Wasak! Filipino Art Today

Wasak!

Filipino Art Today Edited by Matthias Arndt

Foreword

During the past three decades in contem- The underlying motivation of the WASAK! porary art I have discovered that there is no Filipino Art Today publication and the accom- single art world, but rather a number of dif- panying exhibition in Berlin is to shed light on ferent spheres that simultaneously compete this fascinating artistic universe. Following with and enrich each other. My first research the highly successful Manila: The Night is Rest­ trip to the Philippines in 2011 made clear to me less, The Day is Scornful exhibition curated that the term “art world” does not apply to Fili- by Norman Crisologo for ARNDT Singapore pino art: Metro-Manila alone is a universe in in 2014, WASAK! continues this exploration itself. There is an incredibly complex and rich of Fili­pino contemporary art, in the hope of art scene there, driven by a strong sense of providing an emblematic contextual compen- community amongst fellow artists, either cul- dium for Western audiences. tivated through local alliances or forged at art Signaling the first instance of its kind, academies. WASAK! thus offers snapshots of current The Filipino creative scene receives strong artis­­tic practices from the Philippines, uniting encouragement and support across the entire a selection of its leading protagonists across country, and is met with a steadily growing generational lines, genres, and media. local collector base. Besides Filipino contem- My gratitude goes to the nineteen par­ti­ porary and modern art increasingly attract- cipating artists, as well as to the curators of ing wider Asian audiences, and besides its ris- the exhibition Norman Crisologo and Erwin ing international profile, the sense of loyalty Romulo, DISTANZ publishing house, and co- and pride located within this arts community editor Kristin Rieber. as well as the appetite with which Filipino col- lectors follow “their artists” are unique in the Matthias Arndt, Singapore, October 2015 current global art landscape. Filipino art deals with the many chal- lenges and realities of contemporary life in the Philippines, but it is also deeply rooted in the multi-layered and colorful Filipino history, both recent and ancient. The artists work across a spectrum of genres, mastering a number of dif- ferent mediums, from painting and drawing to sculpture, installation, performance and, more recently, film and new media.

3 4 Contents

3 MatthiasForeword Arndt

6 CocoyWasak! Lumbao Filipino Art Today

12 Zean Cabangis 20 Annie Cabigting 28 Buen Calubayan 38 Louie Cordero 48 Jigger Cruz 58 Marina Cruz 66 Kawayan de Guia 76 Alfredo Esquillo 86 Ian Fabro 94 Nona Garcia 104 Pow Martinez 114 Manuel Ocampo 124 Alwin Reamillo 134 Norberto Roldan 144 Kaloy Sanchez 154 José Santos III 162 Rodel Tapaya 172 Tatong Torres 180 Ronald Ventura

191 Photo Credits

192 Colophon 5 Wasak!Cocoy Lumbao Filipino Art Today

There have been many claims about the con- Although their work was largely inspired by Manuel Ocampo (b. 1965) in Los Angeles. Like dition of art nowadays that have generated the local, these artists have sought their place the string of pugilists the country has pro- vigorous discussion, mainly in the form of in the rest of the world. Through the jumble duced throughout the years, most of these books. This book, being no exception, carries and mess of their own ground zero—which artists have ensured that the red and blue with it two bold assertions: first, that there is is a country of broken histories, lush influ- flag will be raised around the world. such a thing as Filipino art; and secondly, that ences, and a people constantly having to live There are also artists who have quietly there are a number of native-born Filipino art- “despite” something—their art has become paved the way from their own home ground, ists emerging onto the international scene. individually more diverse, yet collectively creating art that is more palpable and real The Philippines may be best remembered appears as a single exploded view. Art, as it than any imagined notion of a lush country- by the rest of the world through sporadic turned out, was also being produced “despite” side that has in fact vanished since the time news headlining, which in hindsight can be something—or to be specific, some things: a the Filipino people woke to discover that their divided into two eras and two generations of conservative heritage, a lopsided economy, leader had declared martial law; since activ- audience. The earlier generation witnessed an erratic market, a soaring crime rate, a ist students and reformers began to disap- the unprecedented peaceful revolution in booming population, struggling art institu- pear without explanation; and since the price 1986 named “People Power,” that overthrew tions, and apathetic government agencies. of commodities became too high for the aver- the military government; the later saw thou- Wasak is a Filipino word that means “in age family. There may have been a number sands of people left homeless or perishing ruins.” When used in the vernacular, it means of different avenues explored by such art- in the wake of one of the most destructive “wrecked”—or as a more encouraging inter- ists as Carlos Francisco (1912–1969) with his typhoons of recent times. jection, “going for broke.” It is a term that sig- hero-laden epic murals, or Santiago Bose’s During the former event, people gath- nals a hazard, a warning: this machine has (1949–2002) robust primitivism, or Arturo Luz’s ered en masse to demonstrate to the wider departed from its normal function. (b. 1926) native brand of modernism, or even world what was possible; in the latter, people In another context, a shattering is Roberto Chabet (1937–2013) with his concep- gathered around mass graves to bury their implied—but of what? Tradition? Conscious- tual schemes and candid defilement of tired neighbors and loved ones. In both instances, ness? Homogeneity? The Philippines itself traditions. Filipinos were lauded for their resiliency and is physically “shattered”— an archipelago While the world filled the void of what is unwavering spirit. The Philippines was seen amounting to more than 7,000 islands. This now known as the “gap” of fifty-one years as a country able to reclaim democracy in has given rise to more than 150 different between 1964 and 2015—the span of time the face of a dictator’s iron rule and, three regional dialects spoken amongst different since the Philippines’ inclusion in the prestig- decades later, as a nation capable of pick- tribes and villages.1 It stands to reason, then, ious Venice Biennale—with idyllic scenes and ing itself up after a huge and terrible natural that such intrinsically fragmented terrain piecemeal testaments of Filipino history, art disaster. should produce disconnected practices. continued to be made in the Philippines, virtu- The nineteen artists in this book, entitled So in this arena of scattered landscapes, ally unseen on a wider stage. Wasak! Filipino Art Today, can be considered broken narratives, and fragmented histories, All the nineteen artists represented here a fair representation of the various art prac- what could best be described as “Filipino art”? have emerged from the different crannies tices that have emerged in the Philippines There was a period when art in the Philip- within this gap, which explains the vary- in recent decades. All of the nineteen have pines was understood to be the sort of idyllic, ing degrees to which their works attempt to lived through and witnessed one or both of rural scenes, adorned by bathing maidens explain not only localities but also small sep- the aforementioned “eras” of international or men planting rice, painted by Fernando arate nooks in a larger art-historical context. headlining. Most of them reached maturity Amorsolo (1892–1972). These traditional stud- Whether stemming from the city, a mountain- grappling with local events that transpired ies of light and landscape used to be seen as side or one of the remote islands in the vast between: natural disasters like earthquakes the epitome of everything Filipino, and indeed archipelago, these are clearly works wrought and flood; political unrest in the form of a coup they may still be the primary examples of Fili- with the utmost attention in a bid for recogni- d’état and calls for presidential impeach- pino art in encyclopedias and foreign refer- tion, despite being a part of an almost forgot- ments; political ineptitude in the form of cor- ence books. ten resource in the art world. ruption and briberies; and the longstanding But there is also the art that has become In an essay in 1979, one of the most influ- battle with poverty and urban overpopula- known through expatriates such as Juan ential Filipino art critics, Leo Benesa, asked tion. Most of these artists have nurtured or Luna (1857–1899) in Madrid, Ben Cabrera (b. the question: “What is ‘Philippine’ in Philip- fed their ideas into the reality that is Manila— 1942) in London, the filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik pine art?” Aware that most art from other the nation’s capital, from where the most pro- (b. 1942) in Berlin, performance artist David places was unable to escape the influence of nounced or provocative influences appear. Cortez Medalla (b. 1942) in New York, and the Western canon, he provided an optimistic

