17 ARTISTS. 17 WORKS: A SYNERGY AT METRO GALLERY

17 ARTISTS. 17 WORKS: A SYNERGY AT METRO GALLERY


Raymond Go, Pedro Garcia , Rovi Salegumba, Melvin Arlegui, Jigger Cruz, Stiffen Taneo, Jose Montinola, Rianne Salvarita, Gino Tioseco, Joel Bartolome, Christian Tamondong, Jojo Austria, CJ Tanedo, Carlo Ongchangco, Charlie Co, Nunelucio Alvarado, Susanito Sarnate are the artists featured in “ 17 Artists. 17 Works: A Synergy at the Metro Gallery located at 455 P. Guevarra St., San Juan City. The show is on view until October 16, 2008. For details, call Chitty Labiran at 0917-8115399 or email at chittyrene@hotmail. com.

APHRODITE | ICARUS

Galerie Anna, a world-class service provider of Philippine and Global Art in the national and international market, proudly presents the two man-exhibition of Hermes Alegre and Ral Arrogante titled "AphroditeIcarus." The title takes on Greek mythological personalities to describe the individual showcase of both artists. Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty, of sexual desire, eroticism, and female power. This feminine power and attraction characterizes the painted women of Hermes Alegre. On the other hand, Icarus, the winged male form, symbol of youth, virility and heroic audacity, is embodied in the “scrapological” sculptural pieces of Ral Arrogante.

In Greek mythology, two figures stand out in the modern mind as being the epitomes of the greatest aspirations of man. The goddess of beauty and love, Aphrodite, is the classic visage of the eternally beautiful soul linked with the always fascinating and perfected beautiful body. Icarus, on the other hand, symbolizes man's ultimate quest for freedom, and to reach the hitherto impossible dream of man-powered flight. In the exhibition AphroditeIcarus, these two aspects, eternal beauty and the aspiration for freedom, are intertwined and given meaning by the work of two contemporary meisters in Philippine Art: painter Hermes Alegre and sculptor Ral Arrogante. Alegre's paintings of women in a folk or mythical setting, utilizing nature as his source of inspiration and domicile of femininity, epitomizes the Filipino's ideal of the Ultimate Beauty. She animates our world in an almost mystical, goddess-like manner, coyly looking at the audience from her protective screen of foliage and fabrics like a precious flower in ephemeral bloom. On the other hand, Arrogante's sculptures of man-powered flight, and other beings and devices that zip across the heavens, made from recycled brass, cleverly conflates the child-like wonder that everyone has for the freedom of flight, and the realization of this fragile dream as based on material and ecological realities. Alegre's paintings remind us of the eternal values of art that ennoble and give value to humanity, while Arrogante's sculptures make us realize the fragility of humanity, and how our aspiration for freedom must be tempered by prudence, foresight, and practice.

This conjoining of two forces through the work of two figurative artists results in a synergy of values that speaks to the present about the need for both balance and risk, eternity and ephemerality, and stability and daring. Ultimately, AphroditeIcarus is also about two faces of the human condition seen within the perspective of a single exhibition, both contributing to the strength of the other, and reinforcing their message as a total statement of the condition of mankind in the contemporary and yet classic-minded age.

Hermes Alegre is a celebrated portraitist, painter of Filipina beauty, and follower of the modern figurative tradition in Philippine Art in the footsteps of Vicente Manansala, Cesar Legaspi, and Benedicto Cabrera. Ral Arrogante is a sculptor who believes in the value of recycled brass as an ecological and yet long-lasting artistic statement on the need to conserve our resources, and maximize the possibilities of material through the unlimited potential of the mind to convert and transform the ordinary into the timeless. Arrogante is also currently the President of the Society for Philippine Sculptors (SPS).

"AphroditeIcarus" opens on Firday, September 19, 2008, at Galerie Anna, located on the 7th Floor, Ramon Magsaysay Center, Roxas Boulevard, Manila (beside Manila Diamond Hotel).The exhibition will run until October 3, 2008. For details an inquiries, please call Joffrey Baylon at Tel. # (02) 567-94-83, or mobile # 0927-462-7567. You may also visit Galerie Anna online at www.galerieanna.com.

