NEWS

Friday, December 31, 2010

A MESSAGE FOR A PRODUCTIVE AND PROACTIVE NEW YEAR




New Year is the time to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the coming year. It is the time to forget and get past memories that are no longer useful or worth pondering upon. It is the time for new beginnings and new starts in life. New Year has a message for each one of us. One should let go of the past that has bad memories and accept what has happened, has happened for some reason. Instead of clinging onto your past and things that have gone, it is better to let go.

There is an old saying that goes, "Don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened". This essentially means that there is no use crying over spilt milk. You cannot turn back time and do things that would benefit you. Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days you are the statue. New year is the time of new beginnings. It is time to start afresh and do things that would make someone else smile. Make a pledge to make at least one person happy. You will see the difference it can make in both your lives. The essential message of New Year is let go off the past and embrace life as it comes to you. You will be happier and merrier that way.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

2010 THE YEAR THAT WAS: CAPITANA GALLERY


The year 2010 saw a range of artists coming into Talisay City, Negros Occidental where the Capitana Gallery is located. It’s not quite an unlikely address as the Balay ni Tana Dicang plays host to the Capitana Gallery. The ancestral home provides a stark contrast to the contemporary works on exhibit at the Capitana, whose aim is to provide a venue for Manila based artists to travel to and exchange ideas with artists and enthusiasts in the western Visayas area.

To start 2010, Ivi Avallana-Cosio presented her ethnographic pieces in acrylic, gold-leaf, and cut-outs on hand-made paper depicting Filipino gods and goddesses touched a primordial chord with the viewing public who took time to ponder upon their ancestry.

At the start of summer, two artists, Allain Hablo and Lester Amacio, bosom-buddies who sailed in from Iloilo in neighboring Panay Island to open the exhibitions of their current works which also touched in the relation between the two islands cross-cultural currents that flourished into a myriad avenues, producing unique forms of expression.

At the height of the wilting summer heat of 2010, three young artists from Manila came for the very first time to Negros Island. Joey Cobcobo, Lynyrd Paras, and Ryan Rubio took time off from the big city to accompany and open their exhibit of latest works. The lower floor of the Balay where the Capitana is located was packed with young artists from the Bacolod area. It is the camaraderie of artists from all over the country that is markedly observed and the Capitana is happy to be host to these affairs – also hoping to instill to the visiting artists some idiom of expression that they experienced in their Negros visit.

In September when the Capitana and the Balay concelebrate their anniversaries with the city of Talisay, the gallery plays host to local artists in the series of Negros Current shows. This year the curator of Capitana, Albert Avellana took Rais hardly seen as Paeng is known more for his paintings than any other form of work. Sculptures fael “Paeng” Paderna away from his painting and presented to many of his followers works as in concrete and metal are visually arresting and the artist himself is inspired by the new direction.

To cap the year off in November, in its 5th and final exhibit, the Capitana manages yet to reach out further by inviting 5 Pinoy artists living abroad to mail their most recent works from their current city of residence. Works by Tosha Albor (San Francisco, CA), Lexiguis Calip (Los Angeles, CA), Willie Gonzales (Tokyo), Ged Merino (NYC, NY), and Junjun Sta Ana (Chicago) sent “Via Mail” (incidentally the title of the exhibit) their latest works, another if but “over-bound” accomplishment of the aims of the Capitana Gallery.

CAPITANA GALLERY
g/f Balay ni Tana Dicang
36 Rizal st., Talisay City
Negros Occidental

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

BOOK FEATURE: ALTER/(N)ATIONS - THE ART OF IMELDA CAJIPE ENDAYA




Alter/(n)ations: The Art of Imelda Cajipe Endaya to be launched January 4, 2011

Flaudette May V. Datuin’s book Alter/(n)ations: The Art of Imelda Cajipe Endaya, will be launched at 6 pm, Tuesday, January 4, 2011 at the Liongoren Gallery in Cubao, Quezon City. The book is one of the refereed publications recently published by the University of the Philippines (UP) press, which is mandated to encourage, publish, and disseminate scholarly, creative, and scientific works that represent distinct contributions to knowledge.

