TIGAMA UG GENRE

HIGH SPIRIT

A Showcase of Women’s Excellence

“High Spirit” the art exhibition commences public exhibition on February 1, 2013 and will go on until March 27, 2013 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.  Exhibiting artists are all alumnae of the College of the Holy Spirit (CHS), which is celebrating the centennial anniversary of its founding.  Leading the lineup of artists are Imelda Cajipe Endaya, recipient of Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Centennial Honors for the Arts and New-York based Lenore RS Lim, recognized as one of “100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the US”.  They organized artistic contributions from accomplished alumnae in different parts of the world to form this collection as an expression of gratitude to their school whom they credit for the strength of their inner formation.  Endaya’s polymer collage entitled “Kasibulan” on middle-age woman’s blossoming, and Lim’s lithograph series “Simple Abundance” with colorful chine colle are highlights of the exhibition.

Aurora Go Bio Shakespeare, an industrial and graphic designer from Mallorca Spain, participates with “Angel Wings” and “Flight” from a series of abstract floral forms depicting empowered femininity.  Chi Panistante, an accomplished graphic designer who has lived in Dubai for eleven years, presents her circular compositions reflective of the efficient dynamism of everyday life in UAE, illumined by her strong Biblical perspective.

Mimi Tecson, who recently concluded a 3-month art residency in Yokohama Japan, created new sculptural assemblages especially for this show.  She gathered mementoes of popular culture into pieces of bottled vistas that articulate the connection between emotion and memory.  Veteran artist Rhoda Recto unveils her recent watercolor landscapes inspired by the classic letras y figuras.  Emi Masigan Mercado’s canvases are evidences of her strength in fine portraiture.

Celine G. Borromeo, professor and interior designer, shows her landscapes in pastel and chalk, and illustrations “For Now and Lifetimes Ago” and “Circles with Open Ends.” Athena Santos Magcase Lopez, painter and children’s book illustrator from New Jersey, share with us her landmark illustrations for “The Magic Jeepney”, and a mixed media collage about the life of social activist Betty Makoni.

Rona Buenaseda-Chua, art teacher and owner of Rona’s Art Center, exhibits her delicate still life works in pencil and watercolors.  Elaine Ongpin Herbosa, plein-air painter and owner of the gallery L’Arc en Ciel shows her delightful pictures lanscapes and interiors.  Pastel paintings of lush marshes and waters by the late Gracia Gargantiel are part of the collection. There are lithographs by Rosita Tayag Natividad, Chinese paintings by Maria Antonia Gonzalez-Cruz, and digital art by Tiffany Elaine Ty.

“High Spirit” the exhibition represents the spirit of excellence in various modes of articulation:  free/disciplined, spontaneous/designed, playful/eloquent, stimulating/harmonious, ambiguous/lucid, constructive/analytic, meditative/narrative--- qualities that are seemingly contrary, but are not mutually exclusive. The artworks selected altogether inspire its viewers into looking at art as a humanly integrative and creative process.

The exhibition can be viewed at the CCP’s second floor hallway and little theatre lobby until March 27, 2013.

WRITER’S SHRINE TO GET EPIC TREATMENT

Writer’s shrine to get epic treatment

International team of artists and designers to create park dedicated to author of Master and Margarita

By Sophia Kishkovsky. Museums, Issue 242, January 2012

Published online: 14 January 2013

The Italian architect Gabriele Filippini and his Russian wife, Olga Moskvina, who won a competition run by the Moscow city government to transform a small writer’s museum into a multimedia “literary park”, plan to involve international artists and designers to realise their ambitious vision.

The Mikhail Bulgakov State Museum, one of two institutions in Moscow dedicated to the life of the writer and playwright Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940), is housed in a former communal apartment in which the author lived during the 1920s. The architects want to involve other museums and the nearby Patriarch’s Pond neighbourhood, the setting of Bulgakov’s masterpiece, The Master and Margarita. 

The novel, written between 1928 and 1940, was banned until the 1960s and censored for decades afterwards. It is a satirical portrait of life under Stalin that includes a mystical interpretation of philosophical questions. The main characters include the devil, in the guise of a mysterious visitor named Woland, and Begemot, a huge talking black cat. (A magnificent furry black cat holds court in the city-funded Bulgakov museum. He also spends time in the privately funded Bulgakov museum, which is in the same building, and is happy to be petted by visitors to both.) Christ, Pontius Pilate and Judas also feature in the novel, which is one reason why it was banned. 

Read complete article here.

THREAD EXPERIENCE

CONFESSIONS OF AN ALMOST ARTIST

SERRA’S THREAT TO BROAD COLLECTION

Serra’s ‘threat’ to Broad collection

Curator argues artists’ law can place “moral rights” above historical accuracy

By Laura Gilbert. News, Issue 242, January 2012

Published online: 10 January 2013

An independent curator has claimed that Richard Serra threatened to withdraw one of his works from the collection of Eli and Edythe Broad if he was not allowed to rework the drawing. Magdalena Dabrowski, speaking to an audience of lawyers and art appraisers in New York recently, argued that historical accuracy is being compromised as a result of the Visual Artists Rights Act (Vara), which gives artists “moral rights” to disclaim their works and prevent their alteration by third parties.

