5TH INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN-ART BIENNALE BANGLADESH 2009

The Embassy of the Philippines – Bangladesh is inviting Philippine participation in the 5th International Children-Art Biennale Bangladesh 2009.

This exhibition, which is organized by the Bangladesh Shishu Academy, aims to promote understanding in the cultural field among the children of the world. Please check their website for the entry rules and regulations: http://www.bangladeshshishuacademy.com.

Please note that all entries should be submitted by 15 March 2009 to the address below:

H.E. ZENAIDA TACORDA-RABAGO
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Embassy of the Philippines – Bangladesh
House No. 17, Road 7, Baridhara
Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh

PAGALINGAN PINAY: ART PAINTING COMPETITION FOR WOMEN

PAGALINGAN PINAY
ART PAINTING COMPETITION FOR WOMEN


Join the country's first art contest created exclusively for women and get a chance to win:

Php 100,000 - Grand Prize
Php 50,000 - 1st Runner Up
Php 30,000 - 2nd Runner Up


Open to all female students and professionals who are 18 to 35 years of age with Philippine citizenship.

Entry forms are available at the College of Fine Arts in the following universities:
BENILDE, FEU, FEATI, HOLY SPIRIT, PUP, PWU, TUP, UE, UP and UST.

or at the following art galleries:

Gallery BiG, G/F LRI Design Plaza, 210 N. Garcia (formerly Reposo) St., Bel-Air, Makati
Tels: 666.7755 or 895.4516

e GALERIE, 2/F The Shops@Serendra, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Tels: 915.3840 or 0922.806.4010

Gallery Nine, 4th Level, SM Megamall A, Mandaluyong City
Tel: 910.8016 or 0922.822.3369

my little art place, 222 Wilson St., Greeenhills, San Juan
Tel: 409.4122 or 0922.806.4007

Village Art Gallery, 1st Level, Home Zone, Alabang Town Center, Muntinlupa City
Tel: 850.771

KAMUNING

SO FAR AWAY

EARTH AND ART

Net 25 Earth & Art Exhibit

NET 25 through its premier infotainment program TRIBE presents Earth and Art Exhibit at the SM North EDSA Activity Center (Food Court) on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 from 10 am to 9 pm.

TRIBE which features Pinoy life, culture and lifestyle, will merge with some of the country's talented artists, photographers and environment advocates for an exhibition that carries NET 25‘s theme of “Earth and Art”. It tackles creativity through earth-friendly living. Short shows on Tribe featured information on how to live in an eco-friendly world while enjoying the beauty of art.

RSVP via Facebook.

For more details about the exhibit, contact TRIBE Producer Feamor Tiosen at 995.13.25 loc 4482. Catch TRIBE daily at NET 25 from 7:30 pm to 8pm.

BOHOL ARTIST'S SUMMIT

The OPF is looking for 10 budding art geniuses to send to Bohol for an awesome, shmawesome Artists’ Summit.All expenses paid. All you gotta do is fill out the form and send back to us. info@theopf.org. Visit www.theopf.org for details.

Painters, Illustrators, Sculptors and whatever else, give it a shot and mail us!
Teachers, do nominate your students! Students, fill out a form!
Hurry, deadline for submission of forms is MARCH 9!

Rinka Romero
Executive Director
www.theopf.org
Tel (632)8072395
Fax (632)8072403

Download Form

BECOMING

The beauty of seeing is limitless. How we see an object and what it represents based on our own understanding is changed in time as we eliminate the inessentials, seek the essentials, until the object reveals and becomes.

I am endlessly enthralled by what I see as I delve between the visible and the hidden. I love how an object slowly uncovers itself and what happens visually as a result. What I see and feel towards myself and my subjects and how the camera record is what I respond to. It brings me closer to the actual experience of seeing and allows me to explore the duality of the object and capture the very core essence and beauty of it.

The abstract/surreal quality within each of my work examines the capacity of our eyes to change the way we look at something and the capability of the object to transform within the act of seeing. It also seeks to explore the duality of the object: what is perceived as real and what is perceived as abstracted, by becoming.

