MANO-MANO

“Mano Mano”, a group exhibit of the latest works of Cid Reyes, Cobie Cruz, Jose Ibay, Rico Lascano, Edwin Wilwayco and Pete Jimenez, is on view at the Galerie Stephanie. The title of the show refers to the basic process of art making whereby the artists’ hands leave the various imprints of expressive marks and gestures, eliciting emotional reactions.

The show runs from May 28, 2008 until June 14, 2008.

A dedicated abstractionist, Cid Reyes has held 15 solo shows. He is also a noted art critic, having written numerous reviews and books on National Artists Arturo Luz, BenCab and J. Elizalde Navarro.

Now an immigrant to Canada, Cobie Cruz maintains his connection with the Philippine art scene by participating in group shows. Also an abstractionist, he has consistently depicted the subject of rain.

Pete Jimenez works in assemblage, welding an authority over disparate found ironworks and metallic fragments, transfiguring them with wit, humor and mirth. His sculptures are surprising in their imaginative form.

Jose Ibay’s strength is in his highly expressionist portraits of enigmatic faces. His influence range from Francis Bacon to Lucien Freud and Frank Auerbach, all British expressionists.

Rico Lascano’s abstractions transform space into metaphors of pebbles, sand and still waters. The mood is decidedly Oriental, rooted in the contemplative meditation of nature.

EdwinWilwayco is a recipient of the Thirteen Artists Awards. His highly textured abstract expressionist paintings are characterized by robust control of form and material. He has exhibited widely in the USA, Asia and Europe.


Galerie Stephanie is located at Unit 1-B, Parc Plaza Bldg. 183 E. Rodriguez Jr Ave. Libis. Quezon City. Telephone Nos: 386-8070 / 709-1488. Email Address: galeriestephanie@yahoo.com or visit www.galeriestephanie.multiply.com

RELATED IMAGES : BENCAB

RELATED IMAGES

BenCab

6pm on May 31, Saturday

Silverlens Gallery invites everyone to the opening of Related Images at 6pm on May 31, 2008. Related Images is an exhibit of photographs and drawings on photographs by National Artist Benedicto Cabrera or BenCab. The exhibit will run until July 5, 2008 and is supported by Epson Philippines.

Accompanying Related Images is a an artist talk and drawing installation by BenCab on June 28, Saturday, from 3-4pm, as well as the book launch of “BenCab:Nude Drawings,” also on June 28, Saturday, from 4-5pm.

Visit Silverlens Gallery at 2/F YMC Bldg. 2, 2320 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City, 816-0044, manage@silverlensphoto.com. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 10am–7pm, Saturday 1–6pm. www.silverlensphoto.com.

SUMULAT, UMAWIT: ISANG PANAYAM SA PAGSULAT NG AWIT

Sumulat, Umawit: Isang Panayam sa Pagsulat ng Awit


Para sa buwan ng Mayo, inihahandog ng LIRA ang “Sumulat, Umawit,” isang panayam sa pagsulat ng awiting Filipino. Si Heber Bartolome ng Banyuhay ang panauhing tagapagsalita. Gaganapin ang panayam sa ika-24 ng Mayo, Sabado, 9:00 ng umaga sa kanyang studio-gallery sa # 170 Banlat Road, Tandang Sora, Quezon City.

Ang mga awit ni Heber Bartolome ay ginagamit at pinag-aaralan sa mga doctoral thesis ng mga iskolar sa iba’t ibang pamantasan. Lumaki si Heber sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng Katagalugan kung saan man madestino ang kanyang ama. Ang unang dalawang taon niya sa high school ay ginugol sa Philippine Wesleyan University sa Cabanatuan. Natigil siya nang dalawang taon ngunit sa halip na umistambay, nagtinda siya ng kendi, sigarilyo, gulaman, diyaryo, komiks, at iba pa upang suportahan ang magulang sa pagpapaaral ng nakatatandang kapatid. Tinapos niya ang high school sa Novaliches. Sa sariling pagsisikap, nakatapos siya ng Bachelor of Fine Arts at M.A. Philippine Literature sa U.P. at naging guro ng panitikan sa De La Salle University (1981-1984). Patuloy si Heber sa adhikang mapaunlad ang kulturang maka-Filipino lalo na sa paglikha ng mga awit. Ayon sa kanya, “ang awit ang pinakamabisang tulay tungo sa kaisipan at puso ng tao lalo na ng kabataan. Ito ang tulay na dapat pagtawiran ng mga proyektong pangkabataan tungo sa kaunlaran ng isang lipunan.”