Dabrowski organised an exhibition of drawings by Serra at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011. The artist reworked some of his earlier pieces for the show, which closed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in January 2012. 

Some of the drawings that Serra reworked had been damaged or destroyed, and the artist recreated them specifically for the show. The Met hinted at this by labelling the works with two dates: that of the original and that of the reworked version. Serra says it is not important whether audiences know which version they are seeing. “There’s no aura of originality because it’s an anonymous surface. It’s a difference without a value. I try to keep surfaces as anonymous as possible,” he tells The Art Newspaper. He says he owned the drawings he recreated, and destroyed the works they replaced.

Read complete article here.

HAVEN'T WE MET BEFORE?

THE ABCs OF ABSTRACT

KRAKEN

WHAT’S IN STORE FOR THE MARKET

What’s in store for the market?

The growing numbers of the super-rich should keep the auction houses happy in 2013, but there are tougher times ahead for some

By Georgina Adam. Comment, Issue 242, January 2012

Published online: 10 January 2013

In January 2012, the outlook for the art market was bleak, with turmoil in the eurozone and recession in many of the world’s major economies. Nothing changed—at the macro level, at least—throughout the year, so art dealers finished 2012 surprised that, for many, trade was not as bad as expected. If anything, the results at the top end of the market have never been better; more than $1bn was spent on art during last November’s sales in New York, with Christie’s racking up an all-time record for a contemporary art sale, at $412m. But will we witness similar success next year?

The 1% of the 1%

I believe the top end of the art market will continue to perform strongly, particularly in the contemporary, Impressionist and Modern art sectors. There are a number of reasons for this. First, the building of so many museums across the world will sustain buying. Although the reported “1,000 museums” in China may prove an exaggeration, many are under construction and are being stocked with works of art. Elsewhere, the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim is back on track (or at least the authorities in the emirate are anxious to tell us that this is the case). The Middle East, with its huge resources, wants to establish itself as a cultural hub on a par with other, more established centres. And billionaires’ “vanity museums”—sometimes an unfair criticism—need to buy top works of art as well. 

In this context, a recent book by Chrystia Freeland, Plutocrats: the Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, 2012 (Penguin Press), offers a fascinating analysis of the new global super-rich. She sees today’s incredible wealth as the result of two transformations: technological revolution and globalisation in the West, coupled with an Industrial Revolution-sized burst of growth in much of the rest of the world, leading to the convergence of two “gilded ages”.

Read complete article here.

OPEN STUDIOS

BATTLE LINES DRAWN TO PROTECT VIEWS OF OLE LONDON

Battle lines drawn to protect views of old London

Preservationists square off with urban planners and developers over building skyscrapers near heritage sites like the Tower of London

By Martin Bailey. Web only

Published online: 09 January 2013

The British government is facing criticism from Unesco for allowing the Shard, Renzo Piano’s 95-storey commercial tower, and other skyscrapers to be built so close to the Tower of London. A response is being prepared by the UK authorities.

Unesco’s World Heritage Committee last year recommended that the UK should “regulate further build-up of the area surrounding the Shard of Glass building, ensuring that approved heights do not exceed a height whereby they would become visible above the on-site historic buildings”. 

The Shard, which will have a public viewing gallery that is due to open to visitors in February, now looms over the medieval walls of the Tower of London, when seen from its central green. The 1,016-foot skyscraper is the tallest building in western Europe. Although located 700 yards away from the Tower of London, across the Thames near London Bridge station, the Shard dominates the nearby skyline and can be seen from miles away in many parts of the city.

Preserving the views around the Tower of London has proved highly controversial. Earlier this month, the former heritage minister John Penrose, who stepped down last September, admitted that the Shard “nearly didn’t happen” because of its impact on the Tower. He is calling on English Heritage, with guidance from Unesco, to formulate a policy that would lead to “selecting the best views of our city and townscapes” to be protected in a similar way that buildings can be listed for preservation. 

The present situation, Penrose says, lacks clarity, which makes it difficult for developers and offers insufficient protection for the most important views. Two years ago, English Heritage published a report to evaluate the significance of historic urban views. Penrose now wants a more formal solution to the problem.

Read complete article here.