The series are carefully considered and the subjects range from the simple beautiful objects left unnoticed like plastics and cloths to a noticeable subject – a man swimming in a pool.

Words by Kadin Tiu

Kadin Tiu is a self-trained photographer and studied painting with Ronald Caringal. She is a licensed nurse from the University of Santo Tomas who answered her call to pursue art instead. Her works make us look at something we won’t normally see and yet see something we are purposely looking for. They are quiet, intimate dialogues with the things that are beautiful. Kadin has shot for Flow magazine and is part of Preview magazine’s anniversary issue coming out April. This is her first solo exhibit.

Opening cocktails of “Becoming” will be on Saturday 6PM, March 07, 2009 at The Cubicle Art Gallery, 40A. C. Raymundo corner Stella Marris Street Brgy. Maybunga, Pasig City

DIMINISHING RETURNS

PAPERWORKS 2009 INTERNATIONAL JURIED COMPETITION

Paperworks 2009 International Juried Competition
b.j. spoke Gallery
299 Main Street, Huntington, NY 11743

Entry deadline, May 29, 2009.

Artists with innovative work who use paper as their primary medium are invited to submit up to three works of art. Drawings, graphics, sculpture, 3D, bound books. No paintings or photography. Winners' Exhibition of selected works will be August 1-31 2009. Judge, Maura Heffner, Exhibitions Manager, The Whitney Museum of American Art, NY. $35 entry fee, US funds only. Download prospectus at www.bjspokegallery. com, call gallery at 631 549 5106 or send SASE to address listed above.

Best,
Lis Dreizen
bj spoke gallery
Huntington
NY

HERZON: SUBTLE TRANSITION

TUBODFEST 2009

TubodFest 2009
The Best of Cebuano Art, Design and Culture
March 7 to 13
The Terraces, Ayala Center Cebu

Visual Arts
Furniture
Fashion
Architecture
Print
Interactive
MusicPerforming Arts
Motion Picture
Culinary


Come see how Cebu works its Art.

Creative Cebu is part of the British Council’s Creative Cities program which aims to foster growth and development by creating linkages and promoting cooperation among the city’s creative industries, entrepreneurs, government and other stakeholders. The impetus for this project stems from the belief that development in the 21st century will be driven by the creative sectors. Not only do they already impact most, if not all, industries, their influence continues to increase. However, these creative sectors will not fully realize their potential and maximize their contributions without the support of business and government.

The Creative Cities program in Southeast Asia was launched in Bandung, Indonesia last year. The fourth largest city in the country and the capital of West Java, Bandung is known to be a music and design hotspot with many indie labels, artists and bands. When the Philippines was chosen to be the next venue for a similar project, Jay Aldeguer, who happened to be one of five delegates from the Philippines, insisted on Cebu because of our outstanding history in business, design and the arts as evidenced by the numerous Cebuano creative entrepreneurs and innovators who are world-renowned.

The first component of C2 will be a Design Conference from March 5-7, 2009. It will be attended by 60-70 delegates representing British Council offices from Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, China and the UK. In addition to sessions and seminars, they will be visiting our province’s historical and cultural sites, as well as take tours of export factories, One Visayas and Cebu X.

The second component of C2 will be the establishment of the Creative Cebu Network, Inc. which will not only map the contributions of the creative sectors but also maintain a database of those engaging in these activities. The network will also stage numerous events throughout the year so that the collaborations and interaction will continue past the initial conference.

Derived from the Cebuano term for spring, TubodFest 2009 is intended to be a source of ideas and inspiration, and a catalyst for cooperation and innovation. This event will showcase the best of Cebuano Art Design & Culture not just as how it is, but how it can be, and will be open to anyone and everyone.

Ten Creative Sectors have been identified, each of which will have a space that will exhibit the best of their particular discipline.