The book launch also opens an exhibit of the artist’s selected works clustered along interlocking themes outlined in the book: cultural identity and nation, displacement and diaspora, home, sisterhood and solidarity, women and globalization. Guests of honor are Incoming UP President Alfredo Pascual and wife Menchu Pascual, and QC Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte Alimurung. Exhibition will run through January 18, 2011.

Datuin, as editor, gathered scholars Alice Guillermo, Cherubim Quizon, Indira Myra Endaya, Brenda V. Fajardo, Eileen Legaspi Ramirez, and Neferti Tadiar to enflesh the various ways by which the life and work of Cajipe Endaya can be read. Datuin frames these essays through four categories: “framework, patchwork, artwork and worldwork.”

Foreword is by poet and multi-awarded author Marjorie Evasco. Datuin is a feminist art historian and critic, currently serving on the faculty of the Department of Art Studies, University of the Philippines. Recently appointed as Visiting Research Fellow of the University of New South Wales (2010-2013), she was also recipient of a Visiting Fellowship at the Australian National University, research grants from the Asian Scholarship Foundation (ASF) and Asian Public Intellectual (API) fellowships, which enabled her to conduct pioneering research on contemporary women artists of China, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan. These research works inform her curatorial projects, including trauma, interrupted, an international art project on trauma, art and healing in 2007. She is currently curating Nothing to Declare, another international art project slated for November 2011 in Manila.

She is author of Home Body Memory: Filipina Artists in the Visual Arts, 19th Century to the Present also from the UP Press.

Cajipe Endaya won the Irwin and Florence Memorial Award (highest annual award) from the American Society of Contemporary Artists (ASCA) New York City in 2008 and the ASCA Honorable Mention for Mixed Media in 2009. She received the Thirteen Artists Awards in 1991, Araw ng Maynila Award for Painting in 1998, the CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts in 1999, and Ani ng Dangal from the National Commission for Culture and Arts in 2009.

Liongoren Gallery is located at 111 New York St. (near Stanford), Cubao, Quezon City. For inquiries, call (02) 9124319, or 964-3496.

Contact Person: Norma C. Liongoren
Liongoren Gallery
Telephone (02) 964-3496

THE ART OF GETTING AN ARTIST GRANT

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

SQUINT




SQUINT: A Review of 2010 Images by the newly formed (PAFAP) Philippine Association of Fine Art Photographers

December 21, 2010 - January 15, 2011

As photographers who see their cascading subjects through a viewfinder, to squint means one thing: to express a passion only found behind the lens.

Sixteen fine art photographers from different parts of the world will showcase their inspirations in SQUINT: A Review of 2010 Images by PAFAP this December 20, 2010 to January 15, 2011 at Robinsons Forum, Pioneer corner EDSA, Mandaluyong City.

The show will digress from usual themed exhibits, giving the participating photographers the freedom to go against the current of today’s photography fad and present their photographs on 11 x 17 inches museum wrap canvas. “The idea is to showcase a spectrum of images that only the artist could appreciate,” says artist Rosscapili, who curates and organizes the exhibition. "When the viewer begins to have a difficult time grasping the idea behind a photograph, the photographer then becomes an artist. This is because the artist has an aim to express reality in his own meaning and resources, and that, when presented to a viewing body becomes a complex idea that only he can comprehend," Rosscapili said.

SQUINT will showcase Manila-based photographers Bien S. Bautista, Bebet Gaudinez, Rosscapili, JP Sarmenta, Mark Jonathan See, Ronald Jayme, Bianca Panganiban, Jei Panganiban, Jeff Cua, and Iloilo-based Carlos Garcia. Adding to the international plethora are Singapore-based Romeo Angeles, Dubai-based Jeff Garcia, USA-based Edwin S. Loyola, Donna Samonte, Kyo Suayan and Beijing-based Moe Twain.

Aside from the exhibit, there will be a free lecture on Fine Art Photographic Prints by artist Rosscapili and a Cinematography lecture using DSLR by veteran director Matthew Rosen on January 8, 2011 from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm. To register for the free lectures, email one_workshop@yahoo.com.

The exhibition is supported by Manila Bulletin, Robinsons Forum, PAFAP and OneWorkshop, Inc.

