Nona Garcia’s Fine Fractures

Nona Garcia, "A Series Of Fractures", x-ray plates made into light boxes

I loved the quiet impact of Fractures, Nona Garcia’s show that opened this week at West Gallery.  I honestly did not know what to expect from this, her third show of the year, coming as it did on the heels of her SLab and Finale exhibits.  For those two shows, Nona gave us major pieces, firmly announcing she had come back after a brief hiatus.  As majestic as her two oversized paintings

Nona Garcia, "Above Water", photo assemblage

had been, White, blank(at Slab in March) and Fall Leaves After Leaves Fall (at Finale in May) simply reacquainted us with Nona.  She revisited signature devices, her portraits from behind and depictions of damaged and abandoned spaces.

Nona Garcia, "Above Water", photo assemblage

In this new show, I felt that she contemplated a bit more, allowing herself the luxury of finding other avenues to express herself.  She had already reminded us that she paints beautifully, that nobody captures that turn of the head or the poignancy of a mutilated vehicle as finely as she does.   Here at West Gallery, Nona deliberately toned things down and indulged herself, mounting a minimalist show that let her play with her lighting and her medium.

In Gallery 1, she showed a series of twelve photo assemblages she calls Above Water.  Employing the techniques of paper tole, she created three-dimensional images by building up layers of photographs reproduced from images she found online.  Nona chose random black and white pictures that depicted domestic interiors ruined or affected by flood.  By skillfully cutting out portions of each image, and piling up

Nona Garcia, "Above Water", photo assemblage

exact duplicates of selected elements, she succeeded in creating an effect similar to that of a diorama.  Each photo assemblage is framed elaborately in black, and equipped with its own lamp.  Despite the small size of each piece (8”x 11” each), her crafty approach magnified the calamity and the chaos depicted within the spaces she chose.  Unfortunately, my photos and video could not capture the details.

Nona Garcia, "Above Water", photo assemblage

In the second gallery, Nona used the image of a crumpled ball of paper as the subject for a series of paintings entitled One-Off.   This is, of course, not the first time that a ball of paper has been glorified as art.  British artist Martin Creed has famously done this as an ode to its ordinariness. Nona chose to focus on its uniqueness.  Just as each crumpled piece of paper can never be exactly

Nona Garcia, "One-Off", oil on canvas

replicated, neither can several paintings of the same object, done by the same person, look absolutely alike. Try and spot the subtle variations in each of her paintings.  Makes you wonder if the light merely plays tricks on the shadows.

Nona Garcia, One-Off series, oil on canvas

I loved how Nona put together A Series of Fractures, a wall installation of several light boxes produced from x-ray plates, mounted in West’s third gallery.  I know we’ve seen her do this before.  But for this particular piece, her choices of found and destroyed objects jelled together to give off the most interesting patterns in various sizes.  Nona intended for their figures to remain unrecognizable, to alter into abstract forms. In a show of all good pieces, this is the one I relished viewing most.  It may just join the two that make my list of all-time favorite Nona works:   Sitting Still from 2007 and See Saw, the 2000 Asean Art Awards Grand Prize winner (which incidentally, also made use of an x-ray light box).

Another photo of "A Series of Fractures"

As I said from the onset, I enjoyed this show very much.  The exhibit felt complete and well-thought out.  I also liked that Nona chose to dim the lights in each of the galleries to add drama to her small-scale pieces.  I just wonder if the series of works will do just as well when broken up.  One-off, the series of painted crumpled balls of paper, will totally lose its context if each painting is encountered on its own.  I also feel the same about the photo assemblages.  The images won’t be as strong when you only see one of

Detail, "A Series of Fractures"

them.

I have to say that it feels great to have Nona Garcia back in the art circuit.  With one more quarter of the year left, I wonder what she has in store for us next?

Fractures runs from 27 July to 14 August 2010 at West Gallery, 48 West Avenue, Quezon City.  Phone (632) 411-0336 or visit http://www.westgallery.org

Another detail, "A Series Of Fractures"

Still another detail, "A Series of Fractures"

Installation view, "Above Water" series

Manilart 10

It was not difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, the men from the boys, the galleries that thought about what they would

At West Gallery, Roberto Chabet collage, "The Erection of the Obelisk"

show for Manilart 10 from those that did not. You could tell which ones regularly mount exhibits as opposed to those who simply maintain spaces to sell paintings.  I suppose, in the end, the commercial aspects of the fair outweighed all other considerations.  And with 55 galleries joining this year, you had enough paintings to satisfy all sorts of sensibilities (and I do mean ALL sorts!).