IN FOCUS : RAL ARROGANTE

RAL ARROGANTE, self-taught artist and a businessman, is presently the head of the Society of Philippine Sculptors (SPS). He is known for his scrap metal wind-driven sculpture depicting ecological subjects. Ral is also a former officer of the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) and he commits himself in sharing his talent and know-how with young artists and children in depressed communities.

He used to be the assistant to the commercial attach of the Swiss Embassy in Manila, The commerce graduate, however, gradually transferred his energies to art. Since his first foray into the scene in 1986 until 1990, he called himself a "weekend artist," his management and marketing savvy, in corporate or diplomatic terms, taking more of his time. Ral Arrogante is presently one of the front-liners in contemporary Philippine sculpture and is likewise an active member of the ecological artists group EarthArt.

Ral Arrogante is a sculptor who believes in the value of recycled brass as an ecological and yet long-lasting artistic statement on the need to conserve our resources, and maximize the possibilities of material through the unlimited potential of the mind to convert and transform the ordinary into the timeless.




In the exhibit APHRODITE ICARUS, the embodiment of the potent Icarus, as represented in Ral Arrogante’s winged-mixed media, mainly copper and brass remarkably fitted together without the use of welding. They shimmer like valued treasures at the same time conveying free flight in space. It symbolizes man's ultimate quest for freedom, and to reach the hitherto impossible dream of man-powered flight. Arrogante's sculptures make us realize the fragility of humanity, and how our aspiration for freedom must be tempered by prudence, foresight, and practice.

IN FOCUS : HERMES ALEGRE

HERMES ALEGRE studied art in the Philippine Women's University. Born in 1968 at Daet, Camarines Norte, his first picture book, Bahay Kubo, was published in 1993. His work has appeared in over thirty galleries. He has graced some of the most prestigious art spaces in the world and has the distinction of promoting the tropical beauty of Pinays to a larger audience.

He is mainly recognized for his rendering of luscious full-lipped, brown-skinned women, mostly of the Mariang Makiling mould, embraced by a rich tropical locale brimming with a radiant abundance of flora. Alegre’s women on canvas are always mysteriously erotic looking. They look intently right back at you, summoning you to drown in their eyes, their mesmerizing gaze transporting you to their randomly beautiful wild alternative reality.




In Aphrodite, Hermes Alegre fuses his status as a figurative painter of femme and flora while showcasing more than just women in exotic settings, the iconography for which the artist has become famous and drawn legions of collectors. The women figures aren’t just matters of elemental desire and embrace; they became the face of resolute humanity; doctrinaire —and as refined as ever.

ESTRANGHERO

Estranghero
a show by Rene Cuvos


The sheer number of human beings in this planet assures us that a day can’t go by without setting our eyes on a face we’ve never seen before. There are hundreds of people that we see but never meet, as we walk the streets, ride a jeep, drink in a coffee shop or watch TV. Their faces are a blur, a blank, as we go about the business of living. We practically never see them---but there are a few that stick.

There are a few faces that we never seem to forget. For some inexplicable reason, there is an intangible connection to the stranger whom we’ve never even spoken to, much less get near to. He or she must have reminded us of someone we used to know in kindergarten, for all that’s worth. There is an urge to stop, turn around and look closely to find...what? Who knows?

Rene Cuvos explores this phenomenon in his new collection, “Estranghero”. Each painting is a close study of a stranger’s character and personality. In “Mangangaral” (oil on canvas, 24x18 inches), he delves into the irony of a person whose intentions are intrinsically good, but whose heart is hard and unfeeling. In “Konserbatibong Maligalig” (oil on canvas, 30x24 inches) the hypocrisy lies in a person’s pretensions to conservatism in sex that is altogether different from his or her actual sexual relations. “Makapangyarihan” (oil on canvas, 10x8 inches) illustrates the impunity by which people in power treat their positions.

Cuvos tells us that the strangers we meet are never who we expect them to be, despite their pretensions. In the end, we might even be strangers to ourselves.