WHY ARTISTS GET DISCOURAGED



2010 THE YEAR THAT WAS: AVELLANA ART GALLERY



YEAR-ENDER: AVELLANA ART GALLERY

It was a homecoming of sorts in 2010 for Avellana Art Gallery as it featured artists who first showed their artworks and began their artistic career in the gallery. Most of them have recently exhibited their works in other spaces, participated in auctions and international exhibitions, and received awards for their compelling, creative vision. Two of them—Mac Valdezco and Eugene Jarque—have even won the CCP Thirteen Artists Award. Despite their numerous successes, they come back to acknowledge their roots and meaningfully mark their growth in the gallery where they all started.

Lynyrd Paras, Joey Cobcobo, Ryan Rubio, Valdezco and Jarque each had a solo show that ran for a month, astounding observers and collectors with broader thematic concerns, riskier conceptual experiments and more vigorous use of materials, without losing sight on the inherent craft of visual arts, something that has been inculcated on them by their mentor, Ferdinand Doctolero.

In December, Paras created a sweeping and powerful portrait of family life with When Blood Are Tears. Presenting the face of each family member squarely on the canvas, Paras summoned their favorite words, objects of affection and other associative devices that give his work its deep and moving commentary. Cobcobo also took the personal, domestic route in Lola 101 exhibited in November. The “Prince of Printmaking” did portraits of grandmothers by using details of leaves for imprints. The borders of the canvases were crocheted by his mother. As a nod to oral tradition, the lolas’ stories were broadcast from a pair of speakers.

Known for her organic and expressive textile artworks, Valdezco pushed the material envelope further in the August show, I versus I. Using found objects, recycled books and newspapers, she transported her soft sculptures into a two-dimensional format with the aid of traditional acrylic and canvas. The exhibit highlighted her two-year old “work pieces” which began the show’s narrative progression. Notable also for his wild, uncalculated use of materials, Jarque in his April show, No Moving Parts, manipulated aluminium sheets by cutting them into strips, painting over them and attaching them to canvas. The result: a sense of flattening of space, evoking landscapes and habitations that look at once floating and static.

Rubio, masterful when it comes to surreal, haunting images, proved to be a clairvoyant of the first order with Silence, an exhibit held in May. Apprehending ghostly forms and emanations—real or imagined, internal or otherwise—Rubio used paint as some kind of daguerreotype to capture the fugitive and the effervescent figures of his dark imagination.

February and June shows saw the first-time exhibits of Sue Bernardo-Montelibano and Miguel Castro, respectively. In Inscapes, Bernardo-Montelibano, a graphic artist, telescoped into the wondrous shapes and outlines of flowers, capturing their tender nuances and stark coloration in her suite of photographic works. Castro, on the other hand, showed how cut-outs could be elevated to a dramatic level by way of a rich and detailed slicing on paper. His use of a solid background was meant to blur the line between positive and negative spaces.

Opening the year 2010 for Avellana Art Gallery was Wave II and Mineral Cross by veteran artist Impy Pilapil. Composed of two monumental installations made from ash wood, the exhibit evoked the artist’s love for the sea. Slices of wood folded like waves while stainless steel mimicked gushing water frozen in time. Interactive, playful, and magisterial, the works showed the breadth of an artist confident with her materials and forms.


-CARLOMAR A. DAOANA

Friday, December 24, 2010

HAVE A MEANINGFUL CHRISTMAS


Anyone who has experienced the spirituality in prayers knows that they have the strength to uplift you to a tranquil state of mind. You lose your doubts and your apprehensions when you put yourself in the hands of an omnipotent God. Prayers are a very personal choice and should never be imposed upon you by anyone. How you pray and what you want to pray for are completely your decisions and yet you need to experience it for the first time to know how it feels. Thankfully, parents do their bit in introducing prayers to children so that they may appreciate them when they can understand their meaning better. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ or Nativity of Christ. It is important to note that the figure of the ‘Son of God’ was not born amidst riches or to a King. He had the origins of being born to humble parents in a stable whose virtue lay in their spotless character. It is thus a beautiful truth that spiritual awakening came to the seeker regardless of whether he possessed worldly riches or not. Thus, Christmas prayers celebrating Jesus’ birth make you feel blessed that God or the Supreme Being once walked this very earth and opened a path from the earth to heaven for everyone to follow. Christmas prayers can be of many different hues and shades but the essence of these prayers is thanking the Lord for what He has given you and speaking positive affirmations that things will improve. This feeling of gratitude fills you with inspiration and comfort for a better tomorrow even when things in this world might not be perfect at the moment. So, if you haven’t yet felt the power of a prayer full of hope, optimism and positive words, experience it once to develop the faith everyone requires in their life for that intangible solace humans seek.