Ang “Sumulat, Umawit” ay bahagi ng buwanang serye ng mga panayam ng LIRA sa pagpapalaganap at pagpapaunlad ng ating panulaan at panitikan. Ang Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA) ay isang organisasyon ng mga makatang nagsusulat sa wikang Filipino.

Libre at bukas ang panayam sa publiko. Kung nais dumalo, makipag-ugnayan kay En Villasis sa 0922-4596365.

PINTA-LARA

"PINTA-LARA"
In homage to the Waray Tikog Mat


The TACLOBAN INTEGRATED VISUAL ARTS art group will mount "Pinta-Lara", a mixed media painting, 3d artwork exhibit at the Leyte Park Hotel Lobby on May 19, 2008. Opening will be at 4pm
This exhibit hopes to exemplarize the use of the Waray Tikog Banig as an Art form. This exhibit ensues after the TATU Symposium and Contest that will be held in the previous day. All these events are in celebration of the National Heritage Month.


Article for Press Release:

A "Tikog" Quest: Penelope Ravels and Unravels..

Life as an Artist in Tacloban is likened to a "Tikog" quest, Every year, month, day is a tapestry of joys, travails, apprehensions and anticipations..(maybe I'm just too much of a "feeling" type...always in an emo strain). From my coffee to my melatonin I handle the world like a natural weaver of sorts..the weaving, the unravelling, like Penelope in her patience for the King of Ithaca...and as a local weaver, "Tikog" is a strand..er..strain...

"Tikog" (Fimbrystyllis Milliacaea) is a type of wild grass that grows in rice fields in between harvests. It is best for bags, placemats, floor mats and wall decorations, First, the tikog is harvested and dried well during the summer months to retain their natural light color. It is then pounded and flattened and cut to a specific uniform width about 1/4 inch before it gets to the weavers. The weavers do their work at night or in the early hours of the morning for the woven mats to retain their shape. Humidity also affects the color, and causes the tikog warp. Thus, it takes a weaver at least a week to complete a single mat"

...Just a little info from the slip of paper enclosed in my tikog passport holder given to me as a token by the local Department of Tourism. Indeed, I have grown in this City as perennial as the grass, moored with the splendor of being, pounded and flattened by ancient folkways to be woven to the tapestry of a Leytena artist...Each day is a loom of work, leisure and conviviality..the joy of creating and the pathos of deconstructing...Sometimes we are burdened by an idea, carrying all the while within you..waiting for a place or time of Birth...But when it is out on this world, I worry if it's accepted or not..so I succumb to the neurosis of humanity...

..Indeed, may one be a Weaver in Tacloban City, an artist..an artisan...whatever the case may be, but a simple fact is held in the sack of plain Truth..all the weaver wants to do is to Express...

The Tacloban Integrated Visual Artists will once again mount an annual exhibit: "Pinta-Lara" a Banig mixed media art exhibit. This exhibit hopes to exemplarize the use of the Waray Tikog Banig as an Art form. This exhibit ensues after the TATU Symposium and Henna Tattooing Contest that will be held in the previous day. All these events are in celebration of the National Heritage Month. Hope you could come and view the event on May 19, 2008 at the Leyte Park Hotel. The opening will be at 4 o'clock in the afternoon...