“Estranghero” opens on Friday, September 12 at 6pm until September 1 at blanc at 2E Crown Tower 107 H.V. De La Costa Street, Salcedo Village, Makati City. For inquiries, please contact tel. 02.7520032, mobile 0920.9276436, email info@blanc.ph or visit the website at www.blanc.ph

KONSENSUS

What do you call the sporadic meetings of two diverse groups of artists hailing from the metropolis and the outskirt rural town of Angono? The topographical settings aren’t such a hinder to their common vision to merge into creating a concept based on salinity of seawater and embracing the statistics of population. Each of them collectively convey symbols or expresses meaning, sometimes multiple meanings as they are brought together as torch bearer of the ritual unbeknownst, palimpsests of coding and the pluralism of everyday life. The concept was derived outside the political issues and corporate ideals thus, Konsensus was conceived.

Lunduyan Art Gallery will represent eleven young artists namely: Josef Laureano, Fitz Herrera, Maxbal, Katrina Tan, Vic Dabao, Ral Arrogante, Dicky Joe Santos, Aaron Bautista, Carlos Francisco II, Allan Alcantara and Jonjon Santos. Most of them delved on abstractionism and the sole woman in the group was into figurative style.

These are the incarceration of two opposing centers of the urbane and the regional. Although these painters did not confine to the distinct and localized colors, patterns of culture including the autonomous references of modernism. Most of their works harbor on the nonobjective entity which defies the trendy auction based art market and spur-of-the-moment ideal and consumerists’ kind of paintings. A witty denunciation of three-dimensional in their works is a sort of liberation. Most of their works was conspicuously done in mixed media and oil on canvas with standard size.

These up and coming artists do not prioritize commodity exchanges and promises to keep the viewers visually assimilated with their artistic licenses that they esoterically called “Konsensus”.

“Konsensus” opens on September 13, 2008 with cocktails at 6:00 in the evening. The exhibit will run until October 1, 2008.

Lunduyan Art Gallery is located at 88 B Kamuning Road, Quezon City.
For inquiries please call 0915-7896417 and look for Dicky Joe Santos.

MILK SWEAT AND HONEY SPIT

MILK SWEAT AND HONEY SPIT
JEHO BITANCOR

opening
Thursday 11th September 2008 7 pm
Utterly Art Exhibition Space
(diagonally opposite the Sri Mariamman Temple, Pagoda St Exit)
229A South Bridge Road (2nd Level) Singapore 058778
Mon-Sat 12 noon - 8 pm Sun 12 noon - 5.30 pm
The exhibition runs until 21st September 2008.


After residing in the United States of America for a year, Filipino artist Jeho Bitancor presents a contemplative exhibition based on his migrant experience. While a great deal of his countrymen regard the colonial power as “The Land of Milk and Honey”, Jeho as the artist and observer is more circumspect, but neither does he deny that detaching “oneself from his or her origin… is a form of salvation which renders the diasporic phenomenon a painful reality in itself”.

Relevant to Singaporeans engaged in the “Stayers” and “Quitters” debate, the show investigates the dilemma of individual emancipation over national deprivation. Jeho points at the foibles of both migrants and their adopted home, by examining the social landscape and condition it generates for migrants, to unravel the contradictions inherent in even the most sought-after dreamland. Marrying his social realist and symbolist genres, he muses on how migration might affect his artistic practice and posits “a crystallization of one’s essence… a re-contextualization of the self”.

Jeho Bitancor is a Cultural Centre of the Philippines Thirteen Artists Awardee of 2006, who has exhibited extensively in the Philippines, Singapore, USA, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong. Trained in the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts (1984-1992), and the New York City Art Student’s League (1997), Jeho has won several awards and distinctions, and is collected by the Singapore Art Museum, Ateneo Art Gallery, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Aurora Provincial Government, Museo de Baler, as well as several private collections.

GAWAD CCP PARA SA SINING 2008

APHRODITE MUSES, ICARUS SOARS

Galerie Anna proudly presents the two man-exhibition of Hermes Alegre and Ral Arrogante titled "AphroditeIcarus" on Friday, September 19, 2008. The exhibition will run until October 3, 2008.

