IN FOCUS : JOEY VENDIOLA COBCOBO

Joey Cobcobo is a multi-awarded artist working on painting, printmaking and woodcarving. He combines these disciplines in assemblages and installations. Cobcobo’s ethnicity (he is an Igorot who has lived and studied in Mandaluyong City since his early youth) has its influence in the endemic and actuated tensions apparent in his work. His art combines contemporary and transmedia approaches to traditional art practices, revealing an introspective interest in the critique and construct of a moral/ethical re-imaging of what is endemic and prevalent in social and cultural practices.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:

TERTIARY
2005-2006
Technological University of the Philippines
Completed 18 units in Professional Subjects
Bachelor of Science in Industrial Education

2004-2000
Technological University of the Philippines
Bachelor of Fine Arts-Advertising
March 2004-2000
Honors: Cum laude

AWARDS RECEIVED:

2008
Juror’s Choice Award - Figuras Painting Competition 2008

2004
Honorable Mention - First P.D.S.I. Drawing Competition organized by Big & Small Art Co.
3rd Place - FEU 2nd Annual Inter-University On-the-spot Painting Competition

2003
Grand Prize - National Piñana Art Competition “The Filipino Soul”
Runner-Up - 3rd Art Petron National Painting Competition. (Watercolor category)
1st Honorable Mention - 1st Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) & AAP Painting Competition.
2nd Place - UST Inter-University On the Spot Painting Competition
2nd Place - National Kidney and Transplant Painting Competition
2nd Place - PHASE1 (University Level) PLDT-DPC Telephone Directory Cover 17th Visual Art National Competition.

2002
Grand Prize - 2nd Art Petron National Students Painting Competition.
3rd Place – 14th Veterans Memorial Medical Center Inter-Collegiate Art Competition

SOLO EXHIBITION:

“Evangelio”
2nd Solo Exhibit
Big& Small Art Co.
SM Megamall, Mandaluyong
May 1-10, 2008

“Black Saturday”
1st Solo Exhibiti
Big & Small Art Co.
SM Megamall, Mandaluyong
November 24 –December 4, 2007

MULTITUDES:

MULTITUDES: possibilities and line-up
of the new masses/ disposable labor

may 1, 2009/ labor day festivities
EEE building/ narra residence loop, UP Diliman

VIDEO INSTALLATION. HAPPENINGS.
SOUND ART. GATHERING.

Jong Pairez, freelance photographer
Randy Nobleza, independent journalist
Dong Abay, audio-visual painter
Floyd S. Padilla, on-lline writer

ULTRA PLASTIC STYLE NOW!

Cuteness & Cancer

If there is anything more dangerous than the Beautiful, it is the Cute: Since Delilah & Helen, we have grown wary of the impending atrocity associated w/ beauty: If not intentional beheading, the unintentional beginning of a war. But not grown weary, as it remains a concern constantly resuscitated if only to be stabbed at once again: Almost as if beauty itself were parting its luscious lips for the faintest of whispers: Kill me, but kill me softly—tenderly—w/ cuteness.

Such that actress Gene Tierney’s face—once an icon of beauty—becomes an icon of death, substituting for the skull in the sigil of crossbones. But it is not so much a substitute as a prosthesis: The face has been so embedded into the sigil that one can no longer say it’s a superimposed image upon another image. They are one & the same, their union hermetically sealed by the painting’s kitschy title, “Beware of the Look that Kills,” as if to evoke the vibe of early ‘90s B-movies w/ knife-wielding lookers for assassins—only to appropriate it for the 1944 film Laura, from whose poster the Tierney portrait is lifted.

But Tierney in Laura isn’t your archetypal woman-of-the-‘90s femme fatale. Despite being decades early, the film portrays a sinisterly advanced variation of the archetype—that of the semiurge as advertising director, manipulator of signs & the production of meaning, propagator of the Image in lieu of what images stand for. Better yet stood for, given now the primacy of signifier over signified, when once upon a time it was the signifier that was believed to be secondary, merely the vehicle for & instrument of meaning: Where the image of the dead (skull) can no longer signify death, why not use an image of life instead? The sharpness of this reversal is made blunt by the title—blunt in the sense that it has become at once dull (i.e., the blunt side of a knife) & more overt (i.e., one giving his/her comments bluntly). But blunt is not necessarily less fatal; in its kitschy-cute reference to the accidental comedy of B-movies, the word “kill” brings back a notion of violence into the crossbones, but a sugarcoated violence: a clump of cotton candy, at whose core is a knife—

or a bullet. A bullet at the heart of the banana. For it is a heartless banana, in the end: In “Kill yr. Idols,” the fruit is as ruthless as a gun, poses the same danger, the former a prosthesis for the latter. One wonders: If in the dystopian dream of half-robot/half-human perfection, flesh is part-by-part replaced by machine in the cyborg’s body, would machine being replaced by fleshly fruit instead be an ironic gesture?

There is the immediate temptation to say yes, but to do so is to ignore that a handgun is nominally the same as a small, sweet banana: a señorita. While initially the painting seems to evoke physical violence (or, more importantly, its absence), the kind of violence it more appropriately evokes—in fact, inflicts—is semiotic, epistemic: What “Kill yr. Idols” kills as an image is the notion of the full image itself, of embodied meaning: More than the Velvet Underground (w/c was the inspiration for the Warholian banana), & more than Fritz Lang (from whose 1928 film Spione the depicted hand is lifted), it’s the very notion of the idol as icon that is murdered. For irony to exist, there must also exist the presumption that the gun & the banana cannot simply be interchanged, for each has its own meaning; & irony is in the very reversal of things that cannot be interchanged. But here, the banana is an equally fatal weapon as the gun, if not more fatal because prosthetic: the exchange is total—& iconoclasm is never as brutal as when it is total.

Brutality thru cuteness: One cannot fight back if the aggressor is a darling. How dare one bemoan the desire for material objects when what gives this desire its body is a child? Or—even worse—does mourning acquire new heights of intensity upon realizing that this desire is inextricable from childhood? This is the ambiguity inherent in the painting “Most Girls”: Right from the very title, one expects a generalization to take place—but what? There is the hesitation to pass judgment on such cute little girls, their innocence accented by a playful cat, by the dominant colorlessness waiting to be tarnished. By the time attention is finally called to the blemish of flowers & prismatic colors—to the desire for physical beauty (conjured by the former) & wealth (conjured by the latter in its evocation of diamonds)—one no longer knows what it means.

No accident here that Gadia hints at materiality, again in the spirit of play of signifiers: Besides gain (beauty, wealth), materiality also deals w/ physical-ness, the signifier’s object-ness as signifier, as plastic object: Before a prism evokes a diamond, it is first & foremost a prism, at once self- & non-referential. Must “most girls” after all embody desire for wealth & beauty, or is this association a mere stereotype made possible thru ages of cultural accretion? On the one hand, these children could simply enjoy color & flowers. On the other hand, there could be no children at all—just colors & flowers shaped like children. They don’t even have to be flowers at all: just colors made to look like flowers: All surface & no depth: Baudrillardian simulation: All plastic.

Ultra Plastic Style Now! Ultra Plastic Style Now! Ultra Plastic Style Now!

No explosion of meanings but implosion: Where things mean nothing, things mean everything. The more an image stays still, in stasis, the wilder its movement becomes—the more it metastasizes. In “All Outta Angst,” the wolf means anger, the wolf means respect, the wolf means leader, the wolf means enemy, anger means madness, madness means insanity, leader means dictator, dictator means oppressor, enemy means other, other means partner, partner means spouse—the chain of simulacra extends infinitely, proliferating its own cancer cells: The wolf feminized by flowers, each flower masculinized by the wolf, all of them feeding off each other.

