sa bayan natin.”


100 Oblations is my way of saying “mabuhay ang nagbibigay pag-asa sa ating bayan !! “

- PG Zoluaga -

KILATIS

November 15, 2008 VIVA’08 Countdown Concert. Kukuk’s Nest Restaurant, Gorordo Avenue, Lahug, Cebu City

A pre-conference concert before the VIVA-10 kicks off. KILATIS” featuring “Junior Kilat” and the “Leon- Kilat Band” for the VIVA Exhibit-Conference 10 Kukuk’s Nest, Lahug, Cebu City, 7PM-Onwards Portraits for a cause by local artists and an AVP on the pre-VIVA activities will be presented. Announcements and updates on the VIVA conference proper will highlight the event.

THE VISAYAN ISLANDS VISUAL ARTISTS EXHIBIT-CONFERENCE 2008

THE VIVA EX-CON BACKGROUND

For the last twenty years and now the longest running visual arts exhibit-conference in the country, the Visayan Islands Visual Artists (VIVA) bi-annual meet brings together professional and non-professional visual artists from all over the Visayas as a showcase of Visayan visual art conducted in the capacity of a formal continuing education program. The conference also addresses the strengthening of linkages within the islands, discuss directions and strategies for the whole Visayas arts scene, tackle issues confronting visual artists in the region and discuss trends on going global and venturing to broader realms in art. VIVA Conferences also features artistic workshops on various art-making techniques in relation to various materials and processes as a means of expanding individual artist’s skills and technical know-how.

VIVA Exhibit-Conference (Ex-Con) is held every two years at a venue which rotates among all the regional Visayan centers which have reached or have been reached by the VIVA Executive Committee. The leadership of the VIVAA (the association) also rotates among its members. The first VIVA Ex-Con was held in Mambucal, Bacolod City in 1990 and has since been held in Bacolod City (1992), Dumaguete City (1994), Iloilo City (1996), Cebu City (1998), Tacloban City, Leyte (2000), Tagbilaran City, Bohol (2002), Bacolod City (2004), and Calbayog City, Samar (2006).




THE VIVA SIGNIFICANCE

The spirit of the VIVA Ex-Con has always been the individual expressions and visions of Visual artists from all over the Visayas. This unique bi-annual gathering promotes Visayan art and aesthetics to the rest of the country and to the world.

The VIVA Conference benefits professional and non-professional artists as a continuing education program through the various forums, lectures and creative workshops. It is likewise advantageous to community cultural workers, the academe, and the participating students of art and design. The VIVA makes aware to its delegates realistic issues concerning art and culture in the different islands of the Visayas region.

The VIVA Ex-Con 10 shall in a whole provide a venue for the discussion, production, and reflection of alternative art praxis striving to compete in a globally competitive market informed by the daily struggles of the artist and the community in the 21st century. VIVA is truly a unique activity that addresses the needs of the artists and their important role in the community.

This year’s VIVA EX-CON-X is made possible by the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA), Pusod, Inc. and in partnerships with SM City Cebu, Maribago Bluewater Beach Resort, the University of the Philippines Cebu College, the University of San Carlos – College of Architecture and Fine Arts, Pow! Designs, and the City Government of Cebu.




THE PROPONENT ORGANIZATION

PUSOD, Inc. was formally launched in December 1997 with just then 27members signing on as founding members. The members initially came from the school-based UP Cebu Fine Arts Program. It was named “pusod”, a Visayan word for navel, to symbolize the geographical location of the group. With Cebu being located at the center of the country’s geography, the name was nothing more but fitting.

From the onset of the first VIVA in 1990, a sizeable delegation of students and alumni of UP Cebu Fine Arts has provided the bulk from Central Visayas in the succeeding biennials. This long experience with VIVA Ex-Cons, the realization that a single local organization hosting the VIVA Ex-Con-5 in 1998 in Cebu City was the more workable arrangement, coupled with the realization of the need for an organization promoting alternative/indigenous yet technologically sophisticated art making in the Central Visayas, were compelling factors that informed the organization of PUSOD.