The title takes on Greek mythological personalities to describe the individual showcase of both artists. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty, of sexual desire, eroticism, and female power as characterized by the women of Hermes Alegre. On the other hand, Icarus, the winged male form, symbol of youth, virility and heroic audacity, is embodied in the “scrapological” sculptural pieces of sculptor Ral Arrogante.

Hermes Alegre is a celebrated portraitist, painter of Filipina beauty, and follower of the modern figurative tradition in Philippine Art in the footsteps of Vicente Manansala, Cesar Legaspi, and Benedicto Cabrera. Ral Arrogante is a sculptor who believes in the value of recycled brass as an ecological and yet long-lasting artistic statement on the need to conserve our resources, and maximize the possibilities of material through the unlimited potential of the mind to convert and transform the ordinary into the timeless. Arrogante is also currently the President of the Society for Philippine Sculptors (SPS).

Galerie Anna is located on the 7th Floor, Ramon Magsaysay Center, Roxas Boulevard, Manila, beside Manila Diamond Hotel. For details and inquiries, please call Joffrey Baylon at Tel. # (02) 567-94-83, or mobile # 0927-462-7567. You may also visit Galerie Anna online at www.galerieanna.com.

ISANG DAANG KATAO, ISANG DAANG TAKA

ROUNDEYEGLASS@TEN02 - AN URGENT CALL FOR SUPPORT : A BENEFIT CONCERT FOR NORLI LALO

roundeyeglass@ten02a benefit concert for Norli Lalo
7 pm onwards September 4, 2008
ten02 Sct Ybardolaza St cor Timog QC

ticket price: P 250
Donations will be accepted at the gate.
Paintings will be welcome for future auction.

Norli is the former director of SBX on channel 23. He is known in the indie film circuit as a production designer and later as Director of Photography. In the early period of his career he had some production work in theatre with PETA. In the field of visual arts he had his first one man show in Avellana Art Gallery and active in contributing works in various group shows. He is also known as an active mountaineer associated with the Malacanang Outdoor Group. He represented the Philippines in 2004 Kampnagel Summer Art Festival as a performance artist with the group neworldisorder. He established the defunct artist hang out in Malate, Round Eye Glass Café and transformed the backyard of his house into an alternative space called sulok, which accommodates occasional activities on cross disciplinary arts. Norli on his 34th birthday was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a malignant tumor of the bone marrow. The funds will be use for his hospital expenses.



Monetary donations can send to this account

Norlito T. Lalo ~ Banco De Oro Kalentong Branch ~ Account # 210213078

Mobile +63915 999726

Hot line:

Ivy Suncell +639233898459
Globe +639175603312
Smart +639096795688
ivygandatlg@yahoo.com

Tarik Montano +639206547305

Norli Lalo needs blood and financial assistance. He was rushed to the National Kidney Institute, East Ave., Q.C. early this morning (29 August 2008) due to complications caused by his illness.

I appeal to all his friends, colleagues, and all good souls to please extend your hands to Norli. You can help in several ways.

(1) If you are willing to donate blood (any blood type will do), please go to the Blood Donor's Section of the National Kidney Institute in East Ave., Q.C. Blood letting is from 8 am to 5 pm only. Please bring an ID and specify that your donation is for NORLITO LALO. You may also coordinate with TARIK at 0920-654-7305.

(2) If you intend to donate artworks that his family can sell to help finance the hospital bills, you may drop them off at TEN02 Bar and Resto in Sct. Ybardollaza cor Timog Ave., Q.C. look for SKARLET or MARBEN.

(3) If you wish to donate money, you can deposit any amount to the following accounts:
Norlito T. Lalo
Account # 210213078
Banco De Oro, Kalentong Branch
Christina G. Rodriguez (Norli's wife)
Account # 3833383260192
Metrobank, Batangas Branch

(4) If you want to volunteer, you can help in hooking us up with possible blood donors, art patrons/buyers.

(5) You can also help by supporting the gig on September 4, 2008 tickets are priced at P250.xx only. All his musician friends are performing. Proceeds will go to Norli and his family.