PASSAGEMAKERS

RAMON DIAZ'S PASSAGEMAKERS:
An artist and a salvaged sailboat's twin sojourn

What history lay hidden behind an old sailboat? What shores had it docked on? What dramas had taken place aboard its deck? What tempests of nature had it endured? These must have been playing inside the mind of painter Ramon Diaz when he saved a sunken 29-foot, three-ton sloop full keel when the Manila Yacht Club brought it out of the water three years ago. "There was already too much damaged to be restored, but too memorable to be discarded," he noted. Crafted in a manner reminiscent of the European way of building boats in the 30s and 40s, the Imelda 1 (the name traced by its former owner Eddie Go of the Makati Stock Exchange in the 50s and who traced it back to its earliest owner Miguel Magsaysay of the Magsaysay Lines fame) was said to have sailed from Europe to Guam then to Manila.

Thus, in a creative decision borne not simply out of nostalgia, but a keen appreciation of history intersecting with his well-known, ongoing romance with the sea, Diaz began work on his first collection of sculptures from parts of that salvaged vessel. Passagemakers is the much-awaited sequel to his September 2007 RIBS painting exhibition where he highlighted a single piece constructed from the ship's wooden ribs and deck plank.

Passagemakers reflects Diaz's passion for sailing as well as his continuing journey as an artist. It references the metamorphosis of a seemingly mundane material, such as this sailboat, into a series of well-thought œuvres that reveals the artist's vision and figuratively conveys his personae. Diaz steps back in time appreciating the salvageable past and moves forward expressing social concern for the environment by using recyclable materials and making a statement against the present cultural predisposition towards disposability of old and seemingly useless things that, in the right hands, can still be imbued with beauty and significance. Diaz believes in reusing these disposables, these objets trouvé (found objects) the way he once did in Banak House -- his beach house in Calatagan, Batangas -- with the about-to-be-burned ruins of Aringay Church in La Union. To borrow from Surrealist leader André Breton, in raising the dignity of an object with a utilitarian function to a work of art, Diaz's genius eased the passage of a wrecked ship to a provocative mixed media series through his inspired choice of elements.



Rather than presenting us with glossy-finished and high-stylized pieces, he has retained the natural look of the boat with the weather-beaten look of the planks blending well with the painted-on and assembled elements that is suffused with symbolism. The interplay of allusions drawn from Diaz's knowledge of Philippine history and sailing lore surfaces in pieces such as Calculated Risk, where an abacus was incorporated in a part of the boat, evoking ancient Chinese sailors who ply junk boats along the shores of Manila Bay. Antigua with its inked scenes of Spanish conquistadores, sabers, pistols and other battle symbols in between a dangling sarimanok brass figure from the Muslim South and a crucified Christ's head painted on a conch shell depicts the long-standing conflict between the two cultures. Guiding Eyes highlights a pair of dark eyes painted on both sides of the bow or the front part of the boat, seemingly watchful and wise.

Aside from his successful RIBS and Celestial Horses exhibit in the country, his Nishikigoi (koi or carp) series was featured during a highly successful solo show at the Steuben Glass in New York in 2007. Diaz pursued advanced studies in Europe and continues to reinvent new materials and approaches, stretching himself beyond the realm of paper and palette. This is his 24th exhibit since he started painting in the early '90s. There was serendipity in finding that salvaged sailboat as it led to a new vista and perhaps an altogether new direction for his creativity. To extend the metaphor further, with this new collection, Diaz proves anew that indeed he has earned his right to passage into the art world's appreciative embrace.

Passagemakers will have its opening on March 7 at Galleria Duemila located at 210 Loring Street, Pasay City. The show runs until March 30. For more information, please contact 813-9990 and telefax 833-9815, e-mail: duemila@mydestiny.net or visit www.galleriaduemila.com.

