Peewee Roldan and Maxine Syjuco at NOW Gallery

Noberto Roldan, "What Is The Color of Beauty? 2"

NOW OPEN!  Pasong Tamo Extension just welcomed another art space. Now Gallery, a venture of collector Patrick Reyno, opened its doors last month.  Together with Silverlens/SLab, Manila Contemporary, and DAGC (Department of Avant-Garde Clichés), it will cement the strip’s reputation as the place for exciting contemporary art.  Now (no pun intended), if they could just all coordinate their openings!

Norberto Roldan, "What Is The Color of Beauty 2", detail

NORBERTO ROLDAN:  THE BEGINNING OF HISTORY AND FATAL STRATEGIES

When TAKSU, the Southeast Asian gallery network with branches in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Bali, submitted their application for Art Stage Singapore in late 2010, they received a surprising directive from Lorenzo Rudolf, the fair director.  For the high-profile 2011 debut of Asia’s newest art fair, Rudolf wanted the gallery to carry the works of only one artist from their roster:  that of Norberto “Peewee” Roldan’s from the Philippines.  “It was very stressful for me,” Peewee intimates.  “They told me in October, and the fair was scheduled for January!”

Norberto Roldan, "What Is the Color of Beauty 1", detail

By the fair’s opening date, however, The Beauty Of History Is That It Does Not Reside in One Place, Peewee’s one-man show, had been wonderfully installed inside the TAKSU booth.  The Singapore Art Museum promptly acquired one of the pieces on view.  Invisibilitus Est 1, an assemblage anchored on an old chasuble, now joins Faith In Sorcery, Sorcery In Faith (1+2),a Roldan piece from 1998, in the museum’s permanent collection.

Norberto Roldan, "What Is The Color Of Beauty 1", more detail

Peewee creates art primarily from putting together an assortment of objects, mostly curios that ascribe to Filipino folk Catholicism. Metal amulets, estampitas, anting-antings, and heirloom vestments are precisely arranged within specially fabricated wooden frames or panels that mimic pigeonholes.  They stand juxtaposed against a variety of bibelots—old fabric, antique photographs, kitschy religious statuettes, vintage toys, brass compacts, colored glass bottles.  Peewee initially culled these knickknacks from his own collection. When he had used up the lot for major exhibits in KL and Singapore in 2009, he turned to street vendors and second-hand shops in the vicinity of his Kamuning studio.

Norberto Roldan, Invisibilitus Est. 4"

The 58-year-old artist, who possesses degrees in Philosophy and Fine Arts, founded Green Papaya Art Projects, Manila’s foremost independent art space, in 2000.  He continues to run its programs. Until 2007, he also worked with ABS-CBN Merchandising, completing two stints as its Creative Director.  Concurrent to his day jobs, he practiced his art, a career that began with his first solo exhibit in 1987 at Hiraya Gallery.

Norberto Roldan, "Invisibilitus Sum 2"

This month, Peewee brings out more of his boxed constructions, a continuation of his April exhibit at Green Papaya.  Invisibilitus Est. 4, Invisibilitus Sum No. 1, and Invisibilitus Sum No. 2, again center on old chasubles.  Peewee confides how difficult these have been to come by lately.  He collected vintage studio shots for both What is the color of beauty? (1) and (2), the two largest pieces on view.  Both diptychs, the first pits the old photographs against clippings from current fashion magazines, composed with a gathering of clear and colored old bottles.  For the second, he has arranged more of these photos inside boxes.  Peewee has encapsulated the stories of an era within the frames inside the piece.

Norberto Roldan, "What Is The Color of Faith 3"

My favorite pieces in the show belong to the series What Is The Color Of Faith?  For the three pieces that make up this group of works, Peewee resurrected devices he has used in previous works.  Amulets, neon figurines, and bottles filled with herbs and finished with carmen-carmen (square bits of cloth pinned on garments of infants to serve as protection) form crucifixes.  Estampitas pasted on holograms create mesmerizing repetitions.

