Ateneo Art Awards 2011: Anatomy of Autonomy

I look forward to the Ateneo Art Awards every year.  I believe that it does a credible job of recognizing the best works by young visual artists.  I do not always agree with their

Bembol dela Cruz and Kawayan de Guia

selections, and I do have an issue with the awards’ age limit.  But overall, I still find it relevant and prestigious, a worthy acknowledgement of efforts undertaken in the past twelve months.  All the chatter that rolls in along with the announcement of winners just adds to the fun!  Yes we get names that appear every year— but doesn’t that just prove that those who always make it to the shortlist consistently do great work?   A key component to the judging process requires artists to recreate an exhibit for the benefit of the panel of jurors.  Yes, this imposes an onerous burden on the artists, one that the galleries must pitch in for. Having exhibits properly documented certainly helps.  But it does prove difficult to capture an exhibit’s original flavor, despite the galleries’— and the artists’—best efforts. Perhaps, this should be addressed.

Since 2004, the Ateneo Art Gallery has bestowed the Ateneo Art Awards on three artists below the age of 36 who have exhibited outstanding work in the past year.  A panel chooses the three winners from a shortlist of 12.  The winners then have a chance at four overseas artist residency programs.

Bembol dela Cruz, "House Blends"

The Jorge B. Vargas Museum deserves a pat in the back as the unacknowledged fourth winner of this year’s awards.  They mounted two of the three winning exhibits, and these serve as testaments to their programming.  They have displayed a real commitment to showcasing the best of contemporary Philippine art.  I even think that this year’s panel missed out on a third Vargas exhibit, one that should have been in the shortlist:  Rodel Tapaya’s Bulaklak ng Dila (10 December 2010 to 5 March 2011).  But that’s just me, kibitzing from the sidelines.

I have to admit,though, that I am more than happy with the two Vargas exhibits that won.  Maria Taniguchi’s Echo Studies

Kawayan de Guia, "Bomba"

(30 March- 28 May 2011) definitely stood out as one of the most thought provoking of the group.  Her works, contemplations on absent objects presented through drawings and a video installation, evince a fastidious and polished approach to art making.  She has been awarded the residency to the Common Rooms Network Foundation in Bandung, Indonesia.  Kawayan de Guia won his second Ateneo Art Award for Bomba (15 June-18 Dec 2010), his installation of disco mirror bombs that rotate along to the soundtrack of a video on porn and violence.  If you ask me, he should have also won for his  2009 jukebox/jeepney pieces (from the exhibit Katas ng Pilipinas:  God Knows Hudas Not Play).  But I’ve stated before that I think these mirrored torpedoes are worthy successors to that series.  He gets the La Trobe University Residency in Sydney.

Poklong Anading with a video from Maria Taniguchi's "Echo Studies"

Congratulations to Bembol dela Cruz for this much-needed shot in the arm!  Bembol has continuously documented a subculture of skaters and tattoo artists through photorealistic paintings.  He’s back in the radar with this win, for House Blends (Blanc Compound, 9 – 30 April 2011), an exhibit on anarchy via homemade bomb making. Bembol will undertake two of the residencies, in Singapore at Artesan, and in the UK, at the Liverpool Hope University, the first time this has been offered to the Ateneo Art Awards.

Ateneo Art Gallery's Richie Lerma and British Ambassador Stephen Lillie

The other artists on this year’s shortlist:  Renato Barja Jr. (The Jungle and the Rain), Frank Callaghan (River of Our Dreams), Olivia d’Abboville (New Frontiers: Olivia D’Abboville, Chasm of Fantasies), Nona Garcia, (Fractures), Sam Kiyoumarsi (Inalienable Dreamless), Tatong Recheta Torres (Make My Day!), Rodel Tapaya (Simple Depictions), MM Yu (Waste Not Want Not), and Maria Jeona Zoleta (Sure Sure, Happy Happy, Picture Picture).

Kudos to the Ateneo Art Gallery headed by Richie Lerma and Yael Buencamino Borromeo!  The Ateneo Art Awards turns eight this year, a worthy contributor to the enrichment of Manila’s art scene.