THE ANTICOSMIC FEAST

ANINO NG PANGARAP

PROTOTYPES

ARTISTS PRESS FOR BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS ON SAADIYAT ISLAND

Artists press for better working conditions on Saadiyat Island

The group Gulflabor has released a new letter following a report on labour practices at future museum sites

By Helen Stoilas. Web only

Published online: 09 January 2013

As construction begins on a new $653m branch of the Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi, a group of artists who have spoken out against labour conditions in the Gulf released another letter calling on all the cultural institutions opening museums on Saadiyat Island to “seek uniform and enforceable human rights protections for the workers working on their sites”. The group Gulflabor—which includes the artists Doug Ashford, Tania Brugera, Sam Durant, Mariam Ghani, Hans Haacke, Walid Raad and Michael Rakowitz, among others—first targeted the Guggenheim Foundation with a petition about the unfair working conditions at it’s Abu Dhabi site in 2011, which led to a boycott of the international museum by more than 130 artists, curators and writers.

The emirate’s Tourism, Development & Investment Company (TDIC), which is overseeing the massive cultural development project on Saadiyat Island, hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to serve as an independent monitor, and its first annual report was issued in September 2012. Among the finding was that more than 74% of workers paid recruitment and relocation fees before they were hired. Gulflabor is now urging the Guggenheim to respond to the report and “publicly commit themselves to the welfare and fair working conditions of those who will be constructing these cultural institutions”. 

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Artists+press+for+better+working+conditions+on+Saadiyat+Island/28446

LEAVE NO GLITCH BEHIND

ISTANBUL BIENNIAL TO EXPLORE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

Istanbul Biennial to explore the public domain

Organisers launch a series of forums across the city in lead up to event

By Gareth Harris. Web only

Published online: 08 January 2013

In contrast to the Istanbul biennial of 2011, which was held in one venue, the Antrepo complex of former warehouses on the banks of the Bosphorus, the 13th edition held this autumn will once again spread out across the city, with buildings such as former courthouses and schools acting as temporary venues. The curator Fulya Erdemci today outlined the conceptual framework of the biennial (14 September-10 November) which is entitled “Mom, am I Barbarian?”

According to a press statement, Erdemci’s highly academic vision will explore “the notion of the public domain as a political forum”, touching on the notions of democracy, civilisation, barbarity, and social engagement. An aim of the biennial is to re-examine the concept of “publicness” (installations may also be displayed in shopping malls, hotels and office buildings). 

Read complete article here.

ENGLAND’S RECORD £8.6bn LOANS

England’s record £8.6bn loans

Fourfold increase in value of indemnified art borrowed—and nearly all of it returned safely

By Martin Bailey. Museums, Issue 242, January 2012

Published online: 08 January 2013

Museums and galleries in England borrowed art indemnified by the government worth a record £8.6bn last year—a fourfold increase over the past 15 years. Without this support, most venues would find it difficult to mount exhibitions with extremely high value loans; if the galleries that benefited from indemnity had taken out commercial insurance, it would have cost a total of more than £20m.

The increase mainly reflects the rise in prices on the art market, particularly for major works. However, the number of venues has also increased, largely due to new National Lottery-funded buildings, such as Tate Modern. Works lent to national museums accounted for 75% of the £8.6bn; loans to other venues made up the rest.

We have obtained the first detailed data on the UK’s Government Indemnity Scheme, which is administered by the Arts Council in England and by the respective governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The scheme covers art loaned from the UK and abroad, for both temporary exhibitions and long-term loans. (Loans from national museums to other UK museums are not covered, since the rationale is that the works belong to the nation and it would be inappropriate to use taxpayers’ money to indemnify them.) Indemnity covers conservation (in the event of damage) and replacement value (in the event of loss, through theft or fire).

Among the exhibitions in the past financial year that pushed up the figure was the National Gallery’s “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan” (9 November 2011-5 February 2012). 

Although only eight paintings by Leonardo were borrowed (plus works by other artists), the works were all extremely valuable. 

Read complete article here.

MIRO ON LOAN DAMAGED AT TATE MODERN

Miró on loan damaged at Tate Modern

Cost of repairs and depreciation was £203,000

By Martin Bailey. Museums, Issue 242, January 2012

Published online: 08 January 2013

An important painting by Miró was damaged in 2011 while on loan to Tate Modern, in an incident that went unreported in the media. The work was on loan from the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona and the cost of repairs and depreciation was £203,000, which is revealed in figures obtained by The Art Newspaper on government indemnity.

According to a visitor to the Miró retrospective, a man leant against the picture with both hands. A spokeswoman for the Tate says that the gallery believes it was an accident. None of the gallery’s staff witnessed the incident. 

Painting on White Background for the Cell of a Recluse I, 1968 (above), is part of a room-sized triptych, and the left-side picture is 3.5m long. The incident occurred on 7 July 2011 and the painting went back on display eight days later, after conservation work was completed by the Tate with advice from the Miró foundation. The conservation work would have cost a few thousand pounds, so the £203,000 indemnity payment by the UK government was mainly compensation for depreciation in its value. As its title suggests, the acrylic on canvas is largely white, with a wiggling black line. Although conservation masks the damage, the repair is still just barely visible.

After London, the Miró retrospective travelled to Barcelona. It closed in August 2012 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, where the damaged painting was not shown.

Read complete article here.