Norberto Roldan, "What Is The Color of Faith 3", detail

At the center of the gallery, a hundred used bottles of perfume inside an heirloom glass cabinet and two crystal chandeliers make up the installation Remembering My Mother’s Long Forgotten Scent.

Norberto Roldan, "What Is The Color of Faith 2"

Peewee’s pieces are social commentaries, discourses on our faith and history through collectibles.  “I consider objects as possessing anthropological values.  I cannot use an object merely on a whim… I put together old and new objects to signify the contemporary in the old,” Peewee explains his method of classifying his assemblages.  “In the end, all the objects participate in making a whole narrative…and to me that’s what makes the work art.  You’re not just telling a straight narrative but you are trying to break the narrative for people to make their own…each [person] can have their own reading of my pieces.”

Norberto Roldan, "What Is The Color of Faith 1", detail

Joaquin and Peewee Roldan with Triccie Luchangco and "What Is The Color of Faith 1"

Maxine Syjuco, "Propensity for Pain"

MAXINE SYJUCO:  A PROPENSITY FOR PAIN

Quite coincidentally, the second exhibit currently running at Now has also made use of found photographs, their sepia tones complementing Peewee’s works.  Maxine Syjuco printed a collection of discovered images on canvas.  She concealed the faces in each of them, replacing visages with painted human hearts.  Wooden frames that have been carved with wings complete each piece.  “Because these people have long passed on,” Maxine explains, “I use the wings to set them free.” Could one also say that they have been transformed into angels?

Maxine Syjuco, "Sans The Seven Dwarves"

A sculpture of a small house atop an open book sits at the center of the room.  Fabricated from wood and concrete, the doors and windows of the house stand wide open, ready to welcome Maxine’s liberated souls.

"A Propensity For Pain" installation view

Maxine Syjuco, "Prayers, Poems, Promises"

Norberto Roldan:  The Beginning of History and Fatal Strategies and Maxine Syjuco:  A Propensity for Pain run together with Pow Martinez:  Nature Paintings from 12 August to 7 September 2011 at Now Gallery & Consulting, Unit M05, Mezzanine, Eco Plaza Bldg., 2305 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City.  Phone (632) 555-0683 or visit http://www.nowgallery.net

An edited version of the write-up on Peewee’s show has been published in the August 2011 issue of Town and Country Philippines.  Visit http://www.facebook.com/townandcountry.ph

Norberto Roldan, "What Is The Color of Faith 2", detail

Norberto Roldan, "Remembering My Mother's Long Forgotten Scent"

Norberto Roldan, "The Beginning Of History and Fatal Strategies"

Norberto Roldan, "Something To Remember Me By"

 

Peewee Roldan Collects New Histories

Norberto Roldan, "The Beginning of History and The Agony of Power"

"The Beginnning of History and The Agony of Power", detail

In her essay, The Hint of Transition, curator Joselina Cruz writes “Norberto Roldan is first, and foremost, a collector.  A collector of objects and paraphernalia, of images and imagery, of symbols and text.”  The essay had been penned for the catalogue of The beauty of history is that it does not reside in one place, “Peewee” Roldan’s solo exhibit at Art Stage Singapore.  He mounted the show for Taksu, the gallery that represents him in Singapore and Malaysia.

"The Beginning of History and The Agony of Power", detail

The Singapore Art Museum (SAM) acquired one of the pieces in the art fair.  Invisibilitus Est. 1 now hangs in SAM as part of Negotiating Home, History and Nation: Two Decades of Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia, 1991-2010 to complement the offerings of the Singapore Biennale.

Norberto Roldan, "Invisibilitus Est. 3"

It was through SAM that I first encountered Peewee’s work. They exhibited Faith In Sorcery, Sorcery In Faith (1+2), a diptych from 1998 that had already been part of their collection, at the Ayala Museum in 2004 or 2005.  I can’t remember exactly when, but I’ve been fascinated ever since. The beginning of history, which opens this week at Green Papaya Art Projects, does not do anything to diminish that.  If at all, it makes me appreciate his work even more.