Welcome to total prostheticization. “SNAFU.” Military shorthand for “Situation Normal, All Fucked Up,” as if the normal were filled w/ atrocity. Again, one would think this to be ironic—but it’s not. What we perceive as natural is also simultaneously naturalized, that is, imposed upon us. Camouflage: a device for hiding: a prosthesis. What Gadia had intended to be a painting of a mountain went awry, for w/c blotches of paint were added as a cover-up. If only to extend the cover-up, the work turns into a diptych—& it is the camouflage diptych we see, we appreciate as artwork, not the intended mountain.

No one cares if the mountain was a mistake. Everything could be wrong & still we could swallow it: We can take the world’s cancers, for as all long as they’re all cute. (You can always make a new rabbit—a new prosthesis—if you don’t like this one.)

The exhibition Ultra Plastic Style Now! runs from April 30 to May 15, 2009 at Hiraya Gallery. Hiraya Gallery is located at 530 United Nations Avenue, Ermita, Manila. Telefax (02) 523-3331 E-mail Hiraya@info.com.ph www.hiraya.com

ART HK 09 HONGKONG INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR

ART HK 09 Hong Kong International Art Fair will return to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 14-17 May 2009, with Vernissage opening on 13 May.

Following the success of the inaugural event last year, ART HK has emerged as the leading art fair in Asia. ART HK presents an unparalleled opportunity to see some of the freshest and most exciting work being produced around the world today, alongside modern masters from the 20th century.

ART HK 09 will once again bring together over 110 of the world's most celebrated international galleries from 24 countries, building on Hong Kong's long established reputation as the gateway between East and West. This year ART FUTURES will be a new section dedicated to solo and two-artist presentations from young galleries focusing on emerging artists.

In addition, visitors can browse in the art bookshop or attend daily talks by artists and collectors organised by the Asia Art Archive. For those new to looking at art, introductory guided tours can be arranged.

Whether you are a seasoned collector, thinking of buying for the first time, or just keen to be part of one of the most significant cultural events in the international art calendar, we look forward to welcoming you at ART HK 09.

RECURRING FANCIES

RECURRING FANCIES AT ARTIS CORPUS

Elmer Borlongan and Plet Bolipata join Emmanuel Garibay, Neil Manalo, Thomas Daquioag, Francesca Enriquez, Fernando Modesto, Joseph Serrano, Sandra Palomar, and Trek Valdizno in Recurring Fancies, a gathering of extraordinary large-scale works which have remained in artists’ and private collections over the past 20 years. Recurring Fancies will be on view at Artis Corpus Gallery, 303 Haig Street, Mandaluyong City, from May 1 to 31, with reception on Saturday May 9 at 6pm. Please contact 7174619 or 0920-9537426. The public is cordially invited.

The centerpiece of this show is an important work entitled Sea of Dreams unearthed from the artists’ collection in Casa San Miguel, San Antonio, Zambales. In their joint artists’ statement, Borlongan and Bolipata have written: “This piece is our one and only existing collaborative work. We created it for a show that featured artists-couples' works at the U. P. Vargas Museum in 2000, curated by Ms. Brenda Fajardo and Mr. Bobi Valenzuela. We thought the idea of a married couple working on one painting would be quite interesting, considering our disparate aesthetic choices in subject matter, style, technique, form, and color.”

The original title of this work was Pangamba. The artists decided to delineate the canvas with an interesting curve to separate their respective spaces and to suggest movement. The scene is a fisherman off to sea with his wife bidding him goodbye. This parting of kindred souls heightened all emotions and that one's love for each other at this particular juncture comes to the fore and translates into something very real and almost close to tangible.

The artists continue: “Romance was definitely in the air, as we were then two years into our marriage, when we attacked this canvas. After having come close to a decade of total devotion to our craft, we felt that we could still push this painting and apply everything we had learned these past few years. There is of course, Plet's discovery of collage and Elmer's now highly developed use of color, combined with his ever so reliable deftness of form. We stuck to the original concept of the work and added a dreamy angle to it by placing a Japanese woman carrying balloons further into the background. A picture of a dog barking added sound to the painting and alerts the viewer that something unusual is happening.”

Emmanuel Garibay’s Silip, a work which he made specifically for a show called Birthday Suites in 1992, is another major piece in this show.

EVINCE

JUAN FOR TREES (143s) WINNERS

JUAN FOR TREES (143s) WINNERS

First Place (Php100.000. 00 and Plaque):
E-TREE OF LIFE/E-TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

The basic concept of the design, which is an electronic-tree from discarded computer equipment, is the idea that while we have advanced in knowledge through Information Technology, we are also sapping the very life out of our fragile environment.

The design titled "E-TREE OF LIFE/E-TREE OF KNOWLEDGE", draws inspiration from the biblical trees, with the thought that the computer as a tree produces fruits of "knowledge" in the form of processed information contained in various storage media, like compact discs, but the same tree draws life resources through its roots, in the form of power plugs, from the environment.

The "E-TREE OF LIFE/E-TREE OF KNOWLEDGE" hopes to present that to sustain our IT advancement we must not neglect nature but to nurture it.

Artists: Victrixia Maryam Montes, Liza Apilado


Second Place (Php75.000.00 and Plaque):
PLAYGROUND

A group of youngsters bathing in the murky waters of Manila Bay … Young trash pickers playing on top of a garbage landfill beside their houses… A couple of boys rummaging for plastic bottles and useful junk along the highways.

"Playground" wishes to invoke these all-too-familiar scenes into the minds of the viewers in an attempt to draw lines of connections between the widespread poverty in our country, the declining environmental conditions and our current inability to deal with both. It casts a critical eye towards a society that allows its youngest and most vulnerable members of society to live alongside polluted rivers and streams, allows them access to mountains of hazardous waste materials and fails to provide them with safe and sanitary surroundings.

Our environmental problems, how we respond to them and how we are affected by them, are ultimately tied to poverty. More often than not, those with the fewest resources on hand are the ones who bear the brunt of the worst environmental degradations — and are left to fend for themselves.

Artists: Judith Camille Rosette, Ervilla Villanueva, Geri Matthew Carretero, Carlos Antonio Victoriano


Third Place (Php50.000.00 and Plaque):
THIRST SCRAPS

Beverage products abound. Grocery shelves are stacked with all types of beverages- bottled water, juice drinks, alcoholic beverages, etc.

Quenching ones thirst is a physiological necessity.

However, people must realize that with every bottle of drink we consume, we deplete the resources needed by nature to sustain itself. With every plastic bottle we throw away, we compromise the health of our environment. In essence, we are slowly drinking the life out of our planet.
Artists: Krizia Jerilee Lucero, Sara Ysabel Rodriguez

PORTRAITS DE CHAUSSURES, HISTOIRES DE PIEDS

Portraits de chaussures, Histoires de pieds
Portraits of shoes, Stories of feet

28 April to 20 June 2009

Alliance Française de Manille and the French Embassy in the Philippines, in collaboration with the Yuchengco Museum, cordially invite you to the opening of the exhibit “Portraits de chaussures, Histoires de pieds (Portraits of shoes, Stories of feet)” on Tuesday, April 28, at 6:30 p.m. at the Yuchengco Museum.

“Portraits of shoes” showcases 62 pairs of shoes from the 18th to the 21st centuries from the collections of the Romans International Footwear Museum and renowned French fashion houses. The international traveling exhibit is curated by Yves Sabourin, who previously came to the Philippines in 2006 for the successful exhibit “Christian Lacroix Dialogues.” Featuring dialogue between the old and modern, the exhibit present museum pieces alongside works by contemporary artists in the form of drawings, photographs, videos, and installations. Filipino artists and designers will bring their contribution—an exhibit curated by the Yuchengco Museum entitled “Stepping in Pinoy Style,” showcasing traditional Filipino footwear such as the venerable bakya and beaded cochos, several pieces from the Marikina Shoe Museum collection and exciting designs by local designers such as Lila Almario, Cesar Gaupo, Emi Jorge, Brian Tenorio, Ann Pamintuan, Maco Custodio, Joanna Litton, and Kermit Tesoro.