Ossie Tiangco and Yo Garcia of Pablo

I loved that Pablo treated their space as a venue to showcase an exciting, new collaboration.  I thought they had the best booth; they stood out because they dared to be different. They would not be out of place in any international art fair. You could sense that showing good art superseded  sales concerns.  For Pablo’s booth, Poklong Anading created a video installation that worked with a piece by Manila-based Australian artist David Griggs.  For How’s My Politics, Tel 666, David used a man-sized glass vitrine to simulate a taxicab’s windshield.  The vitrine, pierced randomly with bullet holes, stood at the center of the space.  It housed the projector from which Poklong’s film played. In Furry Tongue, Poklong took off from David’s portrayal of the glass vitrine as part of a vehicle.  Cars that ply the streets of Manila encounter streetchildren that offer to clean their windshields as they wait for the traffic lights to change.  Poklong experimented with using chocolate to soil his

At Manila Contemporary, Valeria Cavestany installation, "In and Out of the Booz"

windows, both as a treat for these kids and to give them something new to work with.  He propped his camera atop his car’s dashboard.  The five-minute video captured the process of wiping, rubbing, and cleaning up the chocolate.  Poklong squirted the booth’s walls with the same powdered chocolate mixture that he used on his dashboard.  The drips created textured patterns for the video’s backdrop.

Detail, Valeria Cavestany, "In and Out of the Booz"

I also enjoyed how Manila Contemporary used their four spaces to give us  Women Only, in effect, four exhibits. Valeria Cavestany mounted an eye catching installation.  In And Out Of The Booz resembled a psychedelic honeycomb.   She filled her entire booth with small palochina wine crates to contain brightly-colored and heavily-embellished wooden crosses.  It was so attractive, you couldn’t help but take a closer look.   The gallery’s other offerings included paintings by Amy Aragon, works by Brenda Fajardo, photos by Ringo Buonoan and MM Yu.

At Manila Contemporary, ink on paper by Brenda Fajardo, "Epiko ni Mangandiri (Maranao): Ang Usa Nga Bulawan"

Other standouts:  The Drawing Room, Silverlens/SLab, Galleria Duemila, Art Informal.  Art fair veterans, Silverlens/SLab and the The Drawing Room knew exactly how to highlight their stable of artists.  The Drawing Room went back to their roots and exhibited works on paper plus a reprised Alfredo  and Isabel Aquilizan.  I loved Jojo Legaspi’s dark, bleak pastel landscapes and Kawayan de Guia’s reworked letter from 1943.  At Silverlens, Rachel Rillo showed elegant photo

At The Drawing Room, an oil on paper piece by Troy Ignacio

transfers printed on Bhutanese handmade paper.  These pieces were a preview of sorts for her upcoming show.  Duemila brought out masterpieces from their treasure trove.  Among them, an old favorite, Julie Lluch’s Maranao (Nanampiling).  Art Informal borrowed newly- commissioned works by John Santos,  Tatong Recheta Torres, and Joel Alonday and interspersed these with new pieces from Riel Hilario, Cos Zicarelli, and Pam Yan Santos.

At The Drawing Room, detail of paper scupture, Roderico Jose Daroy

West Gallery and Blanc selected their pieces well. Although perhaps they could have hanged more dramatically (painted walls?).  Blanc debuted a pair of  Louie Cordero’s works to mark the start of a series.  It will be exciting to see how Louie expands this new look.  I thought the Lao Lianben and Art Sanchez pieces were both very good too.   At West, a collage by Roberto Chabet, The Erection Of The Obelisk caught my eye.  Geraldine Javier sprung another surprise with her assemblage Happy Go Ducky (Happiness Is A Resting Ground). Exhibited at Finale, she ensconced a stuffed duckling acquired from a taxidermy shop in Paris amidst her embroidered flora.

At Silverlens/SLab, phototransfer on Bhutanese handmade paper by Rachel Rillo, "Bahay"

The art fair actually attracted one foreign gallery:  Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill from Austria, run by Rudolf Kratochwill, a former Manila resident.  Rudolf did not expect any sales from his participation.  Because his gallery carries Manuel Ocampo, he thought the fair would be a good venue to show Manuel’s works alongside that of Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch.  I’m not sure how many people

At The Drawing Room, reworked piece from a 1943 found letter, Kawayan De Guia

cared to stop by this booth.  But Nitsch’s recorded performance piece, with its ritual of poured blood and mock cruxifixion, would have given Manila audiences something to talk about.