Before his illness, Norli was directing for a TV network. He also did some production work in Theatre with PETA. He established Round Eye Glass Cafe, the defunct artist hang out in Malate. He also converted the backyard of his house in Mandaluyong into an alternative space called SULOK. Norli, on his 34th birthday, was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a malignant tumor of the bone marrow. Please let us all help him.

IBONG ADARNA

4th solo exhibition
Acrylic on hand-woven mat (BANIG) paintings
1/of Gallery, 2nd Flr. Serendra,
Bonifacio Global City,Taguig,
Metro Manila , Philippines


Open Viewing / Pre-selling starts on Monday, 1 Sept. 2008
You are invited to the reception on Tuesday, 2 Sept. at 7pm
Show runs until 12 Sept. 2008


IBONG ADARNA

The melodic tale of Ibong Adarna (Adarna bird) has enchanted the hearts of every Filipino through generations. Its origins can be traced back in the time of Spanish occupation in the Philippines , when this prominent type of poetry called korido had lyrical verses which exuded a rhythmic form of literature. Its basic story has numerous parallelisms from folklorists around the world, and embraces the universal theme of the triumph of good over evil.

This series re-illustrates this timeless Filipino tale to push its visual possibilities in the medium of modern Filipino abstract. JM Tejido’s signature acrylic on Hand-woven mats (banig) paintings take us weaving through the Kingdom of Berbanya, the princes’ perilous journey on Mount Tabor, finding the mystical Piedras Platas tree, and facing the creatures that abound the miraculous Adarna bird.


JMTEJIDO

Archt. JM Tejido He has held exhibitions in 1/of Gallery, Cultural Center of the Philippines , and Singapore among other group exhibits in Paris , Tokyo and Manila . His illustrative style of painting was a runner-up in the 16th NOMA Concours, a prestigious book illustrators’ competition in Tokyo , 2006. His work was also a finalist in the AAP abstract competition in 2007. He has illustrated over 25 children’s books, some of which he also authored, including Ang Pambihirang Sombrero and The Animal Myths series.

These paintings aim to become the pages of a timeless Ibong Adarna book in 2009 to be cherished for ages. See you on Sept. 2 :)

Jomike Tejido
Architect/ Artist
Tejido Architecture & Art

MOOD SONGS & MY FLYING MIND

''Mood Songs & My Flying Mind'' (No music, no show)
by Sidd Perez ( Ateneo Art Gallery)

More than anything, non-representational works capture a suspension in time. Indiscernible elements nurse abstract experiences – anything that humanity wants to give meaning to in ways other than through language or tangible, deductive structures. The structure that Fitz Herrera finds comfort in allows a human experience that moves around in more flexible terms. MOOD SONGS & MY FLYING MIND is a play on rigidity as well as fluidity – rebellious lines that contain, and solid colors that rub off into nebulous wholes.

Herrera provides a site where music and visual language mingle and weave into the nuances of their respective intuitive nature. Both operate on the experiential level – there is a vast, neutral space to be subjective at the same time they are bound by causal structures. In this case, MOOD SONGS & MY FLYING MIND is borne out of and provides unstructured languages – music and visual arts – but in the direction of joie de vivre. As a musically-inclined individual, Herrera creates works of art after musical compositions: Amber and Sweet being songs from 311, Breath and Right Here by Bliss, Humble Me and Those Sweet Words by Norah Jones, King Without a Crown by Matisyahu, The Doves Return by Aine Minogue and Yellow by Coldplay. The painting versions have become naturally easygoing pieces as Herrera moves with the upbeat and soulful melodies of the songs.

Tracing his practice, Herrera has moved from rigid boxes of colors to thick and sensuous swirls of paint. MOOD SONGS & MY FLYING MIND becomes a site where he reconciles his preference for lines and carefree colors. Lines that slackened at his previous shows make their appearance again – although not as deterministic and fierce or flaccid and wobbly. They have become off-angled lines tracing infinity in the form of chirpy hues and raincloud-blots that litter each frame with slight splatters. The adeptness with color is inherent in every work of Herrera, and it is his gift to turn even the most saturated or neutral of hues into a happy sage that uplifts all meandering souls. Additions to his body of works are installation pieces of found objects – both of which allude to thoughtful thoughtlessness and the artist's inspiration from music. MOOD SONGS refer to his series of paintings while MY FLYING MIND points to his installation art.