The museum is located at RCBC Plaza, corner Ayala & Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenues, Makati City. For more information, call Alliance Française at 895-7585 or 7441, or e-mail sabrina@alliance.ph.

MAUDE MARIE AND OTHER CURIOSITIES

Isabel "Pepper" Roxas
Maude Marie and Other Curiosities
April 30-May 23
20Square, Silverlens Gallery

Isabel "Pepper" Roxas revisits creepy vignettes in Maude Marie and Other Curiosities at 20Square gallery from April 30 to May 23, 2009. Stemming from her love of taxidermy, natural history museums, and the classical veneer of Edwardian English style, Pepper transports us to a narrative about strange occurences, and the artifacts that they leave behind.

Maude Marie and Other Curiosities will have its opening reception at 4pm on April 30, Thursday at 20Square Gallery. It will run from April 30 to May 23, 2009.

Visit 20Square at 2/F YMC Bldg.II, 2320 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City. Gallery hours are from 10am - 7pm Monday to Friday, and 1 - 6pm on Saturday. For more information, call 8160044 / 09052650873, email manage@silverlensphoto.com or visit slab.silverlensphoto.com.

Image: Pepper Roxas
Raven (detail), 2009

SCENARIO

30 April - 17 May
SCENARIO
Solo show by Juanito Torres



A painter of epic scenes and proportions, Juanito Torres devises large-scale fantastical narratives of the people he encounters, especially in his move to a new town in Bulacan province, Philippines. Many paintings feature a main character with wings, which symbolize the hope that one day, their standard of living will soar.

About the exhibition:
The monumentality of Juanito Torres compositions never fails to impress and delight upon first encounter. A painter of epic scenes and proportions, Juanito Torres devises large-scale fantastical narratives of the people he meets in unlikely and surreal situations. The theatricality of each staging might be heightened by his use of a grand setting, or the dramatic postures assumed by his main characters, or the improbable scenario that we find frozen in each painting. Each work is immersed in a wealth of vignettes and details that invites continuous and sustained inspection, from senior ladies enjoying their tango with young dance instructors, to omnipresent pirouetting dogs, the impish smiles of children and the patterning on the tiled floor. In this series, characters with angelic wings symbolize a soaring hope that the artist has for the future, thoroughly in keeping with each optimistic and joyful Scenario he has created.

About the artist:
Juanito Torres honed his craft first at the Philippine High School for the Arts in Los Banos, Laguna, where he was Outstanding Visual Arts Student in 1994, then further enhanced his education as a fine arts student at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He was a finalist at the Metrobank Foundation National Painting Competition in 2005, and has gained attention in recent years for his massive paintings at exhibitions and at auction.

BERNARD PACQUING | KURT LLUCH & ERROL BALCOS | JONATHAN OLAZO

JUAN FOR TREES: 16 FINALISTS

JUAN FOR TREES presents 16 finalist teams composed of Architecture, Fine Arts, Industrial Design, Multimedia Arts and Engineering students from various schools in Metro Manila.

Watch out for these winning design concepts:

1. WAKE-UP TREE by Niccolo Olivar, Angelo Lapresca and Carlos del Rosario
2. LIMANG TANGKAY by Efren de Guzman, Desiree Charm Lombos, Carl Mark Laroner Guintu, Lyza Guevarra and Maricar Capuyan
3. BEFORE TOTAL OBLIVION by Samantha Patricia Pineda and Patrick Sean Pineda
4. TREE OF LIFE / E-TREE OF KNOWLEDGE by Vitrixia Maryam Montes and Liza Apilado
5. PUNO ('Pag Ubos Na'ng Oras) by Sean Su, Jonathan Albaniel, Ngo James Louie, Angela Azalea Dalumpines, Anna Dominique Mendoza and Bea Soriano
6. CHRONICLE by Alexis Jan Pingol, Jamaica Fuentes, Marijoe Pinon, Samuel Clarissa and Charlene Bautista
7. BILLBOARDS OF TOMORROW by Isabella Escueta, Ana Micaela Natividad, Hazel Ann Reyes and Cara Cristina Red
8. THIRST SCRAPS by Krizia Jerilee Lucero and Sara Ysabel Rodriguez
9. HOW BIG IS YOUR FOOTPRINT? by Perry Irish Duran, John Morgia and Ma. Bernadette Agbulos
10. TRASHPOT by Jonathan Balajadia, Johann Guasch and Mario Buhali, Jr.
11. BANSOT TREE by Dorothy Estelle Rivo, Emaro Canedo, Eduardo Santos, Jr., Levi Marie Batara and Jherico Silverio
12. PLAYGROUND by Judith Camille Rosette, Ervilla Villanueva, Geri Matthew Carretero and Carlos Antonio Victoriano
13. GREEN (r)EVOLUTION by Carlos Miguel Pineda, Konni Nicanor and Gracezl Manuel
14. IPO-IPO by Kimberly Manabat, Patricia Medina, Marjay Clamor, John Jay Amio and Riziel Ann Cabreros
15. THE OFFERER by Cecilia Patricia Dizon, Kris Abrigo, Jason Baco, Therese Hautea and Beatrice Raralio
16. TWIST OF FATE by Archibald Lorenzo, Arnel Hisoler, Jean Kate Corpuz and Rogelio Visperas and Mikka Angelique Padilla

Three winners will be determined and announced by 6:00pm of the same day. Prizes to be won are:

1st Place: 100,000 plus plaque
2nd Place: 75,000 plus plaque
3rd place: 50,000 plus plaque

JUAN FOR TREES is a project of CCP Visual Arts and Museo. It is curated by Marika B. Constantino, with logo and graphics by Mark Salvatus, technical consultation conducted by Reg Yuson and coordination by AJ Tolentino and Maan de Loyola. Lighting courtesy of Home Depot Manila Bay.

The installation is open to public view for one month.

See you all at the CCP!

THE PERIPATETIC PROCESS OF PARIAL’S PAINTED PHOTOGRAPHS

the peripatetic process of parial’s painted photographs

By Rubén D.F. Defeo
Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism
College of Fine Arts
University of the Philippines Diliman

Mario Augustin parial’s art has always revolved around three persuasions: photography, printmaking and painting. There was a time when his paintings looked like collagraph plates where actual textures were provided by textile collages on canvas—one can almost pull imprints from them. In 1997, in a show in New York together with his son, Mikel, his mixed media paper works carried the same disposition. Mario conjured images of fiestas and local customs, fabricated them in his PC using Fractal and Painter soft wares, churned out computerised print outs, and enhanced them by applying pigments on selected areas, gilding some edges, and collaging bits and strips of paper to texturise the ground, whether tactile or implied.

Mario had to forego in the interim large scale painting when he had a grave problem with his spinal column in 2003. It was a decision he had to bitterly accept considering that painting for the more than past three decades had indeed become Mario’s way of life. It was fortunate that six years earlier, he had a dalliance with digital art, whose less strenuous process provided Mario the necessary room for a quick and steady recuperation.

He rekindled his romance with photography that had gone digital. Armed with a Nikon digital point and shoot camera, Mario scoured the city and took pictures of anything he fancied and downloaded them in his computer. And having become more proficient with the computer, he navigated image enhancing softwares like Adobe Photoshop to deconstruct printed photographs: tweaking their colours, adjusting resolutions, resising or cropping them, and imbuing them with awesome visual effects in endless permutations.

For the present collection, Mario raises the bar further. Yes, he still works on digitised images, but for the primary medium, he uses conventional photography—loading film rolls on camera, exposing them to light and developing them in the darkroom—in this day and age of instant image fabrication and facile manipulation. Why does he want to go through the entire painstaking process of manual photography which digitisation has comfortably and conveniently cut short? What is the itch, one may therefore ask?

Mario does not use the usual Single Lens Reflex cameras as he did before during his student days. Today, he uses vintage cameras in his photo shoots. Instead of simply collecting vintage cams, he uses them to advance his art. He has penetrated the elite circle of vintage camera collectors in the country, has been a regular presence at E-bay auctions online, has combed the Quiapo district for other possible finds and referrals, if not occasional repairs. In short, he has securely poised his artistic presence in the highly exclusive field.