Have a meaningful moments of prayer this Christmas Season. Have a Merry Christmas.

HULING PATAK

Liongoren New Aquarelles at Gallery Jose, Marikina City

The multi- awarded Alfredo Liongoren unveiled his newest works in watercolor at Gallery Jose, 59 Gil Fernando St. Marikina City. Entitled "Huling Patak”, it is the artist's remembrance and offering to the victims of the Ondoy tragedy. The show is a collection of “Still Life" that demonstrates the artist's masterful handling of this medium and a poetic sensitivity to the objects and subjects of his paintings.

Liongoren is a two time AAP Grand Prize awardee in 1971 and 1972, CCP Thirteen Artist's awardee in 1972 and a British Council Grantee in 1977-1978. Show runs til Jan.9, 2011. For further details call Pearl Ortega 09178981032.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM VARGAS MUSEUM

HOLIDAY GREETINGS FROM RICCO RENZO GALLERIES

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM OSAGE

IS AN ART RESIDENCY RIGHT FOR YOU?



Thursday, December 23, 2010

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE AYALA MUSEUM

SEASON'S GREETING FROM THE YUCHENGCO MUSEUM

18X24




'18x24' at Metro Gallery

MANILA, Philippines - The Metro Gallery presents its 20th anniversary show titled “18x24”.

Featured are the artworks of Dexter SY, Neil Arvin Javier, Kadin Tiu, Rovi Salegumba, Beejay Esber, CJ Tanedo, Elmer Roslin, Christian Tamondong, Franklyn Epil, Don Dalmacio, Jigger Cruz, EJ Cabangon, Daniel Coquilla, Ronald Caringal, Vladimir Grutas, Ronson Culibrina, Crismar de Ocampo, Jason Montinola, Dave Lock, LJ Ablola, Robert Shook, Bjorn Calleja, Mikko Sison, Sam Penaso, John Marin, JR Urao, Yrin Kevin, Erick Villaruz, Van Tuico, Marice Estrada, Rolf Campos, Jepoy Almario, Jhom Centeno, Carlo Ongchangco, Dominador Laroza, Irish Mae Salibio, Aubrey Fajardo, Tisha Paculba, Joanne Salvacion, Rodnie Pinto, Carlo Tambunting, Karl Buenafe, Pedro Garcia, Mark Anthony Bardinas, Vincent Zacarias, Jimmuel Magat, Rodolfo Torres, Diego Rivera, Anthony Nanola, Alvin Capistrano, Jid Valdez, Errol Orbida, Kim Sulit, Jepoy Dizon, Bernard del Mundo, David Ryan Viray, Denise Francisco, Dominique Alfonso, Isabelle Francisco, Melissa Faigal, Jobert Cruz, Jhemuel Salvador, Fred Olase, Lino Jamisola, Jaymee Paloyo, Emard Canedo, Dale Erispe, Lori Francisco, Kia Pigao, Mark Perez, Chi Yutuc, Ayra Sayat, Dennis Bato, Rem San Pedro, Nikko Samson, Arnel Brillantes, Janelle Tan, Aner Sebastian, Buck Pago, Buddy Ching, Jay Jamoralin, Clemente Aragon, Jose Francis Icay Jr. Shalimar Gonzaga, Keb Cerda, Paolo Marin, Ed Santos, Russel Trinidad, Adrian Evangelista, Leonardo Onia, Keo Mendoza, Sheryl Narciso, Jeje Alvarez, Elf Colomeda, Bryan Araneta, Nunelucio Alvarado, Parker Encisa, and Igan D’Bayan, among other artists.

The Metro Gallery is at 455 P. Guevarra Street, San Juan, Metro Manila. For inquiries, call 0917-8115399 or e-mail chittyrene@hotmail.com.