Ateneo Art Awards 2011 Anatomy of Autonomy runs from 5 to 15 August 2011 at the Grand Atrium of the Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong City.  The exhibition continues from 20 August to 10 September at the Ateneo Art Gallery, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.  Phone (632) 426-6488 or visit http://www.ateneoartgallery.org

Candy Reyes, Christina Dy, and Ateneo Art Gallery's Yael B. Borromeo

Tatong Recheta Torres and Tina Fernandez with "Make My Day"

Sidd Perez, Catalina Africa, and Maria Jeona Zoleta

Dex Fernandez stands beside pieces from Maria Jeona Zoleta, "Sure Sure, Happy Happy, Picture Picture"

From Olivia D'Abboville's "Chasm of Fantasies"

Ramon Roco, Dr. Leo Garcia, and Louie Ojeda

MM Yu, "Waste Not Want Not"

From Nona Garcia's "Fractures"

Renato Barja Jr., "The Jungle and the Rain"

Sculptures from Renato Barja Jr., "The Jungle and the Rain"

Rodel Tapaya, "Simple Depictions"

The crew behind the awards: JV Castro, Thea Garing, IC Jaucian, and Joel de Leon of the Ateneo Art Gallery

Alex Tan and Mike Tomacruz

Frank Callaghan, "River of Our Dreams"

Sam Kiyoumarsi and Eloha Laurel

Sam Kiyoumarshi, "Inalienable Dreamless"

From Sam Kiyoumarsi's "Inalienable Dreamless"

“Mabini Art Project: 100 Paintings” Now Belongs to the Ateneo Art Gallery

"Mabini Art Project: Seascape"

It sure feels heartening to witness big business come to the support of the visual arts.  Last weekend, the Ateneo Art Gallery formally unveiled an awesome addition to its already fabulous collection:  Alfredo + Isabel Aquilizan’s Mabini Art Project:  100 Paintings.  Security Bank acquired the piece for the university museum, a special project to celebrate the bank’s 60^th anniversary.  This is not the first time that Security Bank has come out for the arts.  For the past three years, they have been one of major sponsors of Art In The Park, the annual project of the Museum Foundation of the Philippines.

"Mabini Art Project: 100 Paintings", installation view

"Mabini Art Project: 100 Paintings", another installation view

Freddie and Isabel Aquilizan are Filipino artists currently based in Australia.  They travel the globe mounting their work for institutions and art events.  They call their pieces projects, as they work on open-ended premises that evolve over time.   The Mabini Art Project is a commentary on the status conferred to artists and paintings found in the tourist belt of downtown Manila, a district within the environs of Mabini Street.  The pieces found here cater to the tourist trade; paintings are usually of tropical vistas, most of them of the famous Manila Bay sunset framed by coconut trees.

One of 100, "Mabini Art Project: 100 Paintings", detail

For 100 paintings, Freddie and Isabel sought to transform a large-scale oil on canvas piece by Antonio Calma, a Mabini painter.  They cut it up into 100 various-sized rectangles, and had each of these framed.  By doing so, they have bestowed a cachet of legitimacy, of respectability, to each of the pieces.  The frames do more than provide wooden casings to the now small-scale paintings.   Like crowns, the frames have elevated them into the annals of contemporary, i.e., serious, art. Indeed, in this particular instance, the sum of the piece’s parts is worth more than the whole.

Enjoying 100 paintings

The exhibit also includes other pieces that belong to Mabini Art Project, works kept by Freddie and Isabel for their private collection, or those still with The Drawing Room, the gallery that represents them.  Just as in 100 Paintings, the other pieces demonstrate how the Aquilizans’ manipulations have altered our perceptions of these pedestrian works.  Through the artists’ interference, they have been gentrified.

"Mabini Art Project: Sunrise to Sunset" and "Mabini Art Project: Dusk to Dawn"

A magnifying glass held aloft a minute painting invites us to come closer and examine the bull’s eye painted over the original in Target.  In Dawn to Dusk and Sunrise to Sunset, the artists have converted these ubiquitous paintings into sculptures simply by arranging them in stacks atop wooden plinths. They have also been made into video art.  Seascape takes off from 100 Paintings:  another large canvas has been chopped up, the resulting smaller pieces individually framed, then put back together to reform one big piece, albeit one totally different from the original.

"Mabini Art Project: Target"

Security Bank deserves a big thank you from Manila’s art lovers for this very generous gift.  Congratulations to the Ateneo Art Gallery! This should be a good time to remind alumni and other university benefactors:   the gallery deserves just as much attention as the basketball team.  Its collection is worth more than a dozen championships!

A few of the 100 paintings

Mabini Art Project may be viewed at the Ateneo Art Gallery, Rizal Library Special Collections Bldg, Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Road, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.  Phone (632) 426-6488 or visit http://www.ateneoartgallery.org

On video, "Mabini Art Project: Sunrise to Sunset, Dusk to Dawn"

Thank you to Security Bank, the Ateneo Art Gallery, and to The Drawing Room for the installation photos on this post.