His exposure to these gadgets has immensely expanded his knowledge of photography, as well as its history as gleaned from the make and capability of the various vintage cams and lenses that pass through his hands. He has become pickier with the kind of film to use, depending on how grainy the final print he has in mind (and mind you, he gets these raw stocks in Hong Kong and Singapore where they are fortunately still available).

Mario gathers materials like indeed a scavenger, a maverick, the way David Medalla walks the streets of the great cities of the world, say New York and London, toting a huge bag to pick up whatever objects that happen on the way and which may eventually materialize in his artworks. But Mario doesn’t collect objects. He grabs images using vintage cams, painstakingly adjusting lens aperture and speed, using special films with particular interest on their ASA readings.

Photography is a matter of point of view. One may have the top-of-the-line camera in the world, but if he does not have a POV, the camera is rendered useless. What matters therefore is the eye that peeps into the viewfinder and commands the finger to click the shutter.

Like an initiated camera buff, Mario lugs with him the precious box ready to capture images of people, places, objects and events, outdoor or indoor, morning, noon till night. When he happens to be at the right place at the right time, and the right event transpires, the camera shutter clicks to commit to immortality the shot of a lifetime.

But that is not the end of it.

After shoot, he develops and processes the film in the grand old manner in his darkroom, scans the film to digitise it, resises it (but no computerised image manipulation, lest he loses intended film quality) and prints it in photo paper. In this way, the computer simply functions as the photo enlarger of yore. The actual print becomes Mario’s ground and support at the same time. He playfully adds dashes of acrylic colour, pastel and pencil, crosshatches with felt tip markers and paper collages, to create his own pictographic and painterly reality.

SUSMARYOSEP

Jef Carnay
Susmaryosep
Opens 18 April 2009
On view until to 10 May 2009


Susmaryosep, Jef Carnay’s opens his first one-man show, featuring his “Abamg Maria” performance on 18 April 2009 at Britania Art Projects in Cubao, Quezon City. The show will be on view until to 10 May 2009.

Jef Carnay's dioramas and paintings in Susmaryosep, perversely attracts us into looking deeper and further.

His aesthetic vocabulary points to one who is attuned to the performative aspect of coloration, there is no pretenses to capture classic glazing techniques, nor does his appropriation desire exact simulation of the medieval representation. The clear outlines outline the clear intent, inasmuch as the soft, almost basic and banal colorations, imply a contemporary non-classicist technique. And the confident coloration, large swathes of barely diffused colors of dissipating gradations, underscores the post-punk aesthetics of today, the content supplied classicizes the overall historical muse: the tools of the Church's trade.

His signifying vocabulary lies in détournement a classic prerogative of artists who seek to dethrone via imagined absurdity what they see in absurd realities. The recognizable elements are not appropriated from art histories, they are appropriated by arts preempted by history, arts of propaganda, arts of faith, arts of war. Carnay's détournement fetishizes the religious implement & the imperial imperative as both construct & divine heritage. How a construct becomes a predestined heritage will always remain in question, what Carnay proposes is the ambiguity of both when mashed together. He does not juxtapose, we have been informed enough to know the differences- he cuts them up, he twists them, he puts them in a bowl and shakes them all about.

Who was it that decried the value of pride in family trees? The unknown source once complained of how much he despised those who mock liberty by brandishing their surnames, they are akin to potatoes- their only value lies underground, beneath their dirt. Carnay deconstructs and reconstructs these inherited false prides, he rediscovers these patriarchal prides in macro-concepts such as imperial might and religious decrees; he mashes them up like different breeds of potatoes and serves them in a platter, neatly served and garnished with a slew of localized signifiers.

In Susmaryosep, Jef Carnay capitulates briefly to the possibility of narration via the inanimate & the contained. The flattened, the multi-dimensional, both are now his stages, his frozen performances. Carnay revisits the adlib, the impromptu alongside the timeless, and freezes such stories within multilingual dioramas. In Susmaryosep, Jef Carnay puts on the many hats of being playwright, diarist, stage designer, documentarist & actor. He is both iconoclast and icon fetishist, he is both the prodigal son & the family historicist. His visual plays tell our own, our familiar personal-familial stories, our own grandly abstract histories, in lands & times here, there and everywhen- albeit with the familiar yet unfamiliar performative twist.

Britania Art Projects is located at #12 Tesoro Corner Complex New York Avenue corner Sgt. Catolos, Cubao, Quezon City. For more information, please call 387-6373, 331-1742 and 09175710468 or visit www.britaniaartprojects.com

THE 2009 GSIS PAINTING COMPETITION

THE MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO TASTE

Artinformal
April 16 - May 10, 2009
Thursday
COSTANTINO ZICARELLI

The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste

Costantino Zicarelli, slowly emerging from the stark reductions of the “black and white” paintings, has added canny touches of color in his recent inquisition into the tomographics of a personal history.

“The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste” opens on Thursday, the 16th of April at Art Informal with a selection of works in Oil on canvas and Mixed-media. The exhibit runs until May 10, 2009.

Artinformal is at 277 Connecticut St, Greenhills East, Mandaluyong City. Telefax 63(2)7258518, sms +63918.899.2698 or visit: www.artinformal.com. Gallery Hours: 10am - 8pm, Mondays to Saturdays

GIRL

GIRL: Mixed Media Paintings by LEA LIM
Tuesday, April 14 – Friday, May 8, 2009
Opening Reception: Tuesday, April 14 at 6:30 pm

Alliance Francaise de Manille is pleased to present Girl, a solo exhibit of mixed media paintings by contemporary visual artist Lea Lim.

”I am a girl and I roam. Curious, romantic, nostalgic, thoughtful, I roam to seek solace from a world of harsh rules and stinging air. I seek solace in fables and rhymes read and reread in books
and memories. I journey to a place where light is gentle, where time stops, where the breeze is free. I have come here to play. I have come here to remember me.” In this exhibit, the artist seeks to discover her purpose yet she finds that more questions unravel as she goes through the process of self-exploration. The paintings illustrate how she understands the world, that it is mysterious, entertaining, imposing, and questioning. At the same time the paintings serve as commentaries on her nature as a girl as her biases, expectations, dreams and musings are embodied in the various elements and ideas contained in every work.

Lea Lim was born in 1976 in Cotabato City, Philippines. Her work has been featured in several solo and group exhibitions: Sometimes Its Too Quiet (2008, Mag:net Gallery), Pause (2007, Boston Gallery), Intimate Spectacles (2008, Art Beijing for Art Cabinet Philippines), Tutok2Talk: Creative Convergence (2008), Jumpcut Video 2 (2007, Green Papaya Art Projects), Endframe Video Art Projects 2 (2007), Paint in Progress (2006, Mag:net Gallery), Women Printmaker’s (2004, St. Scholastica’s College) and Toys (2002, Ayala Museum).

In 2001, Lea won the Grand Prize in the Oil Category of the Metrobank Young Painter’s Annual. She was a finalist in the Watercolor Category of the 33rd Shell National Students Arts Competition and has participated in the production of videos which garnered awards from the Gawad CCP Para Sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video, INYORAI Video Competition, and the U.P. Diliman Film and Video Festival. Lea is a member of Komikera, a three-person collective of multi-art artists who are firm believers in the art of komiks.

Girl is co-presented by Art Cabinet Philippines, which organizes projects and exhibits on Philippine visual arts and culture in partnership with various organizations (www.artcabinetphilippines.com)

Girl runs from April 14 to May 8, 2009 at Alliance Francaise de Manille at 209 Nicanor Garcia Street (formerly Reposo Street), Bel-Air 2, Makati City. The artist’s reception shall be on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at Alliance Francaise de Manille’s Total Gallery. Cocktails will be served at 6:30 pm. Exhibit ends on May 8, 2009. For high resolution images of the artworks and more details about the exhibit, kindly contact Mr. Olivier Dintinger (AFM Director) or Mr. Earl Parco (Cultural-PR & Design Officer) at 895 7441 / 895 7585 or email odintinger@alliance.ph or cultural@alliance.ph.