MM Yu manned another busy booth— selling bags and pins and shirts to raise funds for Bastards of Misrepresentation:  Doing Time On Filipino Time.  This is an upcoming exhibit by a group of

Isa Lorenzo at the Silverlens booth

Filipino artists at the Freies Museum in Germany set for October this year.  Unfortunately, these opportunities do not get any government or institutional funding in the Philippines.  The artists need to fend for themselves. They priced their items very reasonably, most at the P2,500.00 range.  I would think that

At Silverlens/ SLab, oil on canvas by Leslie de Chavez, "The Substitution of Innocent Ramon"

money well-spent.

Overall, I thought that Manilart 10 felt like a huge bazaar of paintings, more paintings, and copies of paintings. Apparently, just as they do in Greenhills, the art superstars get knocked off too!  Going by the variations of naked torsos wrapped in plastic, Ronald Ventura must be a favorite.

Because the fair already attracts a huge crowd,  it would be great if the succeeding ones also become a venue to make artistic statements, to expose the audience to other visual art forms.  The galleries that organize the fair should use its success to push for more experimental pieces. I would think that the fair should spearhead elevating standards— not just extend the galleries’ backrooms. As the NCCA spends for this fair, shouldn’t the funds be made to work harder?  Think of what Cinemalaya has done for Filipino independent film makers.

Perhaps for the next one?

Manilart 10 runs from 29 July to 1 August 2010 at Hall 4,  SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia, Pasay City.  For more information, visit http://www.manilart.com

At Gallery Nine, Ceramic sculpture by Maria Magdamit

At Paseo Gallery, sculptor Michael Cacnio and his piece, "Baitang"

At West Gallery, oil and acrylic on canvas by Olan Ventura, "Consciously Unconscious"

At Nova Gallery, Romeo Lee with his drawing

At Gallery Nine, watercolor by Alfred Galura

Wilson Lee Flores and Annie Cabigting's oil on canvas auction piece, "After Yves Klein"

At Galleria Duemila, sculpture by Julie Lluch, "Maranao (Nanampiling)"

Another view of Julie Lluch's sculpture gazing at Zobel's Saeta

At Art Informal, oil on canvas portrait by Tatong Recheta Torres

At Art Informal, printed paper sculpture by Pam Yan Santos

At Galleria Duemila, photograph by Cesare Syjuco

Yeyey Cruz and Kawayan de Guia

Jay Amante, Nona Garcia, and MM Yu

At Blanc, Allan Balisi and his oil on canvas piece

At Blanc, oil and canvas and collage on mirror by Art Sanchez, "White Lies and Pretense"

At Blanc, oil on canvas piece by Lao Lianben, "Zen In My Head"

At Blanc, artists Neil Pasilan and Mark Andy Garcia

At Finale, oil on canvas with crocheted lace by Geraldine Javier, "Autumn Lace"

At Finale, assemblage by Geraldine Javier with a preserved duckling, embroidery, and preserved beetle, "Happy Go Ducky (Happiness Is A Resting Ground"

Monchet Lucas and Sevrine Miailhe

For auction, oil on canvas by Jose Tence Ruiz, "Apres Moi, Le Tsunami"

For auction, oil on canvas, Charlie Co, "Caroza Pulitika"

At Gallery Orange from Bacolod, Charlie Co with his assemblages

Dawn Lagdameo

Ed Cua and Baby Kramer

At Art Verite, Gabby Barredo kinetic sculpture

At Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill, photo stills from Hermann Nitsch performance

Group of Manuel Ocampo paintings at Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill

At Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill, printed fabric by Hermann Nitsch

John Silva stands before and Iggy Rodriguez drawing

At Blanc, acrylic on canvas pieces by Louie Cordero, "Red Dung" and "Blue Sausage"

The Macasaet Sisters--- Rina (aka Virginia, the artist), Tessa, and Vida

Oil on canvas by Virginia Macasaet, "Blue Moon"

Nilo Ilarde Thinks About Paintings

Appropriating Kippenberger: Dear Painter, Paint For Me

So what exactly is a painting?  That seems to be the question that Nilo Ilarde asks us to consider as we make our way around the colossal pieces of Painting As Something And The Opposite of Something, his solo exhibit currently on view at Finale Art File.