6 opinion: that the intention to paint well is what laws, only to learn by rote memory their doc- their culture, but was actually instrumental made artists from his home country “Filipino.” trines, which they did not understand, along for them to acquire one. “Painters first,” he summarised, “and bearers with another morality, another aesthetic, dif- Throughout the 1970s, at the height of of message, second.” 2 ferent from those inspired in their race by the Ferdinand Marcos’s dictatorship through Many of the artists in Wasak! Filipino Art climate and their way of feeling.”6 martial law, we find the cycle of such a para- Today have chosen painting as their primary It is worth mentioning that he included dox reigning true. It was during this era that medium, with a few exceptions who have the phrase “another aesthetic,” signifying the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) dealt primarily with assemblage, sculpture his anticipation of a culture that, ever since was conceived, poised to become one of the and installation. In looking at their paintings, its colonization, was destined to perpetu- major institutions that would help define the it is perhaps best to follow Benesa’s prescrip- ally retrieve the defining characteristics lost development of Filipino art. Filipino art histo- tion: to look at the form first, and the message through assimilation. For a significant period rian and curator Patrick Flores, in his essay later; to examine the intentions of the artists in Filipino art, this search for an inherent iden- “Social Realism: The Turns of a Term in the before attempting to categorize them as rep- tity was addressed by seeking out the rural- Philippines,” implied the obliqueness of such resentatives of a socio-historical period or a pastoral images by artists such as Fernando a venture that in turn paradoxically inspired movement. Amorsolo and Fabián de la Rosa (1869–1937). another defining style that would thrust Fili- There are no movements. There was no Their works permanently entered both the Fili- pino art into another momentous identity: in “gap” or void in terms of Filipino art produc- pino and the world’s consciousnesses as the observing the ambitions of the Center, and tion. But there are blind spots that are to be definitive “genre” paintings that best repre- ordaining it in Marcos’s own words as “a place addressed. And this book covers what might sent life in the Philippines: the idyllic atmos- where the Filipino can discover the soul of his otherwise be missed concerning the most phere, the lushness of the countryside farms, people, and relate the saga of his race to the recent and vibrant generation of artists work- and the beauty of the native women. And it vast human experience that begins in the ing in the Philippines. is no coincidence that even in the writings of past and advances to the limitless future.” 9 In attempting to arrive at any neutral def- Rizal, as demonstrated in his memoirs of the This was seconded by his wife, Imelda Mar- inition of contemporary Filipino art, one must countryside, one finds the same elements cos, who served as its first director, and first understand that at its very heart lies the associated with the pastoral attributes of sought international standing for Filipino tal- concept of obliteration—of wasak—a shat- a painting: “the yearning of a past that is ent based on an understanding of modernism tering of a once neatly demarcated frame, constantly slipping away; the identification as an aspirational discourse of equivalence.10 which was usually and conveniently used as between one’s separation from homeland and Through such idealistic pursuits of ‘beauty, a viewfinder for the Orientalist’s gaze: search- one’s separation from innocence [...] and the truth, and goodness,’ ironically a dissenting ing for the exotic, aboriginal, or political, or for idealization of a return home, contrasted with view was generated, coupled with the number something redolent with native concerns such the aimlessness of wandering into the Euro- of mass protests and rallies held in the streets as pantheism or poverty. There is always that pean metropoles.” 7 during this period of martial rule. A number imagined Other: a Big Brother, the presence Could it be said that after all the aimless of artists, instead of seeing the promise of of a powerful Western gaze, the superlative turns taken by painters like Amorsolo and de beauty or goodness, or their global equiva- canon, the determiner by which all efforts are la Rosa while exploring the canons of Western lent, saw how these aspirations necessarily measured—and this is symptomatic of most art, the pastoral was the avenue they chose “excluded the unsightly ferment or the socio- Filipinos’ mindsets, since the country’s history to force a return home? They retreated to the economic asymmetries of the present.”11 Thus is mired in colonial rule.3 In the different tran- fields to find the heart of the countryside, and the brand of social realism, which has come sitional phases of Filipino art, there always there they found what would evolve into the to be associated with the Philippines, was seems to be a breaking point: that point essential Filipino image: the mark of a simple formed. It was described by Flores as an aes- where one begins to display signs of resist- race that loved peace yet at the same time thetic movement that resists “the idealization ance against any enveloping characteristic demonstrated resiliency, joviality, and grace of progress,” and expresses a “dissident cul- formulated by the Other. under unfavorable conditions. Yet along tural imagination, one wrought throughout The question of art for the Filipinos, there- its interstices, there were artists who, after centuries of colonialism, and that in many fore, is a matter of seeking out what is essen- noticing such a defining style, decided they ways persists in postcolonial discourse and tially theirs by breaking free—and this seems would not be seen in such restrictive ways and practice in the Philippines today.”12 It was a to be the inevitable route for all who search for expressed themselves through different forms. strategy embraced by a number of artists in the inherent Filipino identity—from imposed Hence, the kind of artists represented in this order to “expose or lay bare the true condi- values that were once embraced. It is not book emerged: shattering any defining frame, tions of Philippine Society.”13 strange that among the first to recognize this disrupting the long-held worldview, and des­ Early examples of social realism can be was the national hero José Rizal who, as a troying any neat concepts about Filipino art. seen in the works of Antipas Delotavo (b. 1954), member of the subordinate indio4 class, was And this is the paradox which José Rizal was Neil Doloricon (b. 1957), Jose Tence Ruiz (b. able to strengthen his intellectual prowess by also able to comprehend: a paradox that has 1958), and Renato Habulan (b. 1953) to name studying abroad in Madrid, Paris, and Heidel- exuded from all the soul-searching made by a few. Their works invoked a “revolutionary berg, and then to use this to break away from Filipinos to find their essential truth—that continuum sparked by a long history of colo- his Spanish colonizers back home. In his essay therein lie further contradictions to those Rizal nial struggles [...]. [Images] depicting histori- “Filipinas dentro de cien años” 5 [The Philip- stated in his essay: “for the ancient enmities cal movements of resistance were freely cited pines: A Century Hence], Rizal wrote that the among different provinces, a common sore, a and recombined with contemporary imagery indigenous people of a lost civilization like the general affront interpolating an entire race and graphic codes referencing muralist prac- Philippines after the Spanish conquest “for- has erased them” 8—as if to say that coloni- tice and ideological iconography.”14 Because got their writing, their songs, their poetry, their zation did not cause the Philippines to lose the initial issues tackled by social realist