VISUALIST

PROMISES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN

PROMISES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN
PERFORMANCE/ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

Mia Cabalfin Lena Cobangbang Diego Maranan Donna Miranda
Angelo Suarez Roman Cruz

9 pm April 24-25 (Friday-Saturday) , Green Papaya Art Projects

We become humans when we get caught into a cloud, self-propelling loop of repeating the same gesture and finding satisfaction in it.
- Slavoj Zizek, Parallax View

The snobbish tone of a roundtable discussion belies the possibility of taking something much seriously than how it already appears to be because surely there is nothing as tedious than witnessing steadfast attempts of repeating patterns to the point of their own exhaustion. Useless almost, yet still inexplicably appealing. It must be the near impossibility of a mindful act that compels the viewer to take an even closer look with full attention, eyes caught in each minute shift of details and little transparent surprises embedded in the ordinary. Unlike the action-packed jab of live performances, this recent taking takes a rather different tenor. Gripped by simplicity but bound by complexity. Often times, research oriented collaborative endeavors are expectedly frowned upon for its indulgent if not hardly accessible material. Tempting it may to say that every conceptual cliche must have been overused or repeatedly referenced, what else is there left to do but find pleasure in the accumulation of historical snippets? Or the instant gratification of entertainment afternoon specials? Or the nostalgia of retro and cool?

Perhaps it is plain stubbornness to insist on the promise of promises. As well as hope in a twisted idealized sense of utopia. Just as we thought we knew which way to go, The Lovegangsters again takes the necessary detour towards speculating on the productive conditions of a performance in Promises are Made to Be Broken. Prioritizing the communicative slant of performance and negotiating an open space for dialogue, interactivity and collaboration. Not because critical reflexivity is the new black, which is another overly used concept by now, but because the new black is the new black. Will they succeed or fail? Only you can decide of course. So while, this may not sound as your typical performance party allow us to prove you otherwise. Only if you promise to suspend bias and knee-jerk reactions towards the ordinary. Lastly, because life is a positively charged flux and unpredictability we have gathered a rather unorthodox mix of conspirators for this love crime with Mia Cabalfin, Lena Cobangbang, Diego Maranan, Donna Miranda, Angelo Suarez and Roman Cruz.

Promises Are Made to Be Broken runs, April 24 and 25, 9PM at Green Papaya Art Projects. Admission is free. It is supported by the National Commission on Culture and Arts.

Green Papaya Art Projects is located at 41B t. Gener St. cor. Kamuning Road, Quezon CityFor inquiries: call 7941628 or 0926 6635606 email thelovegangsters@ gmail.com url: http://thelovegangs ters.blogspot. com

MY MACHIAVELLIAN MANIFESTO | ALA ALA

MY MACHIAVELLIAN MANIFESTO ALA ALA
Anna Varona Jim Orencio
Boston Gallery
18 April – 8 May 2009


Visual artists Anna Varona and Jim Orencio will be holding back-to-back solo shows at Boston Gallery, entitled My Machiavellian Manifesto and Ala Ala respectively, from April 18 to May 8, 2009.

My Machiavellian Manifesto, an exhibition of Varona's figurative ceramic sculptures at Boston 's Lower Gallery, explores the concept of human individuality vis a vis socially and culturally-shaped norms, expectations, and roles. Clay as a medium is malleable, yet capable of drawing out qualities unique to every single work.

Varona explores how clay as a medium best draws out the message of creating, shaping, and molding our own destinies as human beings. “In this show, my sculptures deal with how man who was made from the same mold turns out different. What binds us all is everyone has trials and that we have our own passions. All of us are seeking our purpose in life and trying to fulfill it,” Varona says in a statement.

There is a symbolic significance to Varona's particular choice of sculptural media. “The material for my works are mainly in clay. The material from which man is made and from which man will also dissolve into,” the artist adds.

Ala Ala, a show of Orencio's acrylic-based paintings of Philippine historical images and structures, will also be on view at Boston's Upper Gallery. In this exhibition, Orencio strives for authenticity and faithfulness towards capturing the details of historical images sourced from original archival materials, such as photographs of Old Manila.

In the works, Orencio's painting process involves exploring configurations of collages, sourced from magazine cut-outs of historical images, and layerings of acrylic washes, resulting in an interesting confluence of texture, transparency, and color.

“With our culture and structures rapidly changing, it is always important to look back and be reminded of our pasts, to understand the contrast of how and why we are now,” Orencio says.

My Machiavellian Manifesto and AlaAla will open simultaneously on April 18, Saturday 6pm. at Boston Gallery, located at #72 Lantana Street , Cubao, Quezon City . For inquiries, please contact the gallery at telephone no. 7229205

SIMULTANEOUS SHOWS AT PINTO ART GALLERY

PINTO ART GALLERY
29 March – 29 April 2009

Simultaneous art exhibitions at Pinto Art Gallery this March The Silangan Foundation for the Arts, Culture and Ecology presents simultaneous art exhibitions to be unveiled at Pinto Art Gallery. Opens on March 29 at 3pm and runs until April 29, 2009.

Group shows by Leeroy New, Tatong Torres, and Costantino Zicarelli, two one-man shows by Kirby Roxas and Cris Villanueva Jr., and March Show is a first part series of group exhibits of Philippine contemporary artists at Pinto’s Silangan Studio Gallery.

Pinto’s Main Gallery features Leeroy New, Tatong Torres, and Costantino Zicarelli’s recent works.
Pinto’s Upper Gallery unveils Kirby Roxas’ one-man show entitled “settled itinerant”.

On view at Pinto’s Gallery Shop is Cris Villanueva’s one-man exhibition entitled “inordinately ordinary”.

Group exhibition at Silangan Studio Gallery March Show at the Silangan Studio Gallery is a group show of recent works by Leo Abaya, John Paul Antido, Ej Cabangon, Marika Constantino, Ninel Constantino, Marina Cruz, Dansoy Coquilla, Don Dalmacio, Thomas Daquioag, Mael de Guzman, Reynold dela Cruz, Norman Dreo, Reymar Gacutan, Manny Garibay, Dennis Gonzales, Philipp Ines, Erwin Leano, Tony Leano, Stephanie Lopez, Ferdie Montemayor, Reynald ‘Bon’ Mujeres, Andy Orencio, Jim Orencio, Vicente Pado Jr., Anthony Palomo, Mikel Parial, Sam Penaso, Elmer Roslin, Carlo Saavedra, Konn Salao, Jerson Samson, Arturo Sanchez Jr., Victor Santos, Frederick Sausa, Tammy Tan, and Rodel Tapaya.

Pinto Art Gallery is a member of the Silangan Foundation for the Arts, Culture and Ecology. It is located at #1 Sierra Madre St. Grandheights, Antipolo, Rizal. For inquiries you may email us at silangangardens@yahoo.com or call us at (632) 6971015.

SEPIA REDISCOVERED

Sepia Rediscovered Art Exhibit
Until April 30, 2009
Artes Orientes Gallery
2nd Level The Shops at Serendra, Bonifacio Global City

Participating Artists:
HERMES ALEGRE
GERRICO BLANCO
CANAROSS CAPILI
BUDDY CHING
BUDS CONVOCAR
CRIS CRUZ
ANNA DE LEON
CALOY GABUCO
JAIME GUBATON
FRANCIS NACION
OMI REYES
ANER SEBASTIAN
JOSEPH VILLAMAR
MIGS VILLANUEVA
JANICE LIUSON-YOUNG

SIBOL: EARTH DAY 2009: NURTURING A GREEN GENERATION

SIBOL: EARTH DAY 2009: NURTURING A GREEN GENERATION
Earth Day at CCP

THE Cultural Center of the Philippines teams up with Haribon Foundation, Winner Foundation, GMA 7 and other partner organizations for a whole-day package of activities celebrating Earth Day 2009 slated on April 22, Wednesday, at the various CCP venues.