On a visual level, the show is spectacular.  We get that wow factor without feeling overwhelmed by the number and the size of his work. While we see treatment that recall past pieces (words scraped on the wall, empty tubes of paint), we come upon surprising additions.             

We all know that Nilo puts his curatorial stamp on a good number of shows in Manila.  So he knew exactly how to work with Finale’s expansive Tall Gallery.  But we also know that Nilo challenges on another, more cerebral, level.  And his exhibits engage all the more because of that.

For starters, we have been asked to suspend our conventional notion of paintings, and accept the five pieces he has on view as his paintings, unorthodox as that may sound.

The first of those five immediately catches our eye. Scratched out in gigantic letters that fill most of the gallery’s long wall, Nilo appropriates Martin Kippenberger’s cheeky request:  Dear Painter, Paint For Me. The line comes from the title of Kippenberger’s seminal suite of works from 1981 that also turned painting on its ear. Kippenberger had a sign painter execute his portraits in various stage-managed tableaux.  In Nilo’s piece, the statement on the wall is itself the finished product. You have a painting, albeit one that had undergone the reverse process from the norm.  Paint has carefully been stripped off wood, rather than brushed on it.

At the foreground, "The Void Speaks In Each Painting, Between The Brushstrokes"

Across from this, we see a glass receptacle that houses hundreds of used paint tubes.  We saw about half this amount in 2009, as I Have Nothing to Paint, and I’m Painting It.  Now with double the number collected from various artists, Nilo has transformed the piece into The Void Speaks In Each Painting, Between The Brushstrokes. Here we see the response to Kippenberger’s plea:  Nilo’s colleagues, dear painters all, have indeed painted for him.  Composer John Cage once said that the gap between the notes can also be considered as music.  Discarded paint tubes make up a painting’s gap. Thus, these repositories of paint, from which several paintings had been created, collectively make up a painting too.

Beside the amassed tubes hangs a boxing ring’s old floor,

A closer look at the collection of empty paint tubes

resurrected, with much cajoling, from the Elorde Sports Center storage.  This massive square of printed canvas acts as Nilo’s third painting.  He installs this as a diamond, a nod to Mondrian’s Victory Boogie Woogie. Filled with drips of sweat accumulated from the numerous boxers who have sparred on it, their DNA served as the paint that completed the piece.

The Boxing Ring

How can we miss The Road To Flatness? A crushed blue car suspended high above the gallery’s far wall and installed just as a large-scale painting will definitely receive its share of attention. A hired pay loader went to work on an old Volkswagen Beetle until the car had been completely squashed.  The pay loader mimicked an Abstract Expressionist, levelling the car’s figure, obliterating all but it’s basic form.

In Making Nothing Out Of Something, Nilo goes further than merely scraping off paint from the gallery’s walls.  With the intent to start afresh–he uses the term Tabula Rasa– he completely removed all traces of what had been in that portion of the wall, layer by layer, until only empty space remains.  But the irony is, because the emptiness gives us a peek into what we did not see before (Finale’s backroom), he hasn’t really created nothing.  We get a framed look at more paintings—Nilo’s final painting of stacked paintings.            

“The paintings are about paintings thinking about paintings”, is how Nilo explains his work.  We could probably say the same thing about his impact on us.  Once we’ve gone beyond the visual feast, the show gets us thinking about paintings too.  Well, it did me.

Painting As Something And As The Opposite Of Something runs from 9 July to 2 August at the Finale Art File, Warehouse 17, La Fuerza Compound, 2241 Pasong Tamo, Makati City.  Phone (632)813-2310 or visit http://www.finaleartfile.com

Nilo Ilarde, "The Road To Flatness"

Nilo Ilarde, "Making Nothing Out Of Something"

Leeroy New Raises A Balete While Kiri Dalena Repeats History

Leeroy New, "Balete"

Sometimes only  a Pinoy word will do to convey an incredible experience.  Find time to pass by the Ateneo Art Gallery’s newly-

Another detail, "Balete"

expanded space (they’ve completely taken over the old Rizal Library), and see if you don’t agree with me.  How else can you describe

Detail, Leeroy New, "Balete"

Leeroy New’s installation other than galing?  Because it is.  So galing!  Conceptualized with thinking that goes beyond awesome, and put together by the creative use of simple materials that goes beyond super, you really just have to say

Leeroy New next to his Balete tree

“Ang Galing!”