7 pioneers remained long after the disintegra- bearings of poetry as a kind of emancipation Center of the Philippines, sharing ideals of tion of martial rule, it is understandable that through art. advancement through discourses on mod- this tradition or style would be carried over to Norberto Roldan (b. 1953), in his assem- ernism and eventually postmodernism and the succeeding generations—such as that of blages and text-laden paintings, resorts to a conceptualism. Alfredo Esquillo (b. 1972) and José Santos III scheme that seems to encompass the con- In 2008 in Hong Kong, a large group (b. 1970), both of whom are represented in this cerns of the three artists aforementioned, exhibition was held in Osage Gallery16 called book. Both have been part of artists’ collec- taking on the spiritual, the colonial, and the Futuramanila. It showcased one of the largest tives or groups, such as Anting-anting and material groundwork that compiles what delegates of Filipino artists to be presented Saling-Pusa,15 which have expressly mani- could be considered the essential Filipino outside the Philippines. Consisting of both fested a certain nationalist bent as part of experience. His efforts could be summarized locally-based Filipino artists and a few who their guiding principles. Both have engaged as an anthropological endeavor to discover had set up studios abroad elsewhere, it was in painting large murals depicting certain and interpret the world’s direction through its one of those shows whose conception was social aspects of life in the Philippines. And antiquated articles, where the assemblages directed primarily at eradicating the pastoral both started out as painters seeking what is he makes essentially dwell within the more notions about Filipino art. It presented Manila essentially Filipino in art—whether through minute activities of collecting, arranging, and as a city of the future, albeit a post-apo­ca­ experience, imagery, social relevance, or composing objects to present a new narration lyptic future. It renounced its backwardness subject matter—and have continued to do of a country’s history and her people’s collec- and acknowledged its dismal nature. But the so. But both are also crucial examples of art- tive memory. most telling objective of the show was com- ists who started to break away from the gen- Rodel Tapaya (b. 1980) and Ronald Ven­ municated through the kind of artists it pre- eral notions about social realist art—to the tura (b. 1972), on the other hand, are able to sented (mostly young and emerging) and the point where they have completely obliterated champion the history of their people through potentially progressive character of current from their work the most commonly held a vast display of skill and imagination, and Filipino art. The catalog from this exhibition expectations. a unique attention to symbols and details. echoes the aim for a different kind of iden- In Esquillo’s case, the plight of the Fili- Tapaya presents social criticisms through tity sought by this new breed of artists: “In pino is expressed inwardly, as the focus shifts fables and myths. He synthesizes historical, the local art scene, it is more the longing for towards the individual’s longings. In this art- satirical, mythical, and folkloric themes with relevance to the outside world, a global link ist’s most recent works, the representation of contemporary scenes, and the panoramic that we seek […] the ones who lingered on our the common Filipino is combined with visions imagery is always predicated by a native shores constantly send a message in a bottle of spirituality. His oeuvre has started to turn myth, which eventually intersects with soci- to whoever is across the water…” 17 inward, exploring the facets of individual ety’s present concerns. In contrast, Ventura Nona Garcia (b. 1978) was one of the art- strife and identity, which for him are rooted to uses universal animistic themes of horses, ists whose work was featured in Futuramanila; the Filipino concept of being. While Esquillo’s birds, and other creatures, contrasting she showed a painting of a decrepit, aban- art moves from social realism’s wide-ranging these with the quintessential Filipino figure— doned room that is almost falling apart. The views of society towards a more microscopic wiry, dark-haired, and brown-skinned—and catalog described Garcia’s works as “allegor- facet of an individual, Santos edges a little superimposing them with icons from popular ical pieces of solitude and isolation, remote further towards the metaphysical, combin- Western culture, thus creating paintings and landscapes and abandoned spaces,” and as ing philosophical concepts of time, space, sculptures, seemingly products of parody and “portraits lived in another time and another and objects. From his depiction of ambiguous juxtaposition, which are in fact uncompromis- context.” 18 The same words can also be used post-colonial tableaus—juxtaposing anach- ing manifestations of the mind’s reality strug- to describe the emerging group of Filipino art- ronistic iconographies such as turn-of-the- gling with the ambiguities of history and cul- ists who pursue their practice based on per- century costumes from the Spanish colonial ture. They present an architecture of the mind, sonal explorations within the medium: out of era with popular imagery—to his paintings moving back and forth between the tamed time and out of context, isolated from their and assemblages of objects stacked in boxes surface of reality and the deep recesses of surroundings. and closets, or hidden in bags and linen, the fantasy. The works of Zean Cabangis (b. 1985) longstanding themes in Santos’s art—iden- If these artists molded by the grip of embody this characteristic. His landscapes tity and time—progress from questions about social consciousness proceed from the sud- are lifted from his own immediate surround- the social function of objects toward those den awareness that an inherent Filipino imag- ings—photograph emulsions of houses, about the elusive nature of “meaning.” ery should emerge from their works, there are empty lots, and greenery. But at the heart of The same could be said about Alwin also those who tried to soldier on as citizens his paintings resides a massive, multicolored, Reamillo’s (b. 1964) sculptures and installa- attuned to the global discourses on art, with geometric shape, almost alien to the scene tions. In his case, the essential Filipino trait is their sights directed towards ongoing discus- where it floats: akin to the search for a home, rooted in the experiences gathered around sions about form, process, concept, and art when “home” is not found within one’s own the significance of an actual object: the grand history in general. There are a number of art- locality—the search for an apparition; the piano. If Esquillo’s channeling of the Filipino ists who entered the other enclave of CCP’s search for an intervention; and, ultimately, experience has tended towards the spiritual, “aspirational discourse of equivalence” with the search for the perfect anomaly that one Reamillo has chosen a more personal route: the rest of the art world. These are the art- hopes will change the monotonous strain of an exploration of the living conditions of his ists who have decided that they are primarily existence. father and the people surrounding him, all artists, and that being Filipino was a quan- Marina Cruz’s (b. 1982) sublime composi- skilled piano makers. For Reamillo, the piano dary that must be addressed through other tions, on the other hand, develop possibilities becomes a vestige of one man’s struggle to means. In 1967, the artist Roberto Chabet from a domestic standpoint, using dresses elucidate the working class’s life into the was appointed as the director of the Cultural and other family heirlooms. This enclosed