The organization is open to all practicing and student artists, as well as artists in allied fields who are willing to contribute to the formation of an artistic praxis that will deal with cultural or artistic production in depth and in the face of techno-cultural flux. We believe that in this new century the artistic challenges facing artists in their communities call for a response that is democratically collective as well as intensely personal finding full and mature expression in free and voluntary organizations such as PUSOD.

The coming into being of PUSOD is itself an achievement. It has successfully organized and liquidated the assets of VIVA Ex-Con 5 in 1998, organized Central Visayas Exhibits of the NCCA-CVA like “MILINYUM” in 1999, partnered with PHILAJAMES-Cebu (Association of Former Mombusho Scholars to Japan) for a group exhibition at the Waterfront Hotel in 2001 are among the activities the organization has accomplished. PUSOD continues to come up with activities that will lead to providing artists who are inclined to non-traditional art making with a forum and venue for the introduction, popularization and celebration of their expression and ultimately their vision.

DESIDERATA

Marika B. Constantino unveils her first solo exhibition, Desiderata, at the Boston Gallery on November 15, 2008. Referencing poetry and prose in her artworks, the artist seeks to express what is real and heartfelt, creating visual imagery that combines seamlessly with her affinity for words and lyricism. She interprets these verses in relation to her own journey through life.

Constantino’s paintings dissect and shape elements that make up the inner-realm of her contemplations. The artist’s ‘biomorphic mosaic,’ a distinct technique of building-up paint, creates organic three-dimensional forms that represent particular memories. These highly textured and interlocking free-forms resembling birds in flight, stylized ancient writing or bodies in motion are the tesserae of the artist’s mosaic-like images. Each piece embodies an experience; collectively, it sums up one’s being at a particular instance. Akin to a puzzle, in the absence of a singular unique component, nothing is the same, and no one for that matter.

Her intimate compositions result in figurations, whose genders or roles remain ambiguous. In the artist’s perception, the need to attain a certain level of equality, equanimity and equilibrium in relations and relationships is universal and wholly transferable. One can easily connect with Constantino’s rendered figures because they are spirited reflections of a constantly evolving self; us, in our most basic guise.

Constantino portrays these unguarded moments steep with sensuality and meaning. It captures a vivid and vibrant flash from one’s existence. The piece, Desiderata, for example, expounds on a section of the female form that connotes a candid vulnerability laid bare, while providing a vision of longing for contentment, enrichment and self-affirmation. Kismet, is one work from the series of kisses where colors gradually transform from one end of the spectrum to the other, reiterating glimpses of reality depicted in different moods, coaxing varying degrees of reaction from the viewer.

The works in this exhibition are imbued with imaginings and aspirations. Constantino gives us a peek into the desires within her soul.

Marika B. Constantino is a full time visual artist who has participated in several local and international exhibitions. As a freelance writer, she has contributed to a number of globally distributed publications. Her early exposure to art and boundless fascination for the creative process resulted with a degree from the UP College of Architecture to further studies at the UP College of Fine Arts, with Art History as her major. Her broad background ranges from design, corporate management and organizational administration. She is also a part-time instructor, a core committee member of TutoK Artist Collective and is represented by Britania Art Projects. Constantino is continually striving to strike the balance between the cerebral, conceptual and experiential aspects of art with life in general, thus, fueling her fervent passion for artistic endeavors.

DESIDERATA
Kaye O’Yek

Desiderata opens at 6 o’clock in the evening on November 15, 2008, Saturday, at the upper level of the Boston Gallery, 72 Boston St. corner Lantana St., Cubao, Quezon City. This exhibition is co-presented by Britania Art Projects. For inquiries please call 387-6373 / mobile 09178070327 or email britania.artprojects@gmail.com. The exhibition runs until December 9, 2008.