LIFE EXPECTANCIES

Jayson Oliveria
Life Expectancies
2009 March 7 – April 8
Mag:net Katipunan


Douglas Huebler’s blunt pronouncement is a double-edged sword - “The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add anymore.” On the first reading, it completely dispenses with the necessity for producing anything more as the source, the world, is amply equipped with it already. The second reading begs for any of those objects to be ultimately framed and transubstantiated from generic utility to an object of wonderment and sublimity by the mere arbitrary choice of the artist, still practically useless just the same. Manzoni encompasses that pronouncement with an iron pedestal for the whole world itself, a cubic Atlas bearing the conceit of such pronouncement, the finality of all possible propositions for a subject. More than ever, this earth is mapped by images of itself, of its whole and of its infinite parts. From within and beyond the bounds of its heavens, a camera is propped to document itself, an ubiquitous eye on its people, its landscapes, its skies, its objects, its creatures; a self-awareness made more apparent by the multiplicity of its pictures, an awareness motivated by its fear of its own utter annihilation.

Life Magazine thrived on such goal to offer its readers an omnibus of such images, but with a blithe eye for their certain brand of photo-journalism, as their manifesto used to attest – “We wish to have some fun in this paper... We shall try to domesticate as much as possible of the casual cheerfulness that is drifting about in an unfriendly world... We shall have something to say about religion, about politics, fashion, society, literature, the stage, the stock exchange, and the police station…” This all the more makes them perfect fodder for Jayson Oliveria’s visual puns and oblique maneuvers that betwixt meaning and metaphor into a crushing punch line, devious and obvious at the same time. This as to be gleaned from his latest exhibit entitled Life Expectancies opening at Mag:net Katipunan on the 7th of March.

These scavenged images, Googled once again and printed directly on primed canvas, are minimally intervened by Oliveria by combing over, smearing, dabbing paint on the pictures’ edges or on some of its parts; in others an outline image of a bawdy reversible cartoon is drawn over with various colored pigments. He terms these interventions as enhancements, something devised as not to detract from what the picture is, but to amplify rather their generic iconicity, centered and underscored by the white margins or “leave-outs” around them. This as seen in one of the images where Oliveria scattered more dots on a picture of a man holding a bored through baseball bat; or in another where the debris of an explosion is multiplied and flicked on to the edge of the canvas which has been roughly stained by a rather appalling magenta.

There is the over-all datedness in the images that Oliveria used, being mostly culled from an age that has just come out of the ruins of past world wars and embracing all the novelty of an idealized life jumpstarted by a renewed and accelerated industrialization.[1] These pictures act like pictograms in typifying what they represent – as a piece of ham bone would look like, as a sliced loaf of bread with jam would look like, or a bobbysoxer’s shoes would look like, or even a horribly decaying teeth would look like – didactic, common, nonspecific, almost utilitarian as an assembly line item – all rather appealing qualities for its very dissection and further manipulation for Oliveria. The logo of Life magazine, intact and conspicuous at the bottom of each image however stresses the incongruity of the image with what the trademark name would usually imply, connote or denote.

Oliveria’s manipulations of such images are seeming extensions of the shelf-life of these images whose near obsolescence marks both their datedness and clinical generalness. Art’s intrusion beholds them longer for scrutiny and further evaluation. But does such an attempt foil or rather affirm the verity of the adage Ars longa, vita brevis (art is long, life is short)? But for how long is the art good for when art itself is and experienced as a picture imaged from among the dozen images available anywhere now?

(This as exemplified by a towering spindly network of surveillance cameras crafted from cardboard cylinders and milk cartons, a proxy prop or decoy for the actual thing.)

If pictures are to be deemed as approximations of actual things, and if art serves that same function when it exists as an actual thing by itself, do these corollaries chew on each other’s premise and proceed to make muck off them by their infinite referencing?

It might be reassuring to be reminded from time to time that the base of the world has edges after all for the other stuff that tire of being beholden to fall off from and to let life run off the frame.

Life Expectancies will have its opening cocktails on the 7th of March at 6PM. This will be followed by band performances from LOC and Trojan Whores at 9:30PM.

The exhibit will be on view until the 8th of April 2008.
___________________________
[1] The end of the 1940s thru the 1950s, also the heyday of Life Magazine. Most of these images are unpublished material and are downloadable as a public domain source through Google.