Dulz Cuna
Earth Day, April 22, 2008

NEW DISTORTED PHASE

NEW DISTORTED PHASE


Benedict Abigan
Ral Arrogante
Leopoldo Aguilar
Aaron Bautista
Buds Convocar
Vic Dabao
Eric Epistolo
Armida Francisco
Ediefer Gutierrez
Maia Magpantay
Leanderel Miranda
John Paul Olivarez
Carlo Ongchangco
Rey Punelas
Rommel Ramota
Dick Jose Santos
Fritz Silorio
and JCrisanto Martinez.


Opens on May 18, 2008, 6pm


LUNDUYAN ART GALLERY
88 Kamuning Road, Quezon City, Philippines
(02) 441.02.61
(632) 915.789.64.17






The realities of this world are not served on a platter ready for viewing, though they may often seem so. Nor just reality take just one form or appearance – what seems to be one thing can prove on closer look, or when viewed from another angle, to be something else. Often perception is not a simple matter of looking, but of pursuing the object’s essence or truth through tunnels and labyrinths, peering into folds and crevices, unraveling tangles. Sometimes what is needed is merely the shedding of presumptions and biases, to reveal what is simply staring the viewer in the eye.

To be able to discern in order to represent what is, artists do not take things at face value or limit their viewing from one spot and to one stance. They distort themselves so as to look from every possible angle; they turn contortionists to be able to be able to fit into the passages and interstices that their pursuit of insight may bring them into. This can be a painful and painstaking process, requiring not only imagination but also diligence and hopefulness.

In this exhibit with which we birth Lunduyan, we pay tribute to the artist’s humble contribution to life – a redemptive vision, a vision that liberates and leads to new beginnings, a vision achieved only because the artist had chosen to undergo this “new distorted phase.” [Ely Maniquis]

ART AND WRITING : A COURSE IN ART APPRECIATION AND WRITING

Art and Writing

June 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2008 (Saturdays, 2pm to 5pm) Filipinas Heritage Library

Writers and art lovers are all invited to this basic course on art appreciation and writing at the Filipinas Heritage Library. This workshop consists of an introduction to contemporary art and a workshop on art writing to be conducted by distinguished artists, Yason Banal and Ringo Bunoan, respectively.

Deadline of reservation is on May 31, 2008. Interested parties may call Jenni Bascoguin at 892-1801, send SMS at 0917-8009857, or email her at bascoguin.jm@ayalafoundation.org.

JCRISANTO MARTINEZ @ HABI

CONVOCAR @ HABI

SSENSES


Benedict Abigan
Aaron Bautista
Buds Convocar
Ediefer Gutierrez
Derrick Macutay
Kin Misa
Piaget Martelino
Katrina Pallon
Dick Jose Santos
Eman Santos
Kristine Sioco
Deo Villoria
and JCrisanto Martinez.


Opens on May 15, 2008


HABI
Unit C-235
The Shops@Serendra,
Fort Bonifacio Global City
Taguig, M.M., Philippines

EDIEFER GUTIERREZ @ HABI

SSENSES


Benedict Abigan
Aaron Bautista
Buds Convocar
Ediefer Gutierrez
Derrick Macutay
Kin Misa
Piaget Martelino
Katrina Pallon
Dick Jose Santos
Eman Santos
Kristine Sioco
Deo Villoria
and JCrisanto Martinez.


Opens on May 15, 2008


HABI
Unit C-235
The Shops@Serendra,
Fort Bonifacio Global City
Taguig, M.M., Philippines

KRISTINE SIOCO @ HABI

SSENSES


Benedict Abigan
Aaron Bautista
Buds Convocar
Ediefer Gutierrez
Derrick Macutay
Kin Misa
Piaget Martelino
Katrina Pallon
Dick Jose Santos
Eman Santos
Kristine Sioco
Deo Villoria
and JCrisanto Martinez.


Opens on May 15, 2008


HABI
Unit C-235
The Shops@Serendra,
Fort Bonifacio Global City
Taguig, M.M., Philippines

SSENSES

SSENSES


Habi Home Interiors Gallery showcases a series of varied format-sized artworks in mediums of oils, acrylics, collages, and assemblages. The show is titled Ssenses (is a derivative of the word and pronounced as “essences”).