KEEPING THE FAITH

Keeping the Faith: Acts of Mediation explores the notion of access across the registers of time and place. We find in this exhibition pieces from the Lopez Museum collection indicative of junctures of tumult, transition, and stress. Benedicto Cabrera’s Soldiers, Juan Luna’s España y Filipinas, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo’s La Derrota de Limahong, El Asesinato del Gobernardor Bustamante y Su Hijo, La Barca de Aqueronte, Per Pacem et Libertatem, Ante La Tumba del Jefe, among others, hint at the tenacity and aptitude required to proceed from these volatile planes. Referencing this instability persuades us to look at the negotiations which occur and become manifest in gestures of propitiation, defiance, inveigling, carousing, and so on. The exhibition also allows us to peer into seminal documents conscripted in the long-term project of enabling Filipinos to emerge from the black hole of colonial mis-representation, thus making that which was invisible ultimately present and concrete.

Keeping the Faith further occasions the juxtaposing of its trove alongside the work of the two contemporary sculptors Agnes Arellano and Kiri Dalena, and the documentary filmmakers Egay Navarro and Rica Concepcion. Taken together, the assembly of objects and time-based works attempt to evoke both memory and aspiration for a kinder and possibly more humane existence.

(ELR, Curator’s Note)

PRESS RELEASE
Keeping the Faith: Acts of Mediation
November 14, 2008 – April 4, 2009
Lopez Memorial Museum
Contact Person: Ms Fanny San Pedro/Ms Jane Pagkalinawan
Contact Details: 6312417/admin@lopez-museum.org

Artmaking is a form of mediation if one defines mediation as “an act of crossing the borders of sacrum and profanum,” as Wikipedia does. Apart from possible representations of transcendent spirituality and claims to truth, art may become involved in rituals that allow for such movements from sacred to profane. Artmaking may also strengthen or break taboos, and blur distinctions. The exhibition Keeping the Faith: Acts of Mediation will explore these and other related notions. The exhibition will feature works of 19th century masters Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, National Artists Vicente Manansala, J Elizalde Navarro, Benedicto Cabrera, and artists such as Jose Tence Ruiz, Romeo Tabuena, Danilo Dalena, and Juvenal Sanso. Works by contemporary artists Agnes Arellano and Kiri Dalena, and the video-documentary on the late Roberto Villanueva done by Edgardo Navarro and Rica Concepcion are also featured in the exhibition.

The said exhibition is part of Zero In 7: Bridges. Zero In is a consortium of private museums composed of Ateneo Art Gallery, Ayala Museum, Bahay Tsinoy, Lopez Memorial Museum and Museo Pambata.

The Lopez Memorial Museum is at the ground floor, Benpres Building, Exchange Road corner Meralco Avenue, Pasig City. Museum days and hours are Mondays to Saturdays, 8am-5pm, except Sundays and holidays. For more information, call 6312417 or email admin@lopez-museum.org.

PUTAJE

Fresh from their successful group exhibitions in Singapore and Malaysia , the six young visual artists from Antipolo, collectively known as Sangviaje – Jaypee Samson, Guerrero Habulan, Joven Mansit, John Paul Antido, Edric Daniel and Dennis Fortozo – presents "Putahe", their 4th group exhibition which will open on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at Art Informal.

Sangviaje explores the intertwining relevance of food with culture and society. For the artist group, the subjective premise is: "You are what you eat." They take this a step further in considering food as determinants of history's pedagogical system, religious perspectives, social structures, economics and globalization, politics and instinctive communal survival as part of the big picture. From the first stage of food preparation down to its consumption, food distinctively distresses positions of individual persona as much as cultural identity. It has its effects on ethnic affiliation, gender constructs, notions of hierarchy, regional, micro-regional, caste systems and class based affiliations, national identity and so on. Food then can be used variously as a signifier of cosmopolitanism, globalism, localism, traditionalism or even nationalism.

Sangviaje analytically and satirically traverses the notion of food as culture and culture as food and what distinguishes it from other phenomena.


Putaje opens on the 11th of November at Art Informal, 277 Connecticut St., Greenhills East, Mandaluyong City. For inquiries, sms 0918 899 2698 or visit www.artinformal.com.