Billed as Sibol: Earth Day 2009: Nurturing a Green Generation, the day kicks off at 7:00am with an opening ceremony featuring the Alitaptap Storytelling group at the CCP Front Lawn, launching of the Juan for Trees: An Installation Avenue (a design competition of conceptual trees that will be part of a public art installation at the CCP Front Lawn) followed by the Manila Bay Clean-up activity and Luntiang Kalikasan tree replanting at the CCP Grounds. A Road to 2020: Seedling for Change exhibit will be mounted by the Haribon Foundation at the CCP Little Theater Wall, followed by the exhibit of the winners of Green Tube (a multimedia ad campaign contest to be shown at the CCP’s electronic billboard), Likhang Bago: A Showcase of Innovative Recycled Products, CCP Film Showing, Earth Day ’09 Forum with Manila Times, the Green Show Steam Punk (a one-hour edutainment show) to be staged at the Little Theater, the Green Cycles Bike-A-Thon event, among other activities.

For more information, call the CCP Earth Day Committee at 832-1125 loc. 1703.
Joseph Roc
Researcher Arts Manager
create collaborate innovate
+63-921-5249261

Ctrl+P : FORUM ON CONTEMPORARY ART AND THE ART MARKET

In the 1990s, art was selling in the artwalk of Megamall. Today, we see galleries pulling out of such accessible locations and moving into so-called “destination places” – you have to seek them out. Former warehouses, residential houses, music auditoriums and other unlikely buildings turned cutting-edge art spaces are sprouting – despite and maybe because of the economic crisis - along Pasong Tamo and the suburbs, and there is even one gallery in Santa Cruz, Laguna. There was also a time when biennial/triennials were distinguishable from more market-driven exhibition platforms like art fairs and auctions. Today, the boundaries appear to be blurring.

How do artists, art managers and administrators, curators, art critics and academics, gallery owners, collectors, educators and the various art publics position themselves in light of these exciting developments?

Ctrl+P Journal of Contemporary Art invited a curator, an artist and a gallery owner to address this and similar questions and lead a forum on contemporary art and the art market, April 25, 2-5 pm at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Multi-purpose Hall. The panel speakers are: Joselina Cruz, curator of the 2008 Singapore Biennale; Marina Cruz, a multi-awarded young artist who crosses commercial and non-revenue platforms with ease; and Tina Fernandez, owner of Art Informal, a cozy gallery located in a residential area on Connecticut Street, a short stroll away from Ortigas corner.

This forum is being held in conjunction with the forthcoming Ctrl+P issue on contemporary art and the art market (edited by Flaudette May Datuin and Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez), and the exhibit Uncommon Sense: trauma, interrupted, too now on show at the CCP 2nd and 3rd floor Hallways until April 30. The exhibit is presented by ARTHOC (House of Comfort Art Network), in cooperation with the Drawing Room, Silverlens, and Britania Art Projects.

CCP is located at Roxas Boulevard, Quezon City. For more information, please call ARTHOC at 414-7446 and 0917 407 9196 or CCP at 8323702.

RAUL PIEDRA : MAY HE REST IN PEACE

REMEMBERING TO FORGET REMEMBERING

RISA RECIO

Remembering to Forget Remembering is Risa Recio’s fourth solo exhibition. The title of the show refers to the artist’s painting process. In her work, notably the “Rogers Park” series, Recio deals with the idea and the process of memory. She is interested in what happens visually in our minds when we try to recollect an event or experience. It is difficult to remember something exactly as it happened, and it is the distortion or “fuzziness” that Recio attempts to capture in her work. One can remember the colours of the walls or the shape of a lamp but some of the details are lost over time. Although the work is abstract, she sees her work as subjective, and encourages her audience to interpret the forms and brushstrokes for themselves. She has her own answers to her work, but they are not necessarily the right answers.

At the same time, the formal aspects of painting are important to Recio. She does not entirely rely on the idea of memory to build her paintings. She carefully considers composition, colour, texture and line in work. The history of the painting is important to Recio, she builds layers upon layers of paint, some areas impasto, while others glow with underpainting. She regards herself as an intuitive painter, allowing her instincts to take over in the midst of painting and then she takes a step back to reassess the direction of her work. Sometimes the original idea of the painting is lost or forgotten in the process, and the painting becomes about the paint itself.

Risa Recio studied at Skidmore College, in upstate New York where majored in Studio Art with a concentration in Painting. She currently lives and works in Manila.

ERIKA SABEL

Erika Sabel is a U.S. artist born September 23, 1984 in Rhode Island. She began her art career as a finger painter at the ripe age of three, a technique still employed today. Before coming to the Philippines Sabel was residing in New York City juggling a full time administrative job and pursuing her artwork on the side. Leaving her NYC 9-5 job behind in pursuit of a full time creative venture, a miraculous invitation that could not be ignored beckoned from the Recio residence. The opportunity to experience Southeast Asia, focus on artwork and growth in the studio – with her friend and collaborator Risa Recio, whom she met while attending Skidmore College in NY- was too tempting to pass up.

Sabel intends to combine Southeast Asian pop culture, globalization, local folklore, indigenous flora, and current events with underlying narratives focused on environmental inevitabilities, theories, and realities. Sabel attempts to interpret her transforming global world with imaginative structures or impossible machines juxtaposing the natural with the artificial. Integrating drawing techniques with oil painting, Sabel creates works stacked with organic forms, glazed layers, overlapping washes, and static line work. Layers upon layers expose a direct sense of history – time/experience/process – yet obscure and enrich the journey, inviting an open-ended interpretation…futuristic? apocalyptic? otherworldly?

Risa & Sabel exhibits at Ricco Renzo Galleries & Caffe on 23 April, 2009, Thursday, 6:00 in the evening. Exhibit runs till May 15. Ricco Renzo Galleries & Caffe is at GF LRI Design Plaza, 210 Nicanor Garcia Street, Formerly Reposo, Bel Air II, Makati City. Log on to www.riccorenzo.com or call Kaye Nuguid at 898-2545 or 0927-386-1460.

TutoK-EDUK

TutoK’s first offering for 2009 opens at Tala Gallery on April 16, 2009, with a group exhibition on art and education featuring artists who are also teachers in formal and informal venues.

“TutoK-EDUK” presents works in various media by Brenda V. Fajardo, Roberto Feleo, Gerardo Leonardo, Buen Calubayan, Noel Soler Cuizon, Karen Ocampo Flores, Boyet de Mesa, Kirby Roxas, Don Salubayba, Mark Salvatus, and Wesley Valenzuela.

The exhibit paves the way for TutoK’s inquiry into the state of education. Beginning with this exhibit by artist-teachers— artists who hone artistic skills and minds through academic channels, as well as artists who are active in cultural work among sectors and communities. The premise of course is that education is a continuous and dynamic process; that beyond the job, artists are essentially sustained by it as a vehicle for mutual exchange and development. Tutok’s focus on EDUK will provide more insights and discussions in its upcoming projects on education issues.

To be scheduled on the last two weeks of the exhibit will be a series of talks and workshops projected as critical interventions for the benefit of artists and art practices. Tutok’s program also plans to interface with summer educational programs for artists that will be held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines , the Printmakers’ Association of the Philippines (PAP) Workshop at the Folk Arts Theater and the UP College of Fine Arts.

“Tutok-EDUK” is curated by Don Salubayba, and is presented by TutoK in cooperation with Tala Gallery. Essays for the exhibition and catalogue are by Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez.

The exhibit will run from April 16 to May 7, 2009. Opening cocktails is on April 16 6:00pm. Tala Gallery is located at 100 Scout De Guia near Tomas Morato Street , Quezon City. Call Tels.63.2.4411267 and 63.2.4010337 for more information.