8 passage of familial undertakings, carefully of Misrepresentation: Doing Time on Fili­ and playful. This is a place where innocence pieced together and sympathetically pre- pino Time.19 It featured like-minded artists and irreverence collide. sented, has become rare in a world that has who were eager to explore the boundaries Jigger Cruz (b. 1984), with his iconoclastic developed the propensity to reach outward between what was considered lowbrow and style that harbors impressions of vandalized rather than inward, due to the globalizing high art. Abject art in the form of paintings works, further develops the attitude of the dil- technologies. was shown, notions about marketability were ettante as a destroyer: painting idyllic genre Meanwhile, Tatong Torres (b. 1979) pur- initially defied, and the collectors’ tastes paintings that appear to be antique, and sues the possibilities in technology that were severely tested. In the accompanying then desecrating them with his signature lay- have become a part of our everyday reality. catalog for the Bastards’ New York exhibition, ering of frivolously thick, impasto, multi-col- Instead of depicting events, objects, or land- art writer Gina Fairley wrote: “By nature the ored lines. His method surfaces as an inten- scapes, he turns to the internet and treats it bastard is a hybrid being […] [They] are mate- tional affront to the pretense involved in art as part of an immediate consciousness. From rially diverse and untethered by political ori- valuation; even more importantly, it acts as the intangible, digital sphere to the corporeal entation or aesthetic pigeonholing. They are a critique on the canons of taste. Irreverent, surface of the canvas, and then back to the mobile, alert yet laid-back, and their practice unpractical, his work is a kind of anathema to virtual world, he tries to obtain a new visual remains indelibly sutured to an urban experi- everything we’ve been taught about what is culture: one that has been acclimatized to ence.”20 good and true in art. His process is one that onscreen activities, and the digital world- The kinds of work these artists produce strongly reflects the concept of wasak—an stage. This is the new world: a new landscape have become an integral part of what is mod- annihilation of the value in art. in which artists such as Torres have immersed ern Filipino art. They symbolize everything So this is the convolution into which Fili- themselves, drawing from it new possibilities that has been paradoxical between the aspi- pino art has progressed: from the colonial, and new approaches to producing art. rations of the CCP or José Rizal’s initial obser- to the pastoral, to the socially radical, to the If there is any art among this group that vations, and all the clamor against post-colo- experimental, and ultimately to the defiantly evokes a truly cosmopolitan nature, it is the nial detritus. They seem to stare one right in uninterested—obliterating longheld concepts work of Annie Cabigting (b. 1971). Cabigting the face and say, “Who cares?” and harking back to the primitive, the instinc- references other people’s paintings from dif- Manuel Ocampo’s works have become tual, and the unknowable. ferent places, different eras, and different almost definitive to art that paradoxically The search for what is essentially Fili- phases of art history. She makes art about defies the world in which it thrives: the art pino has also been mired in practices that art—self-reflexive and enclosed within its own institutions and the art market. In his work seek the local equivalent of the concerns of activities. She paints these paintings inside lies a profound inquiry into notions of artistic experimentation and representation dem- her own world, addressing the concepts of creation itself, and though the abject quali- onstrated in Western art. There is a cosmo- art-viewing, reproduction, and gallery and ties continue to reside in his paintings, his are politan desire to be considered world-class, museum settings in general, so that her works more than spectacles that generate shock. a longing for relevance in the international act as institutional critiques, questioning the Instead, they are challenges to the acad- scene—perhaps the shortest route is through entire process involved in presenting art. emies of “bad” and “good” in art. Ocampo bastardization. In another corner of the Philippines’ can be regarded as the primary figure who The impossibility to place anything in a vibrant art scene, an insatiable appetite con- inspired many local artists, even while based predefined category is exemplified by the tinues to grow, despite all the upheavals and in Los Angeles where he first made his mark works of artists like Kawayan de Guia (b. 1979), the debate about what is essentially Filipino as an artist representing the sensibilities of who combines indigenous artifacts with con- art. Tired of the endless talk about compro- the 1990s. temporary ideas about sculpture and instal- mises that must be made for the sake of art’s Louie Cordero (b. 1978), who also grew up lation. Or consider Kaloy Sanchez’s (b. 1982) social responsibilities, and the incessant against the disjuncture of the 1990s, traces his vivid self-portraits inserted within a tableau of games played by formalists and conceptu- influences to malignancies in a city of Mala- telling social conditions; or Ian Fabro (b. 1993), alists in defining art’s nature, this breed on bon, located at the fringe of Manila, sprawled whose combinations of figurative drawings, the outskirts—neither here nor there—sim- across low-lying fields near the fishing har- baroque expression, and pop assemblages ply want to do one thing: to paint. And, in bors, riddled with marshes, and prone to evoke narratives with an ambiguous mystical the process, to revel in the sensation which flooding. His paintings demonstrate a kind of force. Buen Calubayan’s (b. 1980) paintings, the new image provides. The congregation, irreverence, resorting to the grotesque, detail- installations, performances, and paperwork once phantom, seems to have found a rally- ing the shapes of eyeballs, veins, innards, epitomize everything that is paradoxical in ing point on the return of Manuel Ocampo to and oozing excrement. In Cordero’s view, this Filipino art: history rooted in personal trivia, Manila in 2003. Ocampo, whose works gar- is what lurks in the human mind, and what is bearing cosmopolitan concepts yet essential- nered considerable success in the United essentially fundamental to our senses—com- ist in nature, appropriating Western practices States, served as a model for some Filipino bining the “incoherence of forms against the while searching for what is inherently Filipino. artists who wanted to take a chance at rede- incoherence of imagination.” 21 From José Rizal’s own conflicting ideas fining the practices of realism, formalism, or With Pow Martinez’s (b. 1983) paint- about whether there is truly a “pre-existing conceptualism. Reluctantly accepting the ings, primordial turns primitive, reeking with race” that is Filipino,22 to what might have title of curator, Ocampo solidified the exis- rudimentary representations of cartoonish been the Cultural Center’s inadvertent trig- tence of this kind of sensibility in Filipino art- humans and symbols. Martinez deliberately gering of protest art after being ordained as making: defiant, mischievous, and always returns to the unrefined and the raw, and a “place where the Filipino can find his soul,” refusing to be labeled. to the underdeveloped quality of images— we can pose these parallel questions: Could In 2010, Manuel Ocampo began curat- prompting us to reflect on the childlike quali- there be any pre-existing artistic sensibili- ing a series of shows initially called Bastards ties from which art can spring, unexpected ties for the Filipino? And is there any defining