In Balete, Leeroy wraps the posts of the gallery’s facade with his version of a Balete tree, one constructed from cable lines , flexible tubing used for electric conduits.  Accented by plastic cable ties, the tree twists and turns between the building’s columns, simulating the gnarling, gigantic roots of an actual Balete.  Also known as the Banyan in Southeast Asia, the Balete possesses a mystical reputation.  It guards sacred spaces, monasteries and old churches.  Leeroy comments that the orange cables remind him of the saffron robes used by Buddhist monks.

Detail, "Balete"

In the Philippines, we know the Balete as the dwelling place of extra-terrestrials and enchanted spirits.  Leeroy worked with graphic designer Dan Matutina for projections that mimic the enchantments bestowed by legend on a Balete.  Come by during the evenings of the exhibit’s run and catch the apparitions suggested by the light patterns.  You may even see a wisp of the legendary White Lady crossing the tree’s intermingling branches.

Another view of Balete

Simultaneous to Leeroy’s installation, Kiri Dalena mounts  Watch History Repeat Itself inside the gallery’s space for contemporary exhibits.  Kiri continues her documentation of protest slogans that began with Keeping the Faith, the piece that won the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards.   Earlier this year, she carried on this exercise in The Present Disorder Is The Order Of The Future (for which she got into the shortlist of this year’s awards) by using marble slabs as the medium to memorialize these slogans and placard texts.  For this current exhibit, she shifts to another medium—neon lights.  The idea of recording text in neon came to her after an evening spent with

Kiri Dalena's Yellow Book of Slogans

Caucasian colleagues in the red light district of Mabini.  Subjected to the indignities that inevitably fall on a young Filipina seen in the company of foreigners, the experience sparked her militant streak, leading to an “aha” moment among the flashing signs.  In her exhibit,  she recreates the tag Liar Liar in neon, appropriated from the Jim Carrey movie by rally participants of a 2004 protest action after the Hello Garci scandal.  Kiri also compiles her collected texts in her Yellow Book Of Slogans.  Playing on one wall is video clip borrowed from ABS-CBN News.  It shows a student protest at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.  The film catches school chairs being hurled from inside the campus, forming a mound of chairs that echo the detritus left from student protests during the Martial Law era.  A sure sign that some things never change.

Neon bright: Liar Liar

Both Leeroy and Kiri return to the gallery for homecoming exhibits after their 2009 Ateneo Art Awards residency grants.  Leeroy spent time in Sydney, at the La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre while Kiri went to Bandung, Indonesia, to the Common Room Networks Foundation.

History in neon

Balete runs from 14 July to 30 October 2010.

Watch History Repeat Itself runs from 14 July to 16 August 2010.

Both shows are at the Ateneo Art Gallery, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.  Phone (632)426-6488 or visit http://www.gallery.ateneo.edu

Video still from installation of "Watch History Repeat Itself"

"Dear Activist Write A Slogan For Me"

Happy Birthday Tin-Aw! (Part 2)

The celebration continues at Tin-Aw with the second installment of their anniversary exhibit.  I must say I enjoyed this show more

Detail, Pamela Yan Santos, "Sugar Coated"

than the first.  Perhaps it had to do with the combination of pieces.  Perhaps the smaller number of artists included in this show made me appreciate each artist’s effort more.  Perhaps the exhibit’s installation just felt easier to navigate.  Perhaps it was all of the above!

Pamela Yan Santos, "Suger Coated"

Wikipedia defines a sound bite as the most important point of a message, its essence reduced to a few key words.  In today’s world where we can follow events instantly as they unfold, we communicate in sound bites:  through twitter, through SMS updates, through posts in Facebook.  In this exhibit, Soundbyte, nine artists give us their take on media, communicating, or even their own sound bites of current headlines.

Kawayan de Guia, "Zero"

Has Pam Yan Santos ever put a foot wrong?  I don’t think I’ve ever seen her do work that falls below standard! With Sugar Coated, she departs from her usual paintings and puts together a whimsical, appealing installation of a tv set and sofa covered with her signature serigraphs.  She fills the television screen with dozens of artificial flowers, majority of them out of sugar and food coloring that commercial bakeries use for birthday cakes.  You get a cacophony of color, the same effect you would get from watching a particularly good series or an exciting sports event.