JUAN FOR TREES : AN INSTALLATION AVENUE

Juan for Trees: An Installation Avenue


The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), in celebration of Earth Day in 2009, wishes to invite students to join Juan for Trees (143s): An Installation Avenue. This is a design competition of conceptual trees that will be part of a public art installation at the front lawn of the CCP. It is an avenue for students to implement theories into actuality, and work with corporations towards innovative recycling ideas. 143s is about nurturing a green generation.

This is an exciting project which we hope you could be a part of. We would be more than happy to visit your school to address your student body and student organizations who may be interested to participate in this effort. Hence, we would like to schedule an appointment with you as soon as possible because the deadline for registration is on March 11, 2009. You may coordinate with Karen Ocampo Flores, Officer In Charge of the Visual Arts and Museo Division of CCP or Marika B. Constantino, Curator and Writer for 143s, at juanfortrees@gmail.com to know more about this competition.

Attached are documents that you may find useful. Guidelines, registration forms and other pertinent information are available at:
Visual Arts and Museo Division
4th Floor Cultural Center of the Philippines
Tel. 632.8323702 or 632.8321125 local 1504-1505

143sInstallAve.multiply.com.

143s Competition Regulations and Guidelines

Qualifications
· This contest is open to students from Metro Manila schools, colleges and universities that offer art, design and other technically related courses (i.e. fine arts, architecture, engineering).
· Students must be actively enrolled in at least 3 units in their particular schools; certification from the school is required.
· There can only be one competition entry per team.
· Members of the team can only join once; a team member cannot be part of another team.

Registration
· An accomplished registration form must be filled out and submitted or faxed to 551.5960 (Attention: Visual Arts Division) on or before the prescribed deadline in order to be a part of the competition.
· Once registered, a registration number will be given to the participating team. This will be done through email.
· Only one registration form and registration number per team.
· Registration starts on February 18, 2009 and ends at exactly 5 pm on March 11, 2009.

The 143s Contest
· The challenge is to design a visually arresting and aesthetically pleasing tree installation that will advocate a green generation.
· At least 80% of the recyclable materials to be used must be derived from a mix of the traditional or non-traditional waste and recyclable by-products of the team's corporate partner (industrial, construction, manufacturing, packaging, etc.). At least one corporate partner must be earmarked by the team for this purpose.
· The conceptual tree will be installed and erected on a 5M x 5M area (please refer to the Installation Plan from a previous blog entry).
· The parameters of the challenge are as follows:
1. The allotted area for each team's installation is 5M x 5M. How the allotted area will be managed will be up to the discretion and design of the team.
2. Each tree must have a minimum height of 10 feet and a maximum height of 20 feet.
3. In case of embedded structures, holes for the foundation can be dug at a maximum depth of 4 feet. 2 inch x 2 inch pegs can be utilized if needed as part of the support.
4. Any surface disturbance must be brought back to its original state upon egress.
5. Ingress will take place on March 14-18, 2009. Prefabrication of design components, if needed, must be done beforehand. Scheduled ingress will be followed strictly.
6. Teams are discouraged from using electrical components. Lighting will be provided by the CCP for the overall installation.
7. Adequate structural support must be considered by the team through the design and the materials to be employed. The CCP will not be responsible for any mishap.
8. The conceptual tree's design must be able to withstand changing weather conditions during the exhibition run.

Call for Proposals

Format
· Each team is required to submit their design proposal entry on A4 format, compiled in a folder.
· No identification marks (logos, names, initials and the like) should appear on the entries.
· Only the registration number should be evident on the front cover of the folder and the pages contained therein.
· Teams may use any print medium to convey their design proposal

Content
· The installation design proposal must include the following:
· Title of installation
· Concept, basis or rationale for the installation in narrative or graphic form or a combination of both. Text may either be in Filipino or English.
· A team statement that will be carried through the design. Text may either be in Filipino or English.
· Corporate partner of the team; brief background
· Plans, elevations, sections or isometric drawings (drawn in the same scale) or any other form of illustration that will show the actual intent and design of the conceptual tree; measurements, material specifications and call-outs should be included in the drawings so as to signify the recyclable waste that will be utilized; drawings must be able to convey the method of assembly or how it will be erected
· Perspective view or rendering of the conceptual tree
· A separate listing of the recyclable materials to be utilized; it should be derived from a mix of the traditional or non-traditional waste from the team's corporate partner
· Keep in mind that non-compliance with the content requirements may mean disqualification of the team's entry.