The Seascape and the stack, installation view

Security Bank and Ateneo Art Gallery celebrate milestones

Last look at some of the 100 paintings

My Favorite Piece from 2010, The Year The Museums Showed Us How

Detail, "Balete" by Leeroy New

We saw some pretty good stuff in 2010, the year that just seemed to whiz by.  I thought the museums led the way, bringing us well-mounted exhibits that made art watching both exciting and gratifying.  The Vargas Museum started their 2010 exhibit line-up in February with Stock, a show of works by Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, then had Bound and Bomba in June, and ended the year with Rodel Tapaya’s Bulaklak ng Dila.  The Yuchengco Museum gave us Santi Bose’s retrospective, Remix, in February, and combined art and design with Pumapapel, an exhibit of works on paper, in July.  The Lopez Museum culminated their 50th Anniversary in November by inviting street artists to show their stuff for Extensions.  Meanwhile, the Ateneo Art Gallery celebrated their own 50th by inaugurating their brand new space in October with the super Lee Aguinaldo retrospective.

Another detail, Balete

So perhaps it comes as no surprise that my favorite piece of 2010 comes from a museum exhibit:  Leeroy New’s Balete at the Ateneo Art Gallery.  This marked Leeroy’s return from the residency grant he undertook as part of his 2009 Ateneo Art Awards win.  It went on view from July to October.  As I said before, this was just so galing!

Happy New Year!

Still another detail, "Balete"

Leeroy New, "Balete"

Ateneo Art Gallery at 50: Lee Aguinaldo and Modern Masterpieces

Lee Aguinaldo, "Monday", 1959 August 10

Fifty years ago, Fernando Zobel, artist and heir to one of the country’s industrial fortunes, donated his art collection to the

Lee Aguinaldo, "Homage to Pollock", 1953 Jan. 16

Ateneo de Manila University.  The university used his pieces, mostly paintings by the best of the Filipino moderns (including a few of his own), to form the nucleus of the Ateneo Art Gallery. At that time, no other museum existed for Philippine Modern Art.  Two nights ago, on the 24^th of October, the gallery celebrated its anniversary by formally unveiling its new home, an expanded space at the Special Collections Building of the

Lee Aguinaldo, "Explosion In Earth Colors", 1963

university’s Rizal Library.

How lucky can the Ateneo student get!  In my day, the only time we ventured into the cramped air-conditioned library basement, then designated as the gallery, was to relieve ourselves from the heat.  We plunked our heads on tables crammed full of books and napped.  I vaguely remember J. Elizalde Navarro’s Homage to Dodjie Laurel, a wood and bronze sculpture of a racecar driver’s helmet, standing tall amidst a pile of periodicals.  The art on the walls (if there were any) never made an impact.  The gallery seemed more stockroom than showcase of one of the best art holdings in the country.

Lee Aguinaldo, "Explosion No. 147", 1957

These days, the Ateneo Art Gallery has assumed a much higher profile, both within the university and to Manila’s art community.  Credit must go to the gallery’s staff headed by its Director, Richie Lerma, and its Managing Curator, Yael Buencamino.  The annual Ateneo Art Awards given to three artists below the age of 36, and their subsequent return exhibits, have certainly added vibrancy to the institution.  This new venue will hopefully make it even more integral to the life of the university.

Lee Aguinaldo, "Painting In Brown", 1961 Nov. 10

The gallery inaugurated its new space with a tastefully orchestrated event.  Guests were first welcomed to the nearby Leong Hall Auditorium for the world premiere of In The Eye of Modernity, a musical piece commissioned from young composer Francis de Veyra.  His light, contemporary symphony, performed against a slideshow of works from the gallery’s permanent collection, set the tone for the evening.  The piece heralded an elegant throwback to the custom of celebrating important milestones with specially created

Lee Aguinaldo, "Spring No. 2", 1958

music. Much like the gallery, which hosts Fernando Zobel’s masterpieces side by side with the best of current art, the piece took an old fashioned tradition and injected it with the new.

After this, benefactors and art enthusiasts strolled over to the gallery for the evening’s main event, the vernissage of Lee Aguinaldo:  In Retrospect.