Joy Mallari, "No Signal"

Kawayan de Guia’s mixed media piece, Zero, from his 2009 Beijing exhibit, Ice Cold Happiness, also deals with television.  Plaster-cast tv sets feature news programs, cartoons, telenovelas, and sex and violence painted or pasted on their screens.  To complete the Kawayan sound bite, he intersperses these with compartments of found objects.  Alfredo Esquillo Jr. transforms the painted waves from his current Singapore show, Exodus, to give us a sound bite on the British Petroleum oil spill.  Joy Mallari plays on the word hello, now no longer just a

Detail, Joy Mallari, "No Signal"

greeting.  We use it when we mean “don’t you get it?”

Christina Quisumbing Ramilo does literal depictions of politicians’ promises.  With Itaga Mo Sa Bato, she has a machete jutting out menacingly from a boulder.  While in Elementary, she embroiders “mark my word” onto fabric that looks surprisingly like lined pad paper.  Leo Abaya, on the other hand, turns his viewers into lip readers.  Try and make out what his subjects say in his video, Silent Talking Pictures.

Alfredo Esquillo Jr., "Oil Spill"

As usual, the fun part in a Tin-aw opening comes from the personalities you get to chat with.  This time, I had the good fortune to arrive early enough to catch Biboy Delotavo on one of his rare forays out of Antipolo.  For those who know Biboy, you can just imagine the level of conversation we had about his art, and especially his take on what art means to the soul of  nation.

Detail, Alfredo Esquillo Jr., "Oil Spill"

Soundbyte runs from 16 July to 4 August 2010 at Tin-Aw Art Gallery, Upper GF, Somerset Olympia, Makati Ave.  Phone (632) 892-7522 or visit http://www.tin-aw.com

Pam Yan Santos and John Santos

Detail of ball point images, Robert Besana, "Wer N U? D2 Na Me!"

Ferdie Montemayor, "Erpatz"

Video Still, Leo Abaya, "Talking Silent Pictures"

Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, "Itaga Mo Sa Bato"

Detail, Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, "Elementary"

Alfredo Esquillo Jr. and Antipas Delotavo

Jonathan Ching Finds Botero’s Leg

Jonathan Ching, "Living With Botero's Leg"

I wanted to see this show because its title intrigued me.  Why does  Jonathan Ching need to search for Botero’s leg?  It turns out that he intends for the exhibit to play on memories, random thoughts and experiences that cross his mind, including recollections

Found: Botero's Leg

of his own past work. A favorite computer game, Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego, inspired the exhibit’s title, along with the show’s biggest piece.

Jonathan Ching, "Topiary Of My Mind"

In the first three panels of Living With Botero’s Leg, a multi-media quadriptych, Jon depicts distinctive footwear:  two styles of cowboy boots and a pair of silk Chinese slippers for bound feet.  None of them would suit the hefty proportions of a Fernando Botero subject, an approximation of which he places on the piece’s fourth panel.  Here we find the elusive leg, portly as expected,  cast in metal,  and crowned with tin embellishments used for altarpieces. With this piece, Jon continues his series of incorporating objects within his paintings,  a device he used extensively for his show at Blanc Compound in April.

Smaller canvases make up the rest of the show, most of them oval-shaped.  Jon felt

Detail, "Topiary Of My Mind"

that his personal reminiscences called for these intimate sizes.  On two of these, Topiary Of My Mind and Chimes, he integrates sculpted blackbirds fabricated from polymer clay.

Exhibit Installation

The pieces I find most interesting are the three free-standing sculpture of black swans that hearken to origami, the Japanese art of creating figures from folded paper.  Constructed from GI sheets and finished with automotive paint, the swans reference his past work, an installation of numerous folded birds from his 2003 two-man show with Christina Dy at the now-defunct Surrounded By Water.  I don’t exactly know how these three pieces fit in with his paintings, and perhaps they don’t.  However, I think it would be great to see him take his origami sculpture further, explore different patterns, even experiment with textures.  Maybe next time, at some future show, Jon can allow his sculpture to take center stage.  But of course, I am usually more partial to sculpture.  So perhaps my biases are showing.

Jonathan Ching, "Two Rivers"

Where In The World Is Botero’s Leg runs from 9 July to 2 August 2010 at Finale Art File, Warehouse 17, La Fuerza Compound, 2241 Pasong Tamo, Makati. Phone (632) 813-2310 or visit http://www.finaleartfile.com or visit http://www.jonching.com

Jonathan Ching, "Chimes"

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"

Smiley Happy People and Maria Jeona

Maria Jeona, detail, "Monogamist Kultur at Si Sexy at Maraming Stretchmarks at Malalaking Butas ng Ilong Long Long"

Early last week, I spent 14 hours straight in serious contemplation of art, and the better part of the next few days writing about it.  Even I needed a break from the art overload.  Enter Maria Jeona and her first solo show, mounted at SLab’s 20Square, the perfect antidote to all that cerebral activity.  She gave me just what I needed to get back into the swing of Manila’s art scene after a (very brief!) hiatus.