ZEITGEIST: A CONVERSATION BETWEEN ISA LORANZO AND IRWIN CRUZ

Zeitgeist: A Conversation between Isa Lorenzo and Irwin Cruz
Wednesday, April 22, 6 p.m.
Speakers: Isa Lorenzo and Irwin Cruz

Join Isa Lorenzo and Irwin Cruz as they hold a conversation over "Zeitgeist Becomes Form," an exhibit covering 50 years of German fashion photography. The conversation will be on the last day of the exhibit.

Lorenzo and Cruz will discuss how homegrown art movements, techniques, and traditions, have influenced the way Germany's photographers represent fashion. They will also situate select photographs and their creators within the context of postwar German history, and the design milieu in the country and further afield.

Lorenzo is the director of the Silverlens Gallery (Photography) in Manila and is a working photographer. She graduated from the Parsons School of Design and worked at the International Center of Photography, both in New York City. Cruz graduated from Merz Akademie in Stuttgart, Germany. He is a former associate editor of Colors Magazine and is currently a lecturer at Ateneo de Manila University's European Studies program.

"Zeitgeist Becomes Form: German Fashion Photography 1945-1995," an exhibit by the Institut fur Auslandsbeziehungen (IfA), assembles 188 photographs from 39 important German fashion photographers, including works from Helmut Newton, Jurgen Teller, and Wolfgang Tillmans (pictured). The exhibition, brought to the Philippines by the Goethe-Institut Manila in cooperation with Rogue Magazine and Yuchengco Museum, will run at the Yuchengco Museum until April 22, 2009.

Admission is free.


The Yuchengco Museum is at RCBC Plaza, Ayala cor. Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenues, Makati. Reservations required before Wednesday, April 15. For reservations, call Elma Abrina at 889-1234 or e-mail info@yuchengcomuseum.org.

PANEL COLLECTIVE

Panel Collective
22 April – 28 June 2009
The Edge Gallery
UP Vargas Museum


Panel Collective opens at The Edge Gallery of the UP Jorge B. Vargas Museum on 22 April 2009, 6 PM.

The exhibit features the group known by the same name, Panel Collective, composed of young and maverick comic book illustrators and cartoonists who have created a major portfolio in local and international comics. While their works are distinctive of each artist’s vision, these are connected by the visual narrative and sequential format comic illustration and cartooning has to offer. Featured artists include Melvin Calingo, Joanah Tinio-Calingo, Michael David, Gabriel Dela Cruz, Gilbert Monsanto, Jhomar Soriano, Elmer Damaso, Jerome Jacinto, JM Valenzuela, Keso, Chong Ardivilla, Albert Rodriguez, Syeri Baet-Zamar, Jon Zamar and Robi Villagracia.

Panel Collective offers different ways and mediums of telling a story or a situation – be it in pencil rendering, t-shirt printing, digital editorial cartooning, or traditional painting. The exhibit aims to give viewers a prismatic take on the art form of comic illustration as more than just punch lines. In some countries comics are venerated as aspects of their national identity. They provide indelible images that define a culture and keep national pride buoyant.

The group will also hold an Artists’ Talk on May 15 and June 26, (Fridays) 10:00 AM– 12:00 PM to share their insights and experiences as comics and illustration artists.

Panel Collective will run until 28 June 2009. For more information, please contact the UP Vargas Museum at 928-1927 (direct line), 981-8500 local 4024 (UP trunkiline), 929-1925 (fax), 0929-8567909 (mobile), or send an e-mail to vargasmuseum@gmail.com. You may also visit the Museum’s official website at www.vargasmuseum.org.

PIXEL PERFECT

Pixel Perfect – The Exhibition, will show case the eight works in the book which are comprised of 45 digitally abstracted photographs. Made over the three year period, 2006 to 2008, these photographs explore Bateman’s coming to terms with the culture shock of emigrating from Australia to the Philippines.

Inspired by the Philippines, its land and its people, Bateman uses his camera to investigate his reaction to the scenes that surround him. From his first Christmas in these Islands in the triptych “Seasons Greetings” to dealing with government bureaucracy in “2 416 329 X” Bateman looks beneath the surface appearance of his photographs to explore the “why” of his camera captures.

By investigating the basic digital structure, the pixel, of his photographs he abandons the surface appearance by digitally abstracted them. And like abstract paintings, Bateman’s photographs extend beyond the limitations of the representational. Each of his photographs is printed as an archival inkjet on canvas and displayed as a series to make a work that explores an idea or theme.

Bateman has been working with digital photography for only nine years, prior to that he was a painter and a theatrical set and lighting designer. But in this relatively short time his work has gained international recognition with an exhibition at the Australian National University in 2007 and an invitation to exhibit his work at the 2009 Florence Biennale in Italy in December.

Pixel Perfect – The Exhibition, will be Bateman’s third solo show in the Philippines and although published in book form it will be the first exhibition of these photographs as cohesive works of art. Each photograph measures 20”x 48” which makes the 12 photographs of the “Broken Spaces” work a massive 80”x144” exploration of the adoption of a new cultural identity.

Pixel Perfect – The Exhibition is on show at Sining Kamalig Gallery, Level 4, Gateway Mall, Arenata Center, Cubao, Quezon City from the 21 April to 12 May. The opening reception will be from 6pm to 9pm on Tuesday, 21 April.

SANTUP

You are cordially invited to the 10th Solo Exhibit of mixed media artist and sculptor Florence Cinco featuring his works depicting the deep Maharlikan culture and roots expressed in contemporary styles.

‘Santup’ is a visayan word for ‘intuition’. It promotes the messages of Spirituality, Meditation, Vegetarianism, and Service to Humanity, which are the essentials in going through the path of bliss.

The exhibit will be launched come April 20, 2009 (Monday) with artist’s reception (cocktails), 6:30 p.m. at Galerie Astra located at 2nd Level, LRI Business Plaza, Nicanor Garcia St., (Reposo) Bel Air II, Makati City, Philippines and to run until May 5, 2009.

For details please contact Tintin Cohen at telephone no. 890-3988 and mobile 0915-3295850 or email at adinfinitum_2000@yahoo.com.

The Renaissance Artists and Writers Association (RAWA) and Maharlika Artists and Writers Federation (MAWF) are sponsoring the show.

MOTION

THE GREAT AMERICAN EXPERIENCE 3

Mideo M Cruz’

The great American Experience 3

process will be open for public interaction from April 19 to 25 2009
potluck party on Sunday April 26, 2009 starts at 6pm
public discussion on Sunday May 3, 2009 starts at 6pm

LUNDUYAN art gallery 88B Kamuning Road Quezon City Philippines mobile: globe +639157896417, smart +639086060007

IN THE OCEAN WITHOUT A BOAT OR A PADDLE

Surrounded by Water “In the Ocean Without A Boat or A Paddle”

Surrounded by Water, an art collective, composed of Argie Bandoy, Vic Balanon, Jonathan Ching, Mariano Ching, Louie Cordero, Christina Dy, Eduardo Enriquez, Lyra Garcellano, Geraldine Javier, Mike Munoz, Gary Pastrana, Amiel Roldan, Eric Roca, Frederick Sausa, Yasmin Sison, Keiye Miranda Tuazon, Wire Tuazon. Ferdz Valencia and Alvin Villaruel will have their group show on Saturday April 18, 2009 4pm at blanc compound Shaw.

Blanc compound Shaw is located at 359 Shaw Blvd. Mandaluyong City. For more information please visit www.blanc.ph or www.blancartspace. multiply. com email info@blanc.ph call/sms 752-0032/0920- 9276436.

The show will run until May 8, 2009.

KRITIKAL KATOLIKO : S T O P O V E R

Affiliated w/ the culture industries, those jaded by religion turn to Art.
Affiliated w/ the religious industries, those jaded by art turn to Jesus.

But consider the narrative leading to catharsis.
But consider the narrative leading to salvation.

One looks at Jesus & says, He is the protagonist.
One looks at Jesus & says, He is the messiah.