Lee Aguinaldo, "Self Portrat", 1985

In his opening remarks, Richie Lerma shared the impetus for the exhibit: important pieces from Lee Aguinaldo’s substantial body of work are represented in the gallery’s collection, plus he enjoyed a close friendship with Fernando Zobel. It is the first retrospective that I can recall since Aguinaldo’s death in 2007. The exhibit, curated by Boots Herrera and Lisa Chikiamco, brings together more than 150 pieces of Aguinaldo’s oeuvre, from his more familiar abstract expressionist flick and linear paintings from the 1950s, to his later mixed media figurative work.  I personally

Lee Aguinaldo, "Homage to Vermeer", 1983, photocollage with acrylic

loved his photo collages brushed with a coat of acrylic from the late 1970s to the 1980s, and also the works on canvas that he called his galumphing pieces. I had not seen these before, but they felt so now. One could easily mistake these twenty- to thirty-year-old pieces for work done by a young visual artist practicing today.  The show also features portraits of Aguinaldo, such as Agnes Arellano’s marble cast of his face, set like a death mask, as well as a hilarious photograph by Wig Tysmans.  Tysmans photographed Aguinaldo for one of the latter’s exhibits in the 1980s, and it shows the artist stark naked, holding an open towel around his waist, flashing his jewels.  The comical expression on his face is priceless.

Lee Aguinaldo, "Linear 1955", undated, collage and acrylic

In The Eye of Modernity was also the title of the exhibit of the Ateneo Art Gallery’s core collection for the Singapore Art Museum in November 2009.  This show is currently reprised simultaneous to the Lee Aguinaldo show, in the gallery’s secondary space, two smaller rooms to the left of the entrance foyer.  Here we have another must see for Philippine art lovers, the first time that majority of Zobel’s collection has been seen all together since the gallery’s early days.  HR Ocampo’s fabulous 53-Q(Sarimanok) from 1953 gave me new appreciation for his technique.  Within its vicinity hang

Lee Aguinaldo, "Metaphysical Charlie", 1984, photocollage and acrylic

Vicente Manansala’s Jeepneys and Dambana, also from the 1950s, and Arturo Luz paintings from the same era, his flat figurative works already on the road to abstraction.  There’s more, of course.  I think I could keep coming back and never tire of this show.

Lee Aguinaldo, "Self Portrait", 1989

Richie also made two important announcements.  First, the donation by Security Bank of 100 Paintings:  Mabini Art Project by Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, recently exhibited at the UP Vargas Museum (see this blog’s Archives, April 2010).  Ms. Olivia Yao of Security Bank served on the gallery’s 50^th Anniversary Committee, and helped facilitate this generous gift along with Mr. Jun Villalon of The  Drawing Room (an Ateneo alumnus), the gallery that represents the Aquilizans in Manila.  Second, the launching of the initiative Fifty For Fifty that aims to raise P50 Million before August 2011 for the Ateneo Art Gallery’s acquisition fund.

Lee Aguinaldo, "Self Portait No. 2", 1989

In truth, at the risk of sounding like a pompous alumna, the Ateneo community should have no trouble raising the targeted amount.  The challenge lies in convincing the university’s benefactors that art, like the UAAP Basketball team, is worth shelling out money for.  If their souls cannot be appealed to, then perhaps their business sense can.  Just do the math—- if the gallery had acquired paintings from Geraldine Javier in 2004 and Ronald Ventura in 2005, when they won the Ateneo Art Awards, their prices today would have significantly increased the worth of the university’s holdings, much more than

Lee Aguinaldo, "Two Alligators F****ng", 1979

any basketball championship could have.  As it is, one cannot even put a price on the Ateneo Art Gallery’s current collection.  How does one value Fernando Zobel’s gift from fifty years ago? Definitely incalculable.

Lee Aguinaldo, "Zobel, Aguinaldo, and Chabet", 1978

Lee Aguinaldo: In Retrospect runs from 26 October 2010 to 5 February 2011 at the Ateneo Art Gallery, Rizal Library Special Collections Building, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.  Phone(632)426-6488 or visit http://www.ateneo.gallery.edu

Hernando R. Ocampo, "53-Q (Sarimanok)", 1953

Arturo Luz figurative paintings from the 1950s

Vicente Manansala, "Jeepneys", 1951

Vicente Manansala, "Dambana (Altar), 1956

Alfonso Ossorio, "Clouds of Conscience", 1956

"Blonde Madonna" from 1950, by the sculptor only known as the Mad Man from Manlilipot