NEAR OR FAR│WALL GARDENS│A RESIDENCY IN TIME

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

2010 THE YEAR THAT WAS: MANILA CONTEMPORARY




The year that was - Manila Contemporary in 2010

2010 was all about pushing the limits of contemporary art for Manila Contemporary. On its second year, the gallery moves further away from the safe and traditional, with the artists’ use of varied non-conventional techniques and media. Manila Contemporary brought to Manila more artists from Southeast Asia, one show even being composed of artists from Europe and the Pacific. This year was about promoting and challenging the Filipino artist, with the staging of the first ever solo exhibit by a Filipino artist in the large main gallery, and fostering more interesting and thought-provoking collaborations and artistic exchanges in its group exhibitions.

Manila Contemporary started the year with a group exhibition highlighting Filipino artistry. Elaine Navas, Jonathan Olazo and Romeo Lee are known for their use of highly textured or impasto technique, and they produced highly sought-after paintings that demonstrated such for this self-titled show. This was followed by another group exhibition A Thousand Times Yes this time with the 25 artists hailing from different parts of Southeast Asia working on various media, from oil on canvas (Maria Jeona) to photograph (Bea Camacho and MM Yu), digital print on tarpaulin (Ringo Bunoan) to vacuum cleaner, print on cardboard collage and vacuum bag (Pintor Sirait).

The end of February saw Manila Contemporary providing a venue for young and promising artists, exhibiting works by UST’s fine arts and design students. Aptly titled Grand Finale, the show was collectively the painting theses of the graduating class of 2010, completing their final requirements for graduation.

Kiko Escora conjured a street-type party at the gallery to bring together various genres of art and different creative collectives in F*ck Art Let’s Dance. The likes of Chi Kotur, Nixon Marquez, Otto Feraren and Chris Yniguez proved in this show that contemporary art has ventured beyond traditional fine art and consists of art moving to popular culture and alternative outlets such as fashion, music graffiti and beyond.

Two more group exhibitions showcasing Filipino contemporary art were staged in the gallery in March and April. The works in The Unnamable, curated by Roberto Chabet, point to the downward spiral to confront silence and failure in art. Eternal Damn Nation was a joint project of three Manila galleries. The last leg of their three-part exhibition being housed by Manila Contemporary, Anting Anting displayed a collaborative mural done by the 11 artists from this Cavite-based group, alongside works from the shows Salvation History (Tin-Aw, 2009) and Lupa (Artspace Glorietta, 2010).

Again with a variety of styles from a big group of Southeast Asian and Filipino artists, Faith + Reason featured artworks as varied as the exhibition’s subject. Performing at the opening was Billy Bonnevie and Pinikpikan.

In the second half of 2010, Manila Contemporary produced a handful of impressive sculpture shows, interspersed with a wall show, a travelling photography exhibit and a fundraiser. In June, the gallery was filled with Clouds & Wings – Juliet Lea’s larger-than-life colour-blind eye tests resembling mushroom clouds from nuclear tests and WWII bombings, and Alwin Reamillo’s salvaged piano parts resembling wings climbing up against the gallery walls as if in flight. In August Reg Yuson’s mucks, big black glossy blobs made of fiberglass, were strewn across the gallery floors. One big muck was installed on the ceiling of the second floor gallery. R.Muck was the first solo exhibition by a Filipino artist at Manila Contemporary’s main gallery, and there are plans to do more Filipino solos in the future. In October, Broke+Poklong Anading+Louie Cordero drew both the art and design audience into the gallery with its conceptual fine art furniture, encouraging viewer interaction.

Two photography shows were on exhibit from September to October. Manila Contemporary was the final stop of CUT2010: PARALLEL UNIVERSE, Photography from Southeast Asia, which travelled to all the three other VWFA galleries. Frankie Callaghan, one of the artists from CUT2010, was commissioned by the gallery and the Pasig River foundation to do photographs of the River of Our Dreams for the benefit of the clean-up and preservation of this Manila landmark.

Getting everyone’s attention, Manila’s young art fans and Berlin art writers and Canadian art magazines alike, was Manuel Ocampo’s Painting with a Hammer to Nail the Crotch of Civilisation: a group show of wall works and tattoo imagery. This show put a stamp on pushing the boundaries of contemporary art, with uncompromising art painted all over the white walls of the gallery, as how perhaps only Manila Contemporary’s space and progressive vision could permit and foster.