Installation view, "Invisibilitus Est. 3" flanked by "The Beginning of History and The System of Objects (1and 2)"

The pull of Peewee’s work lies in the manner in which he changes the context of his found and collected objects, especially those articles with a religious bent.  Within his boxed constructions, he has precisely arranged curios and gewgaws, vintage toys, old photographs, used bottles, all sorts of seemingly random items, to interact with priestly vestments, metal amulets, saintly figures, estampitas.  I find that I can identify with his absorption for folk Catholic kitsch and how it so easily combines with the everyday. I can relate to his social commentary. There is nothing absurd in the juxtaposition of an old

"The Beginning of History and The System of Objects 2", detail

Roman chasuble, anting-anting, and bottles of Ginebra San Miguel that we see in Invisibilitus Est. 3. The repetitive array of elements for The Beginning of History and The Agony of Power, a large-scale diptych, gives this piece a hypnotic rhythm. Neon tabletop figurines of the Blessed Virgin and the Sto. Niño share the same space as glass and chrome medicine bottles, old photos, and magazine clippings.

Installation View, "The Beginning of History and The Agony of Power" between "The Beginning of History and Seduction (1 and 2)"

The series of small assemblages, wooden frames lined with used printed wallpaper or vintage fabric against which Peewee has organized more mundane objects, encapsulate the exhibit’s title best.  Here trinkets and whatnots laden with previous histories have been put together to create new stories.  Peewee has put them on the road to acquiring and absorbing fresh destinies.

"The Beginning of History and Seduction 1", detail

The Beginning of History Norberto Roldan New Constructions runs from 27 April to 20 May 2011 at Green Papaya Art Projects,  41B T. Gener  cor. Kamuning Road, Quezon City.  For more information visit http://www.greenpapayaartprojects.org

"The Beginning of History and Seduction 2", detail

 

Norberto Roldan, "The Beginning of History and Fatal Strategies"

Installation View, "The Beginning Of History and Fatal Strategies (1-8)"

"The Beginning of History and The Illusion of The End 4", detail

"The Beginning of History and The Illusion of The End 3", detail

"The Beginning of History and The Illusion of The End 2", detail

"The Beginning Of History and Illusion of The End 1", detail

Norberto Roldan, "The Beginning of History and the Illusion of The End (1-4)"

Portraits from Inside: Martha Atienza, Bea Camacho, Sam Kiyoumarsi, Pow Martinez

Now this is my kind of group show.  The concept is simple, and you don’t get overwhelmed by the range of pieces on view.  Four

Pow Martinez, "Walking Corpse"

artists seem to be a good number for the venue, both to give each artist enough space to showcase their work, and for the viewer to take in the variety of styles present.

From Bea Camacho's "Self Portrait", portrait of her hands

Beautiful Inside My Head Forever explores contemporary portraiture.  Curator Peewee Roldan worked with the artists, and they’ve come up with their own take on what makes for portraits.  Two of them, Bea Camacho and Martha Atienza, have drawn self representations.  Bea illustrates how her person can be transformed into something as anonymous, unsubjective, and unemotional as numbers on a graph.  She measured her body, from the tip of her head to the soles of her feet, taking her dimensions at half inch intervals.  The three pieces that result from this exercise deliver a pretty sobering image:  the totality of a person reduced to nothing more than lines drawn with the aid of a ruler.

Detail from Bea Camacho, "Self Portrait"

Martha works with video.  As an artist of dual nationality, she spends half of her time in the beaches of Bantayan Island, the other half in Europe.  Bantayan Island, off the coast of Cebu, has a strong tradition of folk Catholic celebrations dating from the Spanish times.  One of the oldest churches in the Visayas and Mindanao can be found here.  The place comes alive with tourists during Easter, eager to take part in its Lenten rituals.  While she calls the island home, the natives consider Martha a bit exotic.  In her film, Aba Reina Si Maria, we see her decked in white, garbed quite similar to the life-sized santos stored in her family home.  What I get from the clip I caught is her depiction of herself as spectacle.  The islanders look at her in the same way they regard the life-sized saints they use for their processions, as part of their life, but not quite.