The faithful as audience know their protagonist to be true.
The audience as faithful know their messiah to be mythic.

Truth as socially mediated, culturally constructed:
together, let us believe in a mutual lie (story).

Myth as a collective of stories, as one collective among many:
together, let us believe in a mutual lie (religion)

& know it to be a lie—
religion as story, story as religion.

“Thou shalt not bear false witness…” But whose perception is accurate? Where everything is mediated, everything is false. What you see—that w/c you witness—is what you choose to see. (Physically, the eyes can only see so much, & the eyes in fact can be what hinder us from achieving genuine sight [concrete] no thanks to immediate insight [abstract], because it is all perspective.) Sight being a cylinder relies on focus as a principle; such that when one focuses on something, one cannot focus on something else.

Art being the utopian realm of alternatives, naturally it sets its gaze on what is normally not focused upon, on what possibly thrives beyond notice. But God being the center of much discourse over the centuries, is it not Art’s role to subvert this hegemony of the divine & divulge the myriad alternatives to God? & yet when Art identifies itself w/ notions of rebellion against Centers, it also cannot help but make an icon out of Jesus, himself a marginal presence in his time whose machinery was also rebellion against his milieu’s political & moral centers.

How do artists negotiate w/ this paradox in their respective (not necessarily respectable: for what works occasionally needs to be rudely crude) practices? This is especially relevant in our own historic bloc: The legacy of a Filipino icon of democracy who once built & led a government out of a dictator’s ashes is now yellowing w/ grief in Hacienda Luisita; the very corporations that endorse mindless & impractical consumerism involve themselves publicly w/ noble advocacies under the guise of corporate social responsibility; armchair activists in their laziness to authentically politicize all things ad infinitum turn off their lights for an hour, hoping the 60-minute darkness supposedly dedicated to the earth will rid them of the actual need to act—

Is salvation possible from these strange paradoxes we encounter everyday? Or is salvation itself in these very paradoxes, these nation-wide peculiarities that save us from the hell of drabness, from the temptation of simplistic blacks-&-whites? Hey sole Catholic country in Asia, one of the most corrupt countries in the world: Time to answer those questions. Hey country who believes in redemption thru suffering: Time to answer those questions. Time to be a critical Catholic. (angelo V. suárez)

:::

image: (top) POONster by Leoby Marquez, 2008, digital print. On view until the 25th as part of S T O P O V E R at LIONGOREN GALLERY, 111 New York and Stanford Sts., Cubao QC. (+632) 9124319

THE 2009 GSIS PAINTING COMPETITION

The Government Service Insurance System in cooperation with the Art Association of the Philippines is inviting Filipino artists to join the 2009 GSIS Painting Competition. This year’s competition has an open theme. The artist is encouraged to explore his best in presenting and conceptualizing his artwork entry. It is through this competition that we hope to view and produce diverse interpretations of what’s inside an artist’s mind.

Please read all the mechanics, rules and regulations carefully. The GSIS shall be strict in the implementation of the guidelines set. Entries could be disqualified for technical reasons.

1. Official entry forms are available in all GSIS offices (Headquarters, Regional Offices and Satellite Offices) and Art Association of the Philippines Office (AAP), c/o Kanlungan Ng Sining, Rizal Park, Manila, starting February 16, 2009.

CATEGORIES & ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

2. There will be two (2) categories for this year’s competition:
- Representational (any style, realistic, stylized (distorted figure), representational cubism, etc)
- Non-representational (abstract) i.e. purely non-representational, no-recognizable figures and objects.

3. The competition is open to all Filipino artists age 18 years old (by April 25, 2009) and above. Participants can submit one entry per category. Therefore, participant can submit one entry for representational and one entry for non-representational. There is no participation fee.

4. The theme is open.

5. Required size is 3 feet x 4 feet (horizontal or vertical excluding frame) with 10 kilos allowable maximum weight (including frame).

6. All entries must be ready for hanging (museum-wrap or box-type is allowed).

7. The medium acceptable is only oil on canvas, acrylic on canvas or watercolor. Entries using collage, decoupage, assemblage or use of non-pigment based materials like paper, board, plastic metal, etc. is not allowed. The entry must hang on a wall to qualify. Appropriate support, and/or equivalent devices should be provided to ensure the proper hanging of the artwork (ready for hanging). [For watercolor entries, any watercolor paper is allowed except illustration board]

8. The entry must be dated not earlier than 2009, must be his/her original work, and must not have been exhibited before nor revised nor awarded a prize in another contest.

9. The entry must be signed but must be covered with masking tape prior to submission (to conceal artist’s identity). It must also be properly labeled at the back, indicating: Artist (Name, Address, and Contact Numbers) Title of the work, Medium, Size, Year and Price.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

10. All participants must be responsible for their entries. GSIS shall not undertake any pick-up or transportation of any artwork to or from any point of origin. Wet paintings will not be accepted.

11. Entry must be submitted at the GSIS Museum located at the GSIS Main Office, Financial Center, Reclamation Area, Pasay City (CCP Complex – Diosdado. Macapagal Ave) on April 25, 2009 (Saturday) from 8:00 AM until 4:00 PM only.

12. Entry submitted before or after the stated date and time shall not be accepted. Mail forwarders coming from the provinces should be advised by the participants themselves that the entry will only be accepted on the said submission date. Participants from the provinces are also encouraged to group together so that bringing or shipping their entries to Pasay City will be cheaper.

13. During the submission, the entry must have the following:
- Completely filled-up and signed official entry form with one (1) 1 x 1 ID colored picture.
- Photocopy of ONE valid ID (for age verification). The only acceptable IDs include: Current - - --- School ID, PRC License, Driver’s License, Official Company ID, copy of Passport, Postal ID, SSS ID, GSIS-E-card, Senior Citizen’s ID, Voter’s ID, NBI/Police Clearance, AAP Membership ID.
- 5” x 7” colored photo of the work with the following information written at the back: Artist (Name, Address, and Contact Numbers) Title of the work, Medium, Size, Year and Price.
- Notarized affidavit of the ENTRY FORM certifying originality ofr entry and subscription to the rules and regulations of the competition.

JUDGING, PRIZES AND AWARDING DATE

14. Announcement and awarding of winners will be on June 4, 2009 (Thursday) at 6:00 pm at the GSIS Theater, Pasay City.

15. Cash Awards for the winners shall be:

Representational
1st Prize - P 300,000.00
2nd Prize - 200,000.00
3rd Prize - 100,000.00
Five (5) Honorable Mention - P 50,000 each

Non-Representational (Abstract)
1st Prize - P 300,000.00
2nd Prize - 200,000.00
3rd Prize - 100,000.00
Five (5) Honorable Mention - P 50,000 each

All prizes are subject to 20% tax per government ruling.

16. All Prize Winning entries including Honorable Mentions, will automatically become properties of the GSIS and will be included in the GSIS Art Collection.

17. Judges may decide not to award prizes if the entries do not meet certain artistic and competition requirements. All decisions of the board of judges shall be final.
OTHER PROVISIONS

18. The GSIS Museum reserves the right to use the name and photo of the artist and his/her entry for free in any broadcast, or print medium. The artist also grants GSIS the right to exhibit the entries as deemed fit. Due to limited space, not all entries will be exhibited. The GSIS reserves the right to decide which of the entries will be displayed during the competition exhibition. Likewise, the GSIS reserves the right to decide which of the entries will be included in the Catalogue of Entries.

19. During the exhibition proper, all none winning entries will be offered for sale to the general public subject to a 20% commission for the Art Association of the Philippines to support their programs and projects.

20. All possible care will be taken for the entries submitted. However, the GSIS Museum assumes no responsibility for any loss or damage to entries before, during and/or after the competition.

21. All none winning entries must be retrieved b the participants or their designated representatives starting July 1 until August 15, 2009 only. Unclaimed artworks after this date will be disposed b the GSIS Museum accordingly.

22. Officers of Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) are not allowed to participate in the said competition.