MOOD SONGS & MY FLYING MIND is Fitz Herrera's fifth solo show. He has consistently produced non-representational art shining with upbeat serenity. He is skilful in combining flexible elements, in this case, such as music and paint – always those with lyrical, freewheeling themes. The real value that he offers is one of optimism, and freedom to move about as well as to stay in limbo. One of his signature elements is composed of multi-colored vertical rows indicating his positive outlook in life. Manifested in his works, Herrera's hopeful nature pulsates in luminous fashion and has touched many collectors, artists and curious.

TRUTHFEST

YEARS WHEN I WAS A CHILD OUTSIDE

YEARS WHEN I WAS A CHILD OUTSIDE
directed by John Torres
AUGUST 20-26
indieSine, Robinsons Galleria

Previously screened as "Voice, Tilted Screens, and Extended Scenes of Loneliness: Filipinos in High Definition" as a work-in-progress in last year's Cinemanila festival. World premiere in Rotterdam (single screen) and Berlin Forum Expanded (multi-channel).

Added a few more scenes after. This final version screened first in Singapore.

Years When I was a Child Outside is, at once, a meditation. It is a meta-film that unravels a journey, a chronicle of stories through foreign regions. It is a probing letter from outside circles, an honest account of illegitimate views from uneven terrain, and a narrative-driven exploration of the nooks and peripheries of the body, geography, and weather. As the journey progresses, the film increasingly traverses the countries of revelation, film, and heart to where all journeys are meant to end with:

105 mins.
DV, color
Directed by John Torres

NEW ORDER

A New Order

The world exists in a manner of chaos and order. An action is equally reacted to either complement or destroy. The creations of things though start naturally as bedlam of ideas, thoughts or energy converging into a single conclave forming into a new order. Its focus is balance like a duality of concepts, of black and white, of the natural and the unnatural. A cycle that continues to bridge the past to the future with the present being the bastion of things to come.

At present, Galerie Anna intends to pursue art in a bold way by featuring a mix of the country’s leading and young visual artists. The “New Order” show is a group art exhibit featuring 20 artists namely Ambi Abaño, Virgilio Aviado, Benjie Cabangis, Ferdinand Doctolero, Noell EL Farol, Jethro Jocson, Marlon Magbanua, JCrisanto Martinez, Von Ng, Bobby Nuestro, Poch Naval, Milmar Onal, Mervy Pueblo, Eghai Roxas, Lirio Salvador, Choie, Pierre Patricio, Demosthenes Campos, Hermi Santo and Ymmanwel Rico Provinio.

With different backgrounds, style and ideology, each artist will present a number of nonrepresentational artworks highlighting contemporary world view. The exhibition thus intends to present art universally, challenging the perception of a mere décor into something that is highly regarded, keen to composition and dedicated to its form as fine art.

Galerie Anna aims to continually promote Philippine Art and the “New Order” show is a package that unwraps of what we anticipate in the future. A spark that create, make and endure in our local art scene.

The New Order will open this 19th of August 2008 at 6 in the evening and run until September 12. For more information and queries about the gallery and the exhibit, you can log on to www.galerieanna.com, contact the landline number at (632) 5679483, or email at info@galerieanna.com.

~ o ~

JCRISANTO MARTINEZ @ NEW ORDER

The New Order will open this 19th of August 2008 at 6 in the evening and run until September 12. For more information and queries about the gallery and the exhibit, you can log on to www.galerieanna.com, contact the landline number at (632) 5679483, or email at info@galerieanna.com.

IN FOCUS : GALLERY ANNA

JETHRO JOCSON @ NEW ORDER

The New Order will open this 19th of August 2008 at 6 in the evening and run until September 12. For more information and queries about the gallery and the exhibit, you can log on to www.galerieanna.com, contact the landline number at (632) 5679483, or email at info@galerieanna.com.

IMAGES OF THE PAST AND THE FUTURE