David Cortez Medalla, "The Joyous Kingdom", 1956

Fernando Zobel, "Saeta No. 42", 1957

Arturo Luz, "Carnival Forms 1", 1956

Marciano Galang, "Cavite", 1954

Roberto Chabet, "Landscape With White Moon", 1961

Roberto Chabet, "White Table", 1964

Ang Kiukok, "Still Life With Bottle", 1957

The 2010 Ateneo Art Awards

Just like everybody else in the audience, I eagerly awaited the announcement of winners for this year’s Ateneo Art Awards.  The

Shattering States: The Ateneo Art Awards 2010 Winners: Pow Martinez, Leslie de Chavez, and Mark Salvatus

Ateneo Art Gallery staff kept the final results under tight guard, even to us jurors.  Thankfully, they paced this year’s awards night programme so that none of us had long to wait.

Joel de Leon from the Ateneo Art Gallery, and Marina Cruz, 2008 winner, pose with short-listed artists for 2010: Leeroy New, Rodel Tapaya, Mark Salvatus, Joey Cobcobo, Riel Hilario, and Kiri Dalena

Since 2004, The Ateneo Art Awards has served as a barometer for the country’s contemporary arts landscape.  Past winners have gone beyond the critical recognition that the awards provide to, in most cases, huge commercial success.  Just think of how far Louie Cordero, Geraldine Javier, Ronald Ventura, and Marina Cruz have taken their art practices.  A cursory glance through the list of  even the non-winning finalists, the artists who have made it to the shortlist through the years,  reads like the art scene’s who’s who.

Lovely ladies: Bingbing Fernando, Gilda Cordero Fernando, and Boots Herrera

The 2010 Ateneo Art Awards winners are (in alphabetical order):  Leslie de Chavez for Buntong Hininga at SLab, Pow Martinez for 1 Billion Years at West Gallery, and Mark Salvatus for Secret Garden, Sungduan 5 Daloy ng Dunong at the National Musuem.  Winners receive eligibility to four residency grants abroad—in Sydney, Singapore, Bandung, and New York.  A win does not guarantee a residency, as the program directors reserve the right to choose which artist they give these to.  For this year, both the La Trobe University Grant in Sydney, and the Common Room Networks Foundation Residency in Bandung have been given to Mark.  The grantees from Artesan, in Singapore, and Art Omi, in upstate New York, have yet to be decided.

Cedie Vargas with Jean Marie and Michelline Syjuco

No doubt, everybody will have their two-cents worth on this year’s results.  As a member of the panel of jurors, let me just say that we went through long, even spirited, deliberations. Just to get our final list of 12 short-listed artists merited an extra, tie-breaking exercise after a whole day of discussion.  So as trite as this sounds, just to land on that list of 12 really means that the artist’s work stood out among so many.  I find that the list mirrors the excitingly-diverse attempts of our young contemporary artists.

Also, we must remember that these awards do not recognize the artists’ entire body  of work, but specific pieces and exhibits.  Thus, even the venues that host the shows in the shortlist receive special mention in all the Ateneo Art Gallery’s communications on these awards.

Artists Erwin Leano and Leslie de Chavez

The other finalists for 2010:  Frankie Callaghan, Joey Cobcobo, Kiri Dalena, Kawayan de Guia, Patricia Eustaquio, Riel Hilario, Leeroy New, Michelline Syjuco, and Rodel Tapaya.

The works of the 12 Short-listed artists for Shattering States: The Ateneo Art Awards 2010 may be viewed at the Grand Atrium, Shangri-La Plaza Mall from 6 to 16 August 2010.  The exhibit moves to the Ateneo Art Gallery from 26 August to 2 October 2010.  For more information contact the Ateneo Art Gallery at (632) 426-6488 or visit http://www.gallery.ateneo.edu.

Patricia Eustaquio, "Dear Sweet Filthy World", SLab

Photographs from Frankie Callaghan, "Dwelling", Silverlens

Fr. Rene Javellana, SJ from Ateneo's Fine Arts program, who also served as a juror

Frankie Callaghan, Rachel Rillo, and Patty Eustaquio

Joel Alonday of Art Informal

Joey Cobcobo, "7 Heads and Ten Horns", Avellana Art Gallery

A Kawayan de Guia jukebox from "Katas ng Pilipinas: God Knows Hudas Not Play", The Drawing Room