The title revolves around the idea of art appreciation that is intended to senses other than sight. This innovative exhibit to be mounted by professional artists who were confronted to think “beyond the canvas” and “outside the box” to fashion art pieces that stirs up the senses other than vision.

The artists are challenged to explore relations between the senses; of how we recognize with our senses, and how these senses might be inter-connected in as far as art appreciation. The artists in the exhibit include Benedict Abigan, Aaron Bautista, Buds Convocar, Ediefer Gutierrez, Derrick Makutay, Kin Misa, Piaget Martelino, Katrina Pallon, Dick Jose Santos, Eman Santos, Kristine Sioco, Deo Villoria and JCrisanto Martinez.

The customary characterization of art is the cognitive arrangement or assembly of forms, colors and other elements in a way that affects the aesthetic sense. One of the greatest values of Ssenses is its ability to open doors to a greater understanding of art appreciation, presentation, curation to students, artists and gallery visitors, and in this way, it truly illustrates the conventional definition of art.

The exhibit opens on May 15, 2008 and will run until June 4, 2008. Habi is located at Unit C-235, The Shops@Serendra, Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Philippines.

BODABIL

BODABIL
(Vaudeville in the Vernacular)

by SANGVIAJE
Edrick Daniel * Dennis Fortozo * Joven Mansit
John Paul Antido * Jaypee Samson * Guerrero Habulan

Thursday 8th May 2008 7 pm
Utterly Art Exhibition Space
229A South Bridge Road (2nd Level) Singapore 058778

Mon-Sat 12 noon - 8 pm Sun 12 noon - 5.30 pm
The exhibition runs to Sunday 18th May 2008.


Bodabil, the colloquial term for vaudeville, consists of acts of assorted entertainments, brought by the Americans to the Philippines in the early 20th century. These acts of amusement were first brought in to entertain American soldiers. They entertained the native audience as well, shaping Filipino preferences for amusement that were inherently rooted in American culture and a circus of sorts. Far from its hey day, the remnants of bodabil continue to saturate contemporary Filipino society in degenerated forms—local girls in sexy costumes thrusting cheaply to the music in mass-oriented television shows; politicians out to woo votes through the movie stars singing and sashaying in their campaign trails; advertisements that are like song and dance routines and captivating to its audience. The term bodabil has now come to embody a circus of a variety show, a stage of acts, a farce, a travesty.

It is exactly this which Bodabil the exhibition seeks to explore. Attempting to locate the present day bodabils around them, each of the young artists of the group SANGVIAJE look into the gimmickry, trickery and spectacle pervading the current age. The artists rendered their individual ideas and observations of dissimulation in contemporary society, finding cohesion in the charades which perpetuate it.

In their use of the name "Sangviaje" (literally "one journey"), this young Antipolo-based artist collective are really referring to the multiplicity of expeditions in a single voyage, a singular physical trip as the mind trips on a host of cultural hallucinations—namely those painted for us by Jaypee Samson, Edrick Daniel, Dennis Fortozo, Guerrero Habulan, John Paul Antido, and Joven Mansit in this vigorous and youthful six-man show co-organized by Britania Art Projects.

MARISOL

MARISOL


In celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Fulbright Program in the Philippines, the University of the Philippines – Diliman, Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts and the Philippine – American Educational Foundation (PAEF) present Rody Vera's Filipino Adaptation of José Rivera's Marisol.

Marisol is a surreal tale of an apocalyptic Philippines, a Manila on the verge of collapsing from the pressures of poverty and violence. The play revolves around the character of Marisol, whose guardian angel leaves her to survive in a world that is dangerous and falling apart, without the protection of her faith. The themes in Marisol ring true to a present-day that is local as well as global.