Submission

The following documents must be placed inside a short brown envelope together with the design proposal:
· Requirements
· Completed Submission Form
· Photocopy of school registration form, proving that the student is officially enrolled during the contest proper; or a certification from the school that signifies that the students is enrolled in at least 3 units during the contest proper
· Together with the other documentary requirements, all design proposal entries should be personally delivered to:
Visual Arts and Museo Division
4th Floor Cultural Center of the Philippines
Please call 632.8323702 or 632.8321125 local 1504-1505 for inquiries
· Submissions after the deadline will not be accepted.
· Submissions will be accepted from March 18 to 25, 2009. Strictly no acceptance of submissions shall be done after 5 pm of March 25, 2009.

Eligibility

A Secretariat will check the proposals before these are submitted to the Panel of Jurors. The Secretariat will focus on the proposal's compliance with the submission requirements. A list of entries will be submitted to the Screening Committee for ratification.

Screening
· A shortlist of 16-20 proposals shall be selected from the eligible entries by the Screening Committee on March 27 and March 28, 2009.
· The final number of short-listed participants is dependent on the over-all area that has been allotted for the whole installation. The range is based on the possible number of trees that can be lined-up (center to center) with due consideration to visual breathing space.
· During the screening period, all entries shall remain anonymous to the Screening Committee. Only after the shortlist is known will the identities of the teams and shall be revealed. The team members' credentials will be verified to establish their eligibility.
The eligible entries will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
1. Concept
2. Incorporation of recyclable materials to overall design
3. Possible visual impact
4. Feasibility in assembly
5. Harmony with the entire installation
· The shortlist of participants will be announced on April 1, 2009.
· The short-listed teams will be notified through telephone or email and are required to attend the briefing on April 8, 2009.
· The Screening Committee shall be composed of the following members:
1. Visual Arts and Museo Director of CCP
2. Curator of 143s
3. CCP Official/143s Technical and Artistic Consultant

Judging
· Members from the academe, credible institutions and organizations will be invited to form the Panel of Jurors that will conduct the final judging.
· Final judging will be on the opening of the installation April 22, 2009.
· Teams are encouraged to attend the opening in case the Panel of Jurors wish to clarify some matters or ask some questions.
· Corporate partners or the teams will also be invited to support the event.
· The winners will be announced on the same event.
· General criteria for judging will be as follows:
1. Concept and message
2. Utilization of recyclable materials
3. Visual impact

DAVID SWALES : RECENT WORKS

RECENT WORKS FROM THE PHILIPPINES
Paintings by David Swales
March 6 to March 18, 2009
Artist Reception on Friday, March 6, from 7-10pm

A solo exhibition of abstract paintings by David Swales will open on Friday, March 6, 2009, at The Whitebox Gallery, Cubao. A reception for the artist will take place on the opening night from 7pm.

From his origins on The Falls Road in sectarian West Belfast, continuing through a nomadic life in Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America, David's work is an exploration of color, culture and contrasting textures experienced in many parts of the world.

As a self-taught artist and photographer, living in Asia for many years, he is heavily influenced by both Korean and Japanese Raku Ceramics and Wabi-Sabi aestheticism. Working for a period in the renowned St. Martin's School of Art and Design in London also provided David with further momentum to explore new techniques and styles.

The Japanese term Wabi-Sabi has no direct translation in the English language. It is best described as an intuitive appreciation of the understated beauty to be observed in the seasonality, asymmetry and imperfection of objects in the world around us. From the turning of the autumn leaves to the weathering of moss-covered rocks, this oft fleeting and transient beauty is a reflection of time, exposure and erosion. An acknowledgement of often unappreciated beauty within our environment is an ever-present thread within the artist's work.