A bunch of drawings

Sure Sure Happy Happy Picture Picture feels so refreshing.  Artist Bea Camacho describes the experience of viewing the exhibit as akin to walking into the artist’s studio.  Just imagine the space as one huge cork board. Or the whole show as one giant collage.  Jeona’s doodles, cut-outs, drawings, and various-sized paintings hang in a seeming random fashion along with scribbles and Post-It notes.  You get a riotous burst of neon and a

Exhibit installation

whole load of fun!  I especially love her shaped canvases of female nudes, oil paintings executed like stylish illustrations.  And their titles! LOL! Monogamist Kultur Si Sexy At Maraming Stretchmarks At Malalaking Butas ng Ilong Long Long is a mixed media piece made up of two shaped canvases of reclining figures.  Jeona sticks a drawing of a pig snout on the nose of the larger figure. She paints Ms Wordstage Ms Wordstage Binarbiqung Legs Ni using a more traditional, rectangular canvas, yet

Maria Jeona, "I Held Her And Held Her & Held Her"

achieves the same exuberant effect.  Somewhat like Cecily Brown, you have to look closely at the jumbled strokes before you discern her figures:  a gruesome smile plastered on a girl’s face, a hint of a fleshy thigh.

Another view of exhibit installation

I had actually seen some of Jeona’s work before, at a group show in Manila Contemporary and some pieces at another exhibit in Kaida.  Even then, I thought her work very good.  But now, after this show, I look forward to seeing what she does next.

Maria Jeona, "Welcome To The Family" and "We R Family"

Sure Sure Happy Happy Picture Picture worked for me because it felt easy and light.  Wala lang. Fun fun!

Sure Sure Happy Happy Picture Picture runs from 7 to 31 July 2010 at 20Square, inside SLab, 2F YMC Bldg. 2, 2320 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City.  Phone (632) 816-0044 or visit http://www.slab.silverlensphoto.com

Maria Jeona, "Sure Sure Happy Happy Picture Picture"

Maria Jeona, "Ms Wordstage Ms Wordstage Binarbiqung Legs Ni"

Collage Detail

Maria Jeona, "Even The Landscape Resembles You"

Maria Jeona, "Honey Hunny" and "Hello Hello"

Mark Salvatus Gets Attached

Mark Salvatus, detail, "Wrapped:Persona"

I made it a point to come in early for the opening reception of Attached, Mark Salvatus’ show at The Drawing Room.  You appreciate Mark’s work by going through his process, the thinking that went behind the creation of his pieces.  I wanted a chance to speak to him before the crowds made their appearance.

This show brings together various projects, components of a series he calls Wrapped.  The work he exhibits here continue from work that he carried out in the various communities around the world where he spent time in art residency programs.  To quote Lisa Chikiamco’s notes, “…these projects examine the ideas of presence through the imprints left behind.”

Mark Salvatus, detail, "Attached"

Attached is also the title of the exhibit’s main piece, the latest work in this series.  Mark stationed himself in his downtown Manila neighborhood and asked random passers-by to trace possessions found on their person onto sheets of paper.  He then filled these outlines with pencil patterns that make these objects appear to be swathed in bandages.  Hence, “wrapped”.  Mark cut out each person’s collection of “wrapped” objects and framed them in glass.  In the show, we see the frames installed as vitrines lined up on the walls, one frame for each individual’s group of objects.  You get diverted going through the vitrines and identifying the objects through their wrapped outlines (was that a set of keys or a lizard with a squiggly tail?).

Another detail from "Attached"

On the gallery’s main exhibit wall hangs Wrapped:  Persona, a piece that includes some video element.  Mark started work on this in 2007.  He photographed individuals with their faces covered by a generic “wrapped” mask.  Mark then made an approximation of the shapes of these individuals’ heads, “wrapped” these with his pencil patterns, and cut them out.  He has dozens of these wrapped paper masks installed on the wall beside his video

Installation shot, "Attached"

screen.