9 aesthetic quality towards which Filipino art is 9 Ferdinand Marcos, quoted in Patrick Flores, “Social heading? Realism: The Turns of a Term in the Philippines,” In this day and age, and with the kind of Afterall 34 (Autumn/Winter 2013), art that has been steadily produced in the http://www.afterall.org/journal/issue.34/social- Philippines’ many diverse quarters over the realism-the-turns-of-a-term-in-the-philippines (October 9, 2015). years, the pursuit to find the essential Filipino 10 Imelda Marcos, quoted in Ileana Maramag (ed.), character in art seems to give rise to nothing The Compassionate Society and Other Selected but a nostalgic impediment. Nothing seems to Speeches of Imelda Romualdez Marcos (Manila: stop the Filipinos from rejecting anything that n.p., 1975), pp. 14f. can be finally ascribed to them. Not now, nor 11 Flores 2013 (as in footnote 10). in any possible distant futures. 12 Ibid. If we can agree on anything about the 13 Ibid. art being made in the Philippines, it is that it 14 Ibid. was bound to head in any number of unfore- 15 Local art groups established in the mid-1980s seen directions. After more than four hundred focused on essentialist art production of home- years of suppression by colonial rule, having grown Filipino art. experienced political upheavals and natural 16 Futuramanila, a group exhibition organized by disasters time and again, and having even- Louie Cordero and Gary-Ross Pastrana for Osage tually fostered a culture of diaspora, with Gallery, Hong Kong, which ran from May 9, 2008 until June 10, 2008. The second leg was shown in millions of Filipinos migrating to different Osage Gallery, Singapore, which ran from October countries every year in the search for a more 24, 2008 until June 2, 2009. promising future, the effects of these condi- 17 Ronald Achacoso, “Futuramanila,” in Futuramanila, tions, however convoluted, are the only indis- edited by Agnes Lin, exh. cat. Osage Gallery, Hong putable clues in defining Filipino art. Kong, and Osage Gallery, Singapore (Hong Kong: The nineteen artists in this book provide us Osage Gallery, 2010), pp. 4–15, here p. 4. with an opportunity to experience the differ- 18 Ibid., p. 8. ent directions they have taken, and to glimpse 19 First shown at the Freies Museum, Berlin. various parts of the history of this fragmented 20 Gina Fairley, “Time Re-routing Reality,” in Bastards archipelago. Mark Rothko’s well-known words of Misrepresentation: New York Edition, exh. cat. are like a particularly apt invitation to explore (New York: Topaz Arts, 2012), unpaginated. this particular corner of the world, where “we 21 Louie Cordero, quoted in the text on the artist in had nothing to lose but a vision to gain.” 23 this publication on p. 39. 22 Blanco 2008 (as in footnote 6), p. 74. 23 Mark Rothko in a speech he delivered when he 1 Diksyunaryong Sentinyal ng Wikang Filipino accepted his honorary doctorate from Yale [Centennial Dictionary of the Filipino Language] University in 1969. (Quezon City: Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 1998), pp. 934–935. 2 Leo Benesa, “What is Philippine about Philippine Art?” in idem, What is Philippine About Philippine Art? And Other Essays (Manila: National Commis- sion for Culture and Arts, 1978), pp. 135–137, here p. 136. 3 The Philippines was occupied by the Spanish from 1521 until 1898, and then became a colony of the US from 1898 until 1935, at which time the Philippine Commonwealth government was established. See Renato Constantino, The Philippines: A Past Revis­ ited (Quezon City: Tala Publication Services, 1975). 4 Indio is a Spanish derogatory term for indigenous people. 5 José Rizal’s essay “Filipinas dentro de cien años” was originally published serially in the Filipino fort- nightly review La Solidaridad, running through the issues from September 1889 to January 1890. 6 José Rizal, “Filipinas dentro de cien años,” quoted and translated in John Blanco, “The Pastoral Theme in Colonial Politics and Literature,” in Phil­ ippine Studies: Have We Gone Beyond St. Louis, edited by Priscelina Patajo-Legasto (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2008), pp. 68–87, here p. 73. 7 Blanco 2008 (as in footnote 6), p. 72. 8 Rizal quoted in Blanco 2008 (as in footnote 6), p. 74.

10 Artists

Zean Cabangis Annie Cabigting Buen Calubayan Louie Cordero Jigger Cruz Marina Cruz Kawayan de Guia Alfredo Esquillo Ian Fabro Nona Garcia Pow Martinez Manuel Ocampo Alwin Reamillo Norberto Roldan Kaloy Sanchez José Santos III Rodel Tapaya Tatong Torres Ronald Ventura 11 Zean Cabangis

Education 2012 Goat Paths, Artinformal, Selected Group Exhibitions 2013 Still, Blanc Gallery, Quezon City, Mandaluyong City, Philippines Philippines 2007 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Would That It Were, West Gallery, 2015 Order of Objects After Arrival, No Random Nonsense, Boston Painting, University of the Quezon City, Philippines Project Space Pilipinas Studio, Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Shade My Eyes and I Can See Lucban, Philippines Surface Area, Finale Art File, Philippines You (with Nikki Luna), Silverlens, Naked in Alien Territory, J Studio, Makati City, Philippines Makati City, Philippines Taguig City, Philippines Dissecting Air, West Gallery, 2011 Walking on Thin Ice, Artinformal, 2014 Re:View 2014, BenCab Museum, Quezon City, Philippines Selected Solo Exhibitions Mandaluyong City, Philippines Baguio City, Philippines Tones of Home, Blanc Gallery, Gathering, Now Gallery, Makati CCP: Mona Lisa Project, West Quezon City, Philippines 2014 Reclaim, Artinformal, City, Philippines Gallery, Quezon City, and Cul- Abstraction: Lost and Found, Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2010 WhoWhatWhereWhenHowWhy, tural Center of the Philippines, Taksu Singapore Fib, 20Square, Silverlens, Makati Silverlens, Makati City, Pasay City, Philippines 2012 Counting Headlights, Now City, Philippines Philippines Before and After, West Gallery, Gallery, Makati City, Philippines 2013 Condestruct, Artinformal, Quezon City, Philippines 2011 SAGER Manila, Boston Gallery, Mandaluyong City, Manila: The Night Is Restless, The Quezon City, Philippines Philippines Day Is Scornful, Arndt Singapore Line and Space, Magnet Gallery