Wabi-Sabi's aestheticism is a direct contrast to the traditional Western aesthetic ideals of symmetry, perfection and visual purity. A unique spiritual appreciation of a given moment in time, reflected within the continuous flow and metamorphosis of all things defines the essence of Wabi-Sabi.

The artist believes the rich processes and the journey intrinsic to each of his works are as important as the final work itself. Painting horizontally on flat canvas or wood, David builds the piece layer by layer, often utilizing ash, sand, driftwood, and other naturally weathered objects gathered on his travels. His intention is to weave the unique energy, mystery and unknown history of these items into the rich fabric of the work.

Despite a major setback in 2002, when fire destroyed his Korean studio and most of his prior works, Korea still provides one of the deepest and most evident influences in the artist's work. The artist has also resided in West Berlin, Seoul, Beverly Hills, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, London, Belfast, Dortmund, Osnabruck, Cyprus and Texas.

ARCHIVING ROBERTO CHABET

ARCHIVING ROBERTO CHABET
Ringo Bunoan

Opening event on 3 March, 6PM
6 March 2009 (Friday), 3PM
UP Vargas Museum

In line with the Archiving Roberto Chabet exhibit, the UP Vargas Museum will be having an Artist's Talk by Ringo Bunoan on 6 March 2009 (Friday), 3 PM. The exhibition will be on show at the Cellar Gallery and Basement B of the Museum (Opening event on 3 March, 6PM). In this exhibition, artist and researcher Ringo Bunoan focuses on the work of the pioneering conceptual artist Roberto Chabet, beginning with his early drawings and collages in the 1960s to his current installations and objects.

Ringo Bunoan is an artist, writer, and curator. Since her graduation from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts in 1997, she has participated in numerous contemporary art exhibitions in Manila and across Asia. From 1999-2004, she led the independent art space Big Sky Mind, which she co-founded with Katya Guerrero and other artists. In 2003, Ringo Bunoan was named as one of the Thirteen Artists by the Cultural Center of the Philippines. After nearly three years in Kathmandu, she returned to Manila in 2006 to work on new projects, including a research on Philippine contemporary art for the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong. As part of her documentation project, she organized a lecture series in 2007 on artist-run-spaces at Magnet Gallery in Katipunan. This exhibit focusing on Roberto Chabet is also a result of her ongoing research.

Admission to the Artist's Talk is free. For inquiries, please call the UP Vargas Museum at (+632) 928-1927, (+632) 981-8500 loc. 4024, (+632) 928-1925, or send an e-mail to this address. The Museum's official website may be viewed at www.vargasmuseum.org.

BANDS OF REFLECTIONS

An exhibition of abstract images of urban landscapes entitled “Bands of Reflections” by Indian artist VINITA KARIM who resides in Metro Manila for the past five years, promises a respite from the gaiety of local colors and the trenches of social realism of decay and squalor.

Her long strips of dark maroon and cobalt blue colors floating on caramel ponds are an invitation to the eyes to elongate their scales beyond the limits of the canvas or the breadth of the painting. The illusion of continuity of the lines places the viewer on a virtual spot of the earth to breathe in the emotions and thoughts laid down by the painter. One is brought into a threshold of a journey or a trek into the moods and statements of the finite world of society inside the clutch of the Great Spirit who did the creation.

Having gone to many places all her life—born in Burma, schooled in Germany, Sudan, Kuwait, Pakistan and Sweden with her Indian diplomat father, and lived in temporary addresses with her engineer husband and two kids in Switzerland, Germany, India, Bangladesh, Egypt and the Philippines—Vinita (whose name in Hindi means “something you ask for from God”) moves her brush and colors the changing sites of the cities where her feet had pressed their marks.

Far from idyllic sceneries, Vinita paints landscapes that are ravaged by war and destruction, urban decay, environmental degradation, social squalor and overpopulation, and the dynamics of socio-economic forces. She laces them inside the caramel of her faith, a faith that belongs not to one religion but to all religions of men.