Kiri Dalena, "The Present Disorder Is The Order Of The Future", MO Space

Leeroy New with his piece from "Corpo Royale", The Drawing Room

Ateneo Art Gallery's Richie Lerma with wife, Karen, and son, Joaquin

Detail from Leslie de Chavez, "Buntong Hininga", SLab

Mark Salvatus, "Secret Garden, Sungduan 5, Daloy ng Dunong", The National Museum

Mark Salvatus' Secret Garden

Michelline Syjuco, "She Never Did Care About The Little Things" for "Draped In Silk", Yuchengco Museum

Pow Martinez, "1 Billion Years", West Gallery

Rajo Laurel

Detail from Riel Hilario's "Aniwaas", Art Informal

Detail of Rodel Tapaya's diorama to simulate installation of his piece, "Thrice Upon A Time, A Century of Story in the Art of the Philippines", now part of the Singapore Art Museum collection

A facsimile of Rodel's painting at the Singapore Art Museum

Yael Buencamino and IC Jaucian of the Ateneo Art Gallery

Sidd Perez of Manila Contemporary with Mark Salvatus

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"

Poklong and Marina at the Ateneo Art Gallery

Un/Fold Marina Cruz Exhibit Installation

One year after winning the 2008 Ateneo Art Awards, Poklong Anading and Marina Cruz Garcia bring us two shows, both coming off from their respective residency grants  from the Common Room Networks Foundation in Bandung, Indonesia and the La Trobe University Visual Arts Center in Sydney.

DRUNKEN REVELRY, POKLONG ANADING

Poklong’s divides his exhibit space into two parts, one for his sound project, the other for his video

Poklong Anading, Drunken Revelry video installation

installation.  Both sites revolve around his experience with the Perahu , a somewhat crude wooden toy boat, readily available in the markets of Bandung.

With Indonesian musicians and artists, he recorded the noise the Perahu makes in a cauldron of water and used this as the base on which they combined other sounds.  To allow us to focus fully on his auditory experience, we enter a completely dark room, and sit at the center. After the sounds wash over you, and your eyes adjust to the dimness, you move to the next part of the exhibit.

Poklong set up his video installation in a small room leading off from the first room, in what usually serves as the gallery’s stockroom.  You move into this tiny spot, and settle down to enjoy his video. Poklong projects his images onto unused gallery equipment and stored sculpture. This time we see red, yellow, and blue Perahu moving in water, shots taken from above.  Occasionally, we see children’s hands manipulating them.  The uneven surface, coupled with the repeating movement of the primary colored boats going round in circles, and the sound that still emanates from the other room,  all come together and  mesmerize.  What a trip!

Un/Fold Marina Cruz, dresses of twins made from chicken feed sacks

UN/FOLD, MARINA CRUZ

Marina has made her family’s history our story too.  Like a favorite tv series, we feel like we’ve come to know them intimately, the twins Elisa and Laura, Lola Eding who lovingly sewed their clothes,  and the dresses themselves, starched and ruffled, embroidered and laced.  All have provided material for Marina’s art.  Her fascination takes a different turn here, yet not

Like plaques on the wall

completely divesting itself of what identifies the work as Marina’s.  She continues to explore her biography, albeit now, in a very contemporary way.

She chooses to chronicle the lives of the twins, Marina’s mother and aunt, by a visual

Detail of embroidery from an illustration from Philippine Graphic magazine

progression of their dresses, 100 of them, all made by their mother.  We see the dresses themselves, arranged chronologically, always two of a kind.  On the walls, like graduation plaques, she frames pictures of the dresses with notations she wrote herself  of the memories associated with those dresses.   They make for fascinating reading, those scribbled words of hers.  Here, one evokes the memory of a particularly strict teacher.  Another brings back a day spent at the old  Manila Hotel.

Another pair of identical dresses for identical twins Elisa and Laura

And when you look through the dresses, you feel like you get a glimpse into another time, when RTW did not exist and every family, no matter how modest the means, engaged the services of a modista .  Or when chicken feed came in sacks good enough to clothe ones girls.  Or even when local literature, like the Philippine Graphic, from which the twins’ father got his illustrations from, was read regularly at home.

An added treat to visitors of the two exhibits?  Viewing the Ateneo Art Gallery’s permanent collection of pieces from the bequest of Ferando Zobel.

Drunken Revlery and Un/Fold are on view at the Ateneo Art Gallery from 2 July to 14 August 2009.  Artists Talks are on 8 July at 1030 am with Poklong Anading, and at 15 July at 430 pm with Marina Cruz.  For more information call (632)426-6488.  The Ateneo Art Gallery is at the G/F Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City