Mark Salvatus makes my list of the most talented and intelligent artists working in Manila today.  His strength comes out when he mounts pieces that have gone through a complete conceptual process.  In other words, they don’t work as well in group shows where he is perhaps limited to doing wall-bound, more commercial pieces.  He has brought his art to Europe, the Middle East, and to other parts of Asia.  In May, he represented the collective TutoK at Melbourne’s Next Wave Festival.   However, I  do admit a bias towards his pieces produced from his immersion with inmates in the Manila City Jail, work shown in his exhibit Courtyard at Pablo last year.  I also loved Secret Garden, his piece for the 2009 Sungduan at the National Musem, for which he has been shortlisted for this year’s Ateneo Art Awards.  While I don’t find Attached as compelling as his previous exhibits, the works do prove the commitment he invests on his concepts.  If you find the time to speak to him, as I did, you can’t but admire the steadfastness with which he regards his practice of art.

Installation shot, "Wrapped: Persona"

Attached runs from 26 June to 17 July 2010 at The Drawing Room Contemporary Art, 1007 Metropolitan Ave, Metrostar Bldg., Makati City.  Phone (632) 897-7877 or visit http://www.drawingroomgallery.com or visit http://marksalvatus.blogspot.com

Video still from "Wrapped: Persona"

Attachees

Mark Salvatus

Clouds and Wings, Alwin and Juliet

Alwin Reamillo, detail of "Mutya ng Pasig", one of his restored pianos

A friend of mine described it as an art lover’s show.   And with good reason.  Alwin Reamillo continues to channel his family’s involvement in local piano-making into art pieces, producing large and small wall-bound assemblages and three restored pianos.  Clouds and Wings is a two-person exhibit with Juliet Lea, and aside from both artists’ individual works, they also show collaborative pieces.

Installation of four large-scale wings

It’s the first time that I’ve seen Manila Contemporary mount an exhibit without a cast of thousands.  What a difference it makes when the space allows us viewers to enjoy an artist’s work in-depth.  Although I am familiar with Alwin’s piano projects, and I know that the Singapore Art Museum acquired one of his pianos for its collection, I have not actually seen any of them before.  Here he shows one grand piano inspired by Nicanor Abelardo, embellished with image transfers and found objects.  He treats  his wings in a similar vein, finishing these off with the gloss that you use on actual pianos.  The wings take their name from the shape of the grand piano’s awning.  He names four of the bigger ones after seasonal wind directions:  Amianan, Katimugan, Kanluran, Sirangan.

Alwin Reamillo, "Katimugan (Southern Wing)"

I suppose I can safely say that both artists work a lot with image transfers.  Although Juliet also exhibits a series of paintings on wood of mainly polka dot patterns.  These remind me a bit too much of Yayoi Kusama’s work.  I prefer her Cloud Books, charcoal cloud drawings on book paper.  And I thought she did really beautiful work for Garden Of Delights, where she put her image transfers on printed fabric.   Two other pieces on printed fabric  were done in collaboration with Alwin.  All these works on fabric spilled over with rich details that you won’t ever get tired of.  Well, I wouldn’t.

Juliet Lea, " Nevada Enewotok Atoll Bikini Atoll Johnston Island" and "Maralinga Malden Isand Christmas Island"

I missed the piano performance on opening night, but I did catch the random playing that ensued the rest of the evening. The tinkling of the keys, the free-flowing wine, and hors d’oeuvres from Cibo’s adjacent commissary—not a bad way to spend the early part of a Saturday evening.

Clouds and Wings runs from 19 June to 11 July 2010 at Manila Contemporary, Whitespace, 2314 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City.  Phone (632) 844-7328 or visit http://www.manilacontemporary.com

Alwin Reamillo, "Nicanor Abelardo Grand Piano"

Portrait of Nicanor Abelardo on the grand piano's soundboard

Another detail, grand piano

Alwin Reamillo, "Cloud Piano"

Juliet Lea, "Cloud Painting"

Juliet Lea, "Garden of Delights"

Juliet Lea and Alwin Reamillo, "Humayo Ka Satanas, sapagkat ito ay nakasulat, Wala kang ibang sasambahin kundi ang Panginoon Mong Diyos at tanging Siya lamang ang iyong paglilinkuran"

Alwin Remillo and Juliet Lea, detail of "Humayo Kayo at Magparami"

Alwin Reamillo, detail of "Mayon"

Alwin Reamillo, detail of "R+J (Havana)"

Alwin Reamillo, "Palipad Padapo"

Alwin Reamillo, detail of "Palipad Padapo"

Alwin Reamillo, "Strung Back"

Alwin Reamillo, "Tutubi/Helicopter"

Taking a turn on the piano

A view of the exhibit