Manila Contemporary also had a number of off-site exhibits, in its effort to promote contemporary art. Last June, Manila Contemporary participated in the biggest art event in the country, ManilArt10. The theme for the gallery this year was For Women Only, all four booths of the gallery dedicated to five strong women artists – Valeria Cavestany, Amy Aragon, Ringo Bunoan and MM Yu.

Manila Contemporary ended the year with its 2nd anniversary exhibition entitled The Light Show. Conceptual artist and curator Katya Guerrero collaborates with twelve artists who work with their hands in exploring themes of design, technology and spirituality.
This show runs until January 9, 2011.

In its two years, Manila Contemporary has kept with its vision of providing a venue for artistic practice and regional exchange. In 2011 Manila Contemporary will have more exhibitions and artist talks, artist residencies and performances, and will continue to bring to Manila the resonance and diversity that is Southeast Asian contemporary art.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

REVIEW




REVIEW
December 22,Wednesday, 6-9pm
Slab

Over the years, SLab Artists Mariano Ching, Christina Dy, Patricia Eustaquio and Gary-Ross Pastrana have each taken part in International Art Fairs and have shown with Galleries abroad. But 2010 has been extra special. Ching had a solo exhibition in Kyoto’s Voice Gallery, and with Pastrana, was invited to the Aichi Triennale. CD took part in the Busan Biennale, and Eustaquio showed at the Hong Kong Art Center. This December, their respective works come home.

Mariano Ching and Gary-Ross Pastrana were both invited to the inaugural Aichi Triennial in Nagoya. Set in an industrial city, home of Toyota, this year’s emphasis was on “Cutting-Edge Art, Festive Spirit and Fusing Genres”. Triennale Director Akira Tatehata describes it as looking into “the significance of art to cities and the significance of cities to art”, while at the same time awakening the relationships between art genres.

Ching joined curator Tan Jui Chen, together with Wu Hong, Meng Xiangyu, Hu Bo, and Tan Ru Yi in an exhibition entitled "Foreign Chinese in Contemporary Art". Known for his paintings on a variety of materials, from metal to wooden hands, Ching transfers his peculiarly themed works to vinyl records. He narrows in on the middle where the painting is restricted to a small diameter and zoomed focus.

Pastrana, on the other hand, took part in the exhibition "Chute" with Hoang Duong Cam, Hanae Utamura and Takayuki Yamamoto, curated by Hikaru Miyakawa. “Chute” or fall is about objects that signify falls – from the literal fall due to gravity, the metaphorical fall from grace, to the fall in love. Here Pastrana crafts a wooden ladder, which is then burnt. And from the ashes, he molds a black bird. In this case, the fall is from an unsuccessful climb up. In transforming the ladder into something new, could it then be a metaphor for a time to pick up the ashes and fly?

Christina Dy brings her characteristic large-scale charcoal drawings to the 10th Busan Biennale. This year’s theme, “Living in Evolution”, draws attention to “artworks as points where the life of one person—the artist—intersects with the evolution of the human race”. In particular, art takes a vital part in man’s intellectual evolution. In the ebbs and tides of history, art stands as a witness. Dy’s 3.6 x 18 meter “Untitled” drawing of the Batanes Seascape is representative of art- always there but always changing. Like water, eternal and ephemeral.

Patricia Eustaquio was one of thirteen Asian artists in a show called “Popping Up” at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Curated by Fumio Nanjo (director of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo), the exhibition looks into “the relationship between 2D and 3D in contemporary art “ through “a diverse selection of new and original artworks including soft sculptures, 3D paper sculptures, mixed media painting objects, digital visual and audio installations, public art”

Eustaquio’s sculpture of crochet and epoxy, “Psychogenic Fugue”, a fossilized exoskeleton of an upright piano is an interaction between flat surfaces and hollow dimensions. First exhibited in Eustaquio’s “Death of the Major, Viva Minor”, the 2008 Inaugural solo show at SLab, “Psychogenic Fugue” is a shell, a covering for the empty space underneath. If not for the epoxy, the lace will lay flat. The apparent volume is misleading. What is there, isn’t. What seems soft, isn’t. And what we think we can touch is not supposed to be touched at all.