12 As the son of an art professor and painter, meditated on or drawn back from—a sign of to an ailment: the lack of center, the aboli- Zean Cabangis was introduced to the world foreboding mystery. tion of color, and the abandonment of one’s of art at a very young age. In his early paint- Whatever meanings Cabangis’s struc- imagination. His pieces, daunting as they ings he portrayed subjects close to him, such tures hold, they include significant formal may appear, are in fact allegories for a quest, as his grandmother and uncle, who were concepts that mix geometric abstractions much as he himself has searched during his part of his household, and whose life sto- with the grit and realism of a photographed wanderings for the perfect view. The search ries made an impact on his young imagina- landscape. But these abstractions inside for an apparition; the search for an interven- tion. In his recent works, he has shifted and his frame foster a certain space and depth, tion; and, ultimately, the search for the per- expanded his outlook, leading him in search thereby acting as objects that are part of fect anomaly that one hopes will change the of “open spaces that bear the capacity to the figurative scheme. As much as their pres- monotonous strain of existence. generate awe.” His art has become associ- ences have become ambiguities in the picto- ated with his travels. He has become accus- rial realm, their construction within the frame tomed to the integration of long arduous bike has enabled the artist to bridge the chasm rides and countryside walks with the prac- tice of gathering images through photogra- phy. From the outskirts of Manila and nearby Zean Cabangis was born in Tayabas, coastal roads, he collects scenes that later Philippines, in 1985 become part of his canvas through emulsion * transfers. He lives and works in Quezon City, Cabangis uses acrylic to paint over the Philippines backdrop of gridded photographs, so that his work falls into the category of constructed assemblages. As if completing a puzzle, he between abstraction and the natural world, places an imposing geometric form defined between entities of pure color against the by a rubric of colors against the landscape dingy tableau of a landscape. or seascape he has chosen as background. The “open spaces” that Cabangis has dis- These brightly colored structures fill the open covered on his travels is a concept that has space as interventions that completely alter slowly become extinct within the cramped the topography of the world he tries to recon- city of Manila. Cabangis, who was raised struct. They tower like monoliths, or fill hollow there, has become witness to the sudden rise spaces like bunkers in a field. They are formed of infrastructures driven by scores of mis- with layers and lines of different colors that guided capitalist ventures that have turned stand out against the monochromatic scene the streets of Manila into dense concrete jun- with which they interfere. Their formations gles. The insatiable demand for capital and evoke a sudden presence, out of place and the reckless bid for progress have turned the out of time, their startling appearances sug- city into a fortress of gray edifices, and his gesting a quasi-mystical phenomenon to be foreboding works serve as a kind of antidote

Katipunan, Quezon City, 2005 Shell National Students Art Exhibi­ Mandaluyong City. Manila. Alonday, Salvador. Zean Philippines tion, Art Center – SM Megamall, Gomez, Jerome. “Who Owns Cabangis: Goat Paths. Exh. cat. 2010 Dream Come True, Boston Mandaluyong City, Philippines This Art?” Esquire Philippines Artinformal. Mandaluyong City. Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines 2004 Shell National Students Art Exhibi­ (February): pp. 82–95. Gimena, Aliana, and Tricia Ano Bayan!?, Cultural Center of tion, Art Center – SM Megamall, Hilario, Riel. Mistaken for Won­ Aquino. “Ateneo Art Awards: the Philippines, Pasay City, Mandaluyong City, Philippines ders. Edited by Artinformal. Exh. And then there were three.” Philippines pamphlet. Art Fair Philippines, Interaksyon. August 13. (Online) Alay 13, Boston Gallery, Quezon Makati City. Mandaluyong City. “Ordered chaos in Zean City, Philippines Selected Bibliography (Online) Cabangis’ art.” Manila Bulletin. 2009 Metrobank Art & Design Excel­ Lopa, Trickie C. “The Lightness of November 11. (Online) lence, Metrobank, Pasay City, 2015 “Haunting nature.” Pipeline 46 Being.” Rogue 79 (August). Philippines (January/February). 2013 Hilario, Riel. Zean Cabangis: 2008 Lualhati, Artinformal, 2014 “2014 Ateneo Art Awards Shortlists Condestruct. Exh. cat. Artinfor- Mandaluyong City, Philippines Announced.” The Philippine Star. mal. Mandaluyong City. 2007 Transit, Cultural Center of the June 23. (Online) 2012 “2012 Ateneo Art Awards: Philippines, Pasay City, Alonday, Salvador. Zean Caban­ Shortlisted artists.” The Philippine Philippines gis: Reclaim. Exh. cat. Artinformal, Star. July 13. (Online)

Zean Cabangis 13 Neighbor, 2012 Acrylic and emulsion transfer on canvas 152 x 213 cm

14 Territory, 2015 Acrylic and emulsion transfer on canvas 122 x 183 cm

Weeks Apart, 2015 Acrylic and emulsion transfer on canvas 183 x 183 cm

Zean Cabangis 15 Island, 2014 Acrylic and emulsion transfer on canvas 61 x 81 cm

16 What You Wouldn’t Miss, 2015 Acrylic and emulsion transfer on canvas 152 x 183 cm

Zean Cabangis 17 The Moment You Realize that Skipping Town, 2011 Nothing Will Happen, 2011 Acrylic and emulsion Acrylic and emulsion transfer on canvas transfer on canvas Diameter 61 cm Diameter 61 cm