To commemorate six decades of international exchange and mutual understanding between the United States and the Philippines, Krystal Banzon, 2007-08 American Fulbright Student Scholar directs this original adaptation of Rivera's Puerto Rican/American play, in collaboration with an entirely Filipino cast, design, and production team. The cast is made up of eight talented artists, Marjorie Lorico, Mailes Kanapi, Nicco Manalo, Sigrid Bernardo, Virgie Sorita-Flores, Tao Aves, Miela Sayo, and Chic San Agustin. Set design and poster design by Lex Marcos, technical direction and lighting design by El Abquina, sound design by Roxanne Pagdanganan, costume design by Sigrid Bernardo, and the stage manager is Hazel Gutierrez.

Marisol runs from May 14-17, 2008, 7pm at the Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan, Faculty Center, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

ART EDGE : TOYOTA DIGITAL ART COMPETITION

TOYOTA DIGITAL ART COMPETITION


Toyota is a company whose eyes are always on the road ahead. For the past 20 years, Toyota has been a driving force of innovation and evolution. Toyota has gone above and beyond selling cars, as it constantly strives to make a difference in people's lives, in the society, and the environment. Toyota continues to drive tomorrow, moving Filipinos forward to a better and brighter future.

Let Toyota move you to a direction where you can make a difference in the art scene. Show off your graphic edge in today's most exciting art competition. Take your imagination to a journey that challenges the power of technology and execute Toyota's 2oth Anniversary theme --"DRIVING TOMORROW"

Cash prizes, totaling close to P1Million, will be given away.
Prizes:
1st Prize Php 200,000
2nd Prize Php 150,000
3rd Prize Php 100,000
20 Consolation Prizes Php 25,000


Deadline for submission of entries: June 15, 2008
For detailed guidelines and entry form,
http://www.toyota.com.ph/Images/Art%20Edge%20Digital%20flyer_tcm245-122580.pdf or log on to www.toyota.com.ph

ARAMID : A SHOWCASE OF HANDMADE ARTS AND CRAFTS

JOEY COBCOBO : 2ND SOLO EXHIBIT

JOEY COBCOBO’S EVANGELIO
It only takes a spark to get a fire going.

What started as a spark – a simple question, a trivial feeling of discontent, a small burden – in the mind of artist Joey Cobcobo has become his second solo exhibition. This flicker of light could easily consume and spread out like wildfire yet remained an underlying but significant tension brushed into the creases of the dominantly dark and heavy tone of the artist’s works.

Carefully put together, Cobcobo walks people through a process of transfer, transformation, and choice with Evangelio. This second solo exhibition capitalizes on feelings of contrast as the audience experiences a sense of renewal but recognizes familiarity with each creation.

Household of Faith lies at the core of where the heart should be – in a home surrounded by everything and everyone with love. Passion bleeds from the intent towards this work of oil on canvas. It touches each piece created and speaks from the heart but still finds itself limited by the very corners in which it rests.

Threading the path in Divination is a child that seeks to gain enlightenment that can only be nourished by the divine tree. Yet, with a cloud of doubt, the desire for such knowledge rings the confusingly similar tunes of promised growth and familiar temptations.

The woodcut Evangelio captures the essence of choice to find one’s voice and “speak” in season or out of season; to be resurrected and find the courage to embrace renewal and transformation. Once you’ve experienced it, you spread His love to everyone; you want to pass it on.

Cobcobo’s achievement is not how he mixes his colors or how his lines are drawn on mono bloc wood. His images may be of spirituality and evangelism, however on a higher plane Cobcobo has shown a work can be of multiple levels. This perspective disregards the art of the quick fix that art must be of seamless unity. Cobcobo has created time outside of real time and the viewer could use this in his works. Cobcobo makes us squint with our eyes and look long and hard at each of his woodprints and works on canvas. And the longer you look, the more likely you will unlock his secrets. The longer you look, the more liberating you become.

This is Evangelio. Each tells what is but speaks of something more. It makes you lean forward to listen to something reminiscent of what was heard before but is not quite there. It presents a divergent view on hopefulness by using temperance and control in an otherwise dramatic and intensely spiritual concept. It is a conscious choice.

“…but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
“ …a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”




--Esther P. Quiñones and Jay Bautista