All faiths in one flask bobbing up and down on the ocean of seeming infinity: a metaphor for the stretch of her journey in life. Every spot on the earth has been her successive home, each a source of the storehouse of gentle memories. Developed countries fill her with forebodings that the horizons of human achievement are near the uninhabited wastelands of the deserts and the half-done towns. Do dots of their potentials take course through her works? Where will home be for a Punjabi daughter at the end?

Vinita explains that the Punjabis are a group of people who live in north of India. They love to work hard, play much, live an active social life, and love the good life. Every Punjabi is proud that he has a prolific interest in education in the arts such as poetry, music, dancing, architecture, painting and sculpture. This heritage shows up in Vinita’s accomplishments as a double degree holder in business administration and economics, a master in fine arts degree in the University of the Philippines in 2007, and as a great cook and pastry baker.

The exhibition Bands of Reflections runs from March 5 to 22 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 or visit www.hiraya.com

2008 ATENEO ART AWARDEE KAWAYAN DE GUIA RECEIVES THE FIRST NEW YORK ARTS PROJECT RESIDENCY GRANT

The Ateneo Art Gallery is pleased to announce that Kawayan de Guia is the recipient of the first New York Arts Project residency grant, an international artist-in-residence program presented by the Ateneo Art Gallery, through a generous bequest from art patron Marcel Crespo, Art Omi International Arts Centre and Asian Cultural Council New York.

The 2009 New York Arts Project will enable Mr. de Guia to participate in the Art Omi International Artists Residency, a 3 week program conducted within 300 acres of farmland in upstate New York. It will be held from Sunday, June 28 through Monday, July 20, 2009. De Guia is one of the 30 artists chosen out of 990 applicants from 69 different countries.

Residencies are sought after by artists because it gives them time and space to devote to the contemplation and production of their art. The Art Omi Residency provides artists with exposure to fellow practitioners from different cultures as well as the opportunity for one on one time with Frances Richard, an independent art critic, writer and poet who is this year’s critic in residence. The program also involves an Open Day when hundreds of people flock tothe art center to visit the studios and talk to the artists.

The New York Arts Project Residency Grant is awarded to one of the winners of the Ateneo Art Awards, the contemporary art prize given annually by the Ateneo Art Gallery to artists below the age of 36 that have made a significant contribution to the development of Philippine Contemporary Art.

* Attachment: One of the works from Kawayan's winning exhibition, Incubator

BLOOM : WORKS BY WOMEN 2009

BLOOM. Works by Women 2009
March 3-28, 2009
opening date: March 3, Tuesday @ 6pm
venue: CONSPIRACY GARDEN CAFE #59 Visayas Ave. QC Tel. 4532170


Daphne Aguilar
Scarlet Aguilar
Cynthia Alexander
Tala Alexander
Mency Atienza
Tita Lacambra-Ayala
Tina Basco
Carol Bello
Nana Buxani
Susan Corpuz
Ina Avellana-Cosio
Aba Lluch Dalena
Lai Del Rosario
Rufina Fajardo
Nerisa del Carmen Guevara
Jemina
Emanwelga Lacaba
Mithi Lacaba
Julie Lluch
Vivian Limpin
Alma Quinto

Macrina Vicente

2/60

In celebration of its second anniversary as an art space, Kaida Gallery mounts 2/60, an exhibition of works of 60 contemporary Filipino artists.

Kaida Gallery was founded in February 2007, envisioning to support the works of young, dedicated, and emerging painters and sculptors as well as collaborations between them and established names in Philippine art. In February 2008, Kaida Gallery celebrated its first year as an art space with 1/50, featuring the works of 50 Philippine artists.

2/60 is also Kaida Gallery’s contribution to the celebration of February as National Arts Month. The exhibit’s collection of works by a wide range of visual artists from different generations who work in different genres is a testament to the diversity and dynamism within Philippine contemporary art.

2/60 opens on 22 Februyary 2009, Sunday 6 p.m., at Kaida Gallery located at the 2nd Floor, GFO Building,122 Kamuning Road, Quezon City, Philippines 1102. The show runs until March 5, 2009. For inquiries, please call (632)4144777 or email info@kaidagallery.com.