18 It Is Certain to Happen, 2014 Acrylic and emulsion transfer on wood Diptych, 122 x 244 cm

Zean Cabangis 19 Annie Cabigting

Education Under Wraps, Silverlens, Makati 2005 100 Pieces, Finale Art Gallery, The Mona Lisa Project, West Gal- City, Philippines Mandaluyong City, Philippines lery, Quezon City, and Cultural 1994 Graduated with Major in Painting, Dietro Mona Lisa, West Gallery, Center of the Philippines, Pasay University of the Philippines Quezon City, Philippines City, Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines 2011 Eccentric Windows, Richard Koh Selected Group Exhibitions 2010 Latitudes. Encounters with the Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Philippines, Primo Marella 2010 title withheld (three paintings), 2015 Stick Up Don’t Move Smile, Finale Gallery, Milan, Italy Selected Solo Exhibitions Finale Art File, Makati City, Philip- Art File, Makati City, Philippines 2009 Selected Memory, Richard Koh pines 2014 Do You Believe in Angels, MO_ Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2014 The Lights Going On and Off, Mutating Truths, Artesan Gallery Space, Taguig City, Philippines 4th Prague Biennale, Czech MO_Space, Taguig City, Philip- + Studio, Singapore 2013 Ateneo Art Awards 2004–2013: A Republic pines 2009 Pictures of Pictures, Finale Art Retrospective, Ateneo Art Gallery, Post-Tsunami Art: South East 2013 There’s always something to look File, Makati City, Philippines Quezon City, Philippines B(l)ooming, Primo Marella at if you open your eyes!, Richard 2007 Something to Do with Art, Finale I Love Painting and Painting Loves Gallery, Milan, Italy Koh Fine Art, Artspace, Singapore Art File, Makati City, Philippines Me, Finale Art File, Makati City, 2008 Young Contemporary Philippines I, 2012 Black and white under a shroud 2006 Hanging Paintings, Finale Art Philippines Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala of grey and gray, Finale Art File, Gallery, Mandaluyong City, Closed Door Meeting, Finale Art Lumpur, Malaysia Makati City, Philippines Philippines File, Makati City, Philippines

20 It could be said that the art of Annie Cabigting at a painting on the wall—thereby suggest- another artist’s work, trying to stick as closely has always involved painting other people’s ing that her paintings are actually portraits as possible to the original, thus merging the artworks. She has, throughout her career, of people who are caught in the middle of an specific qualities of the photographed image made convincing versions of paintings by interaction with the work of art she chooses with the styles of the chosen artists. Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Chuck Close, to recreate. But with the viewers’ backs Recently she began a series of paint- and even her Filipino colleague Louie Cordero turned, the little we know about their identi- ings depicting the backs of Joseph Cornell’s (My Grotesque, 2011), to name but a few, all ties is overwhelmed by the painting in front frames. Elsewhere, she goes beyond tackling appearing within the frame of her canvas of them. In the work Amongst the Lost Peo­ paintings and examines more conceptual as part of the composition. Considering her ple (2015), we see a woman looking at one of pieces such as Martin Creed’s Turner-Prize- methods, one can just imagine the string of William Bouguereau’s mid-nineteenth-cen- winning work, The Lights Going On and Off questions arising over notions of authorship, tury paintings, Dante and Virgil in Hell (1850). (2000). In this particular work from 2014, she appropriation, reproduction, and—even, to Cabigting’s subject here, a woman in casual turns her attention to published photographs a point—imitation, which perhaps begs the clothes with a bag on her shoulder, appears to of this work, and renders them showing both question, “Can other works of art be treated states of Creed’s work—with the lights turned as subject matter?” on and off. Cabigting presents her canvasses The whole history of art, including cur- Annie Cabigting was born in Makati City, as diptychs, lit by theater lights switching on rent artworks of both famous painters and Philippines, in 1971 and off. colleagues, can inspire artists; but Cabigting * Whether selecting subject matter that brings an oblique slant to the art world’s She lives and works in Quezon City, is situated in galleries, museums, or auction ongoing antiphon by treating iconic pieces Philippines houses, drawn from books, or rooted in the as items that have become part of our visual peculiar appearances of the objects them- and mental landscape. They have become selves, Annie Cabigting does not stray far an inevitable part of the mise-en-scene in be a tourist in a museum. We get the impres- from the world that already contains them. the locations she has chosen to paint: muse- sion that her arms are folded, implying that at She depicts the whole spectrum of activi- ums and galleries. Her works explore the idea this given moment she is engrossed with the ties—from looking at a piece of art, trading of appropriation in order to investigate the image in front of her. Her identity becomes it, publishing, presenting or archiving it—and aura that is inherent in art objects. Her way tied not only to her appearance but also to deconstructs the range of meanings that we of reflecting on the traditions of both look- the object before her, which we also view as a attach to it. ing at and presenting works of art is linked sudden juxtaposition of presences. We begin to Western practices of institutional critique to evaluate her identity in relation to the con- which developed in the 1970s in close proxim- trasting milieu that we see in the painting ity to feminist practices, such as the works of by Bouguereau. The moment is unveiled as Louise Lawler. if it were a scene captured through photo­ In some cases Cabigting paints the art- graphy—something that plays an important work together with its audience—whether aspect in Cabigting’s work, as she renders her by showing the backs of intent viewers or a paintings in a photo-realistic manner. Through group of casual onlookers merely glancing this process, she forces herself to “reproduce”

2006 Girls Will Not Be Girls, Art Center – Selected Bibliography Art File. Exh. pamphlet Art Stage Fo c u s .” The Straits Times. Novem- SM Megamall, Mandaluyong Singapore. Makati City. ber 15. City, Philippines 2015 Bunoan, Ringo. MOMA, Black, 2012 Ito, Lisa. Annie Cabigting: 2010 Francisco, Francis, and Maria 2004 Bread and Butter Machine, West White, Presence and Absence. Painting Under the Influence of Chittyrene C. Labiran, eds. With­ Gallery, Makati City, Philippines Edited by Finale Art File. Exh. Painting. Edited by Finale Art File. out Walls: A Tour of Philippine The Sedimentation of the Mind is pamphlet Art Fair Philippines. Exh. pamphlet Art Stage Singa- Paintings at the Turn of the Mil­ a Jumbled Museum, UP Vargas Makati City. pore. Makati City. lenium. Pasig City. Museum, Quezon City, Philippines Daoana, Carlomar Arcangel. Sotto, Jacinto. “The Ambitious Daoana, Carlomar Arcangel. Cancelled Metaphor II, Art Center– “An inquiry into the privacy of Observer.” Asian Art News 1, vol. 22 Annie Cabigting: Mutating Truths. SM Megamall, Mandaluyong sight.” The Philippine Star. April 27. (January/February). Exh. cat. Artesan Gallery + Studio, City, Philippines (Online) 2011 Chan, Jade. “Thoughtful Works Singapore. 2002 Reflecting Skin, Pinto Art Museum, Villegas, Ramon N. Seeing the of Art.” Star Metro. October 22. 2009 Rivera, Ramona. Annie Cabigting: Antipolo City, Philippines Unseen, Musaeum. Edited by Ito, Lisa. Eccentric Windows: Pictures of Pictures. Exh. cat. 2001 The Paint Thing, West Gallery, Finale Art File. Exh. pamphlet Reframing Form and History. Finale Art File. Makati City. Makati City, Philippines Art Central, Hong Kong. Makati Annie Cabigting. Exh. cat. 2007 Cobangbang, Lena. Annie Cab­ City. Richard Koh Fine Art. Kuala igting: Something to do with Art. 2013 Ito, Lisa. Annie Cabigting: Haven’t Lumpur. Exh. cat. Finale Art File. Makati We Met Before?. Edited by Finale Shetty, Deepika. “Asian Art in City.