Video still from Martha Atienza, "Aba Reina si Maria"

Pow Martinez seems to be the artist du jour, currently making waves with collectors due in part to his very distinct style.  Here we see two more of his anti-painting paintings, done in the layers of squirts and dabs which we have come to identify with him. He calls one of them Wife. Hmmm, portrait of his ideal woman, perhaps?  Sam Kiyoumarsi’s untitled photo diptych gives us twin portraits without faces.  It takes awhile to discern that he uses a female subject for one of them.  Both have his subjects in similar poses, their heads bowed, their hair slightly disheveled.  I get the same feeling I get when I look at Nona Garcia’s painted portraits of the backs of people’s heads, as if I’ve chanced upon a private moment.  I have this urge to give these two a nudge, just to make my presence felt.

Sam Kiyoumarsi photo diptych

Beautiful Inside My Head Forever runs from 7 to 31 July 2010 at SLab, 2F YMC2 Bldg., Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City.  Phone (632)816-0044 or visit http://www.slab.silverlensphoto.com

Pow Martinez, "Wife"

The Sacred And Profane for Peewee Roldan

This October and November, Norberto “Peewee” Roldan brings his works to KL and Singapore, to the spaces of TAKSU in

Peewee's smaller-sized assemblages, "Sacred Devotions 7 and 8"

both cities.   Six weeks ago, the weekend before Typhoon Ondoy forever changed our definition of calamity, Peewee mounted a preview for both these shows at MO’s Space.  The preview only ran for five days, and I had the good fortune to catch it.

"We Have Nothing That Is Ours Except Time and Memory 2" Collected brass purses and plastic compacts interspersed with vintage photos

Detail

These days, we recognize Peewee as the soul behind Green Papaya Art Projects,  the bastion of cutting-edge, experimental art in Manila.  It takes these shows in Taksu to remind us that Peewee is himself a practicing contemporary artist. I first saw one of Peewee’s assemblages at the Ayala Museum in 2005 when it featured Filipino art from the permanent collection of the Singapore Art Museum.  I had the chance to see the same pieces on exhibit at the museum itself.  How lucky for art collectors in Malaysia and Singapore to have this opportunity to see his new pieces.

Antique brass compacts

Stampitas and medallions

A former seminarian, Peewee channels his fascination with Christian, animist, and pagan practices into his art pieces.  He integrates abubots he has collected for years with curios he finds during forays into places such as Quiapo.  He installs his baubles in small compartments, like shallow pigeonholes on a pharmacy shelf.  His bigger works have metal and brass purses and cigarette cases or plastic compacts interspersed with old sepia photos framed in wood.  He has a collection of religious stampita combined with small medallions,   plastic rosaries with amulets from Siquijor inside glass bottles,  or black and white wax effigies the size of one’s hand.  He lines his frames with vintage wallpaper, old publications, or fabric to add another layer of texture and detail to his work.

Stampitas, rosaries, medallions, and amulets inside glass bottles

For his smaller assemblages, he combines his toy collection, robots and action figures, with religious icons and memorabilia.  In his biggest piece, he even cut up a family heirloom, priestly vestments he had inherited from an uncle.

Detail

An interesting series has him using cigar boxes to house more of his miscellany.  Another brings back work originally done for a 2003 show in Australia, Pleasure and Pain. For this, he displays trinkets that give pleasure or induce pain in boxes with glass lids that we see in emergency exits for first aid kits.

Assemblage from a family heirloom

Using vintage cigar boxes to house his curios

I enjoyed seeing a body of Peewee’s works hanging together.  You get a better sense of what he is about, this immersion in folk religious beliefs.  I see so many pieces nowadays that I can’t help the ennui that occasionally sets in.  But when I get that feeling of wonder and amazement, like how I felt after catching this preview, then I know why I snatch time off in the middle of a working day to view art.

From his "Pleasure And Pain" series

Everything Is Sacred runs from 22 October to 21 November at Taksu Kuala Lumpur.  Profane Is The New Sacred runs from 26 November to 20 December at Taksu Singapore.  For more information, visit http://www.taksu.com

Detail

An assemblage with Peewee's toy collection

Making use of black and white wax effigies