Review with Mariano Ching, Christina Dy, Patricia Eustaquio and Gary-Ross Pastrana opens on December 22,2010. It runs simultaneously with Objects by Patricia Eustaquio in 20SQUARE until January 15,2011.

GALLERY HOURS FOR THE HOLIDAYS:
Silverlens will be closed Dec. 24-27 and Dec. 31-Jan. 3. Silverlens will be open starting January 4, 2011.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Words: Bea Davila; Images clockwise: Gary-Ross Pastrana, Set Fire to Free, detail, 2003/2010; Christina Dy, Untitled (Tides), detail, 2010, Mariano Ching, Records from Apartment Block D Series 1, detail; 2010, Patricia Estaquio, Psychogenic Fugue, detail, 2008

HOW TO BEST COPYRIGHT YOUR ART WORK





Monday, December 20, 2010

IN MY LIFE: SOUL PORTRAITS BY ONIB OLMEDO




In My Life: Soul Portraits by Onib Olmedo

Ayala Museum marks the artistic contributions of Onib Olmedo in its latest exhibition In My Life: Soul Portraits by Onib Olmedo at the Ground Floor Gallery.

In My Life: Soul Portraits by Onib Olmedo will feature approximately 60-80 artworks that will be presented to the public for the first time. Recognized as one of the leading figurative expressionists in the country, Olmedo’s works captivated the soul of his subject matters. Each portrait not only depicts the physical attributes but also conveys their deepest feelings. Art Philippines describes his work as “not beautiful in the classical sense; but they are extremely powerful vehicles for expressing psychological tensions.”

Onib Olmedo was a fearless artist. Bold in his day, he probed deep into the human spirit and examined the human condition with brushstrokes that distorted shapes, lines, objects and the human face and figure to present reality. For him, people were real human beings of flesh-and-blood engaged in real daily struggles to survive. Their humanistic perspective was his essential and lasting contribution to Philippine art. Of the modernists, it was this perspective which constituted his authenticity.

Onib won gold medals in two Art Association of the Philippines Competitions and a Mobil Oil Philippine Art Competition; an “Araw ng Maynila” Award in art, and was one of Thirteen Artist Awardees of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. He was the recipient of the prestigious international art competition award in Cagnes Sur Mer, France, in 1992 — the very first Filipino to be accorded such a distinction. Art critic Dr. Alice Guillermo referred to the artist as: “the landmark Filipino artist of the 20th century who has played a major role in the history of Philippine art, exerting vast influence on a whole new generation of artists through figurative expressionist paintings that explore the inner recesses of the soul, affirming the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.”

In My Life: Soul Portraits by Onib Olmedo will run until January 2011. The exhibition catalogue will also be available for sale at the Ayala Museum Shops. Additional support is provided by Chateau 1771.

OBJECTS




OBJECTS
December 22, Wednesday
6-9 pm

This December in 20SQUARE, Patricia Eustaquio presents Objects, projects from her art studio.

A project connotes thought and study, and plenty of experiment. Or, as Eustaquio calls hers: play and laboratory. Objects are sketches and a new take on crochet and cardboard. Out of her “diverse trove of materials”, Eustaquio crafts new and constantly evolving forms. It is her version of the “Frankenstein” process: “here, Anna’s arm, there, Frank’s liver.” Her project is curious and unafraid to be incomplete.

And as every project begins with an idea and clashes with a philosophical framework, so does Objects. It is a critique of modernism. Written as a critical response, the works express how modernism has been a constant influence in academia, architecture, design and art, that it still “haunts us so”. To Eustaquio, modernism is a hovering cloud even in her own studio. She questions: how modern is something that is more than a hundred years old?

But without an answer, Eustaquio can only react and reject. Responding to modernism’s grasp on society’s definition of aesthetic and progressive. Its effect on her own psychology moves Eustaquio to express modernism in her Objects, and with it, announce her wish to move on.

Objects by Patricia Eustaquio opens simultaneously with Review with Mariano Ching, Christina Dy, Patricia Eustaquio and Gary-Ross Pastrana on December 22,2010.
Words: Bea Davila; Image: Patricia Estaquio, Ant Chair, detail, 2010; Art Omni, detail, 2010

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