Annie Cabigting 21 An Audience with Vermeer, 2015 Amongst the Lost People, 2015 Oil on canvas Oil on canvas 64 x 53 cm 254 x 180 cm

22 Annie Cabigting 23 My Grotesque (After Cordero), 2011 Oil on canvas 224 x 197 cm

24 Bacon at the Auction, 2012 Oil on canvas 183 x 255 cm

Annie Cabigting 25 Presence and Absence (After Lawrence Martin Creed, Work No. 127, The Lights Going On and Off Weiner at the MOMA), 2015 (Lighting 30 Seconds On, 30 Seconds Off) Oil on canvas, wooden floor, white wall, and copy of Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona bench Martin Creed, Work No. 227, The Lights Going On and Off Overall dimensions variable, (Installation at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2007. painting 183 x 137 cm Lighting 5 Seconds On, 5 Seconds Off), 2014 Oil on canvas, lightbox, programmed lights switching on and off Exhibition view, MO_Space, Taguig City, Philippines, 2014

26 Annie Cabigting 27 Buen Calubayan

Education Idiot Knows No Country, La Trobe TAO™, 1/of Gallery, Taguig City, Ateneo Art Gallery, Quezon City, University Visual Arts Centre, Ben- Philippines Philippines 2001 Master’s units in Cultural Herit- digo, Australia The Philippine Contemporary: To age Studies, University of Santo 2013 Biography, Blanc Gallery, Que- Scale the Past and the Possible, Tomas, Manila, Philippines zon City, Philippines Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Spoliarium, Now Gallery, Makati Selected Group Exhibitions Philippines Advertising, University of Santo City, Philippines 2012 INexactly THIS, Kunstvlaai – Festi- Tomas, Manila, Philippines 2012 Fressie Capulong, Blanc Penin- 2014 Forces at Work, UP Vargas val of Independents, Amsterdam, sula, Makati City, Philippines Museum, Quezon City, Philippines Netherlands 2008 Crawling Man™, 1/of Gallery, Articles of Disagreement, Lopez 2011 Touch Me, Hiraya Gallery, Manila, Selected Solo Exhibitions Taguig City, Philippines Memorial Museum, Pasig City, Philippines 2007 Idiot Show for Idiots, Cultural Philippines 2010 Zero In: Extensions, Lopez 2015 Biowork, Ateneo Art Gallery, Center of the Philippines, Pasay The Mirror and Monitor of Democ­ Memorial Museum, Pasig City, Quezon City, Philippines City, Philippines; The Cubicle Art racy in Asia, Gwangju Museum of Philippines 2014 Bionote, Blanc Gallery and Gallery, Pasig City, Philippines; Art, Republic of Korea 2009 Thirteen Artists Awards, Cultural Liongoren Gallery, Quezon City, Big Sky Mind, Quezon City, 2013 Ateneo Art Awards 2013: Mark­ Center of the Philippines, Pasay Philippines Philippines ing Time, Shangri-La Plaza and City, Philippines

28 Buen Calubayan examines the contradictions Calubayan’s search for a purely “Filipino” inevitably lead to the nation’s enlightenment, found within the notion of Filipino identity spirit through his paintings. His own Spolia­ Calubayan turns lines of text from the actual through his own endeavors as an artist seek- rium became a series of fragmented scenes pages of the book into strips of paper woven ing self-validation. In his painting as well as culled from the different elements of its his- together to produce a hammock. The com- in performances, sculptures, and conceptual torical predecessor. In effect, Calubayan forting image of a hammock is combined and pieces, he combines autobiographical mate- took the original painting apart and rebuilt it, contrasted with the frailty of its paper-thin rial with canonical works, blurring the distinc- applying his own impressions to each isolated assemblage. Like Calubayan’s Spoliarium, tions between personal and cultural histories. scene, with his own manner of depiction. In his the object represents a web of textual con- He believes that personal conflicts can be hands the canonical work is broken down into jectures, a set of ideologies stripped of con- seen as microcosms of the continuous strug- parts: this is “history removed from its center.” text, broken down, and then put together in gle for autonomy that plagues his country, While in Spoliarium Calubayan probes a different way to produce another meaning: and that his search for the appropriate form into history, in his series of landscape paint- a critical examination of the false promise of to embody these ideas through art can also ings (Biowork, Mount Banahaw, 2015) he con- comfort that issues from a chorus of ideas. reflect a whole nation’s search for an inherent Essentially, for Calubayan, thoughts aesthetic taste. should amount to actions, actions constitute In a series of paintings called Spoliarium Buen Calubayan was born in Lucena City, objects, and objects be organized into new (2013), Calubayan reworked the composition Philippines, in 1980 histories, thus eventually offering new oppor- of one of the most canonical paintings in Fili- * tunities for re-establishing the Filipino identity. pino history: Spoliarium, by Juan Luna, one He lives and works in Manila, In his installation Employee 55 (2014) he of the leading Nationalist figures during the Philippines moves from the realm of ideas into notions of Spanish occupation. Luna’s painting had won his own personal identity, blurring the bound- a gold medal at the prestigious Exposición aries between art and life. He simulates the Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid in 1884, tinually searches for an essential Filipino aes- environment of a typical office space, com- which had caused Jose Rizal, a national hero thetic—what he believes to be an untainted plete with desks and documents. But within in the Philippines, to utter his famous toast, form of native sensibility, unblemished by these files and other office paraphernalia “Genius knows no country.” With his own ideas of Western industrialization and prog- are the artist’s own personal documents— painting, Calubayan tried to deconstruct this ress as seen in the cities, and deeply tied to recordings, notes, diagrams, and routine notion, arguing that a sense of pride such as Nature and the rituals that local folk associ- time stamps from his day job as an employee Rizal’s only reaffirmed that the Filipino had ate with her. With these paintings he ventures of an institution. Presenting the dichotomies no real art to speak of as his own: that he into the hinterlands of rural areas, onto dis- between artist and laborer, he poses ques- was subject to and required validation from tant mountainsides, and into the forgotten tions about his own in certain ways contra- the criteria of his colonizers. “This contradic- vistas of a remote island’s shoreline. dictory identity as an artist, who must do a tion still echoes to this day,” Calubayan says. In a 2014 work deriving its title from mundane day job to earn his living and con- “There seems to be a desire deeply rooted in Pasyon and Revolution, a book written in tinue making art. the depths of the Filipino consciousness, to 1979 by local historian Reynaldo Ileto, who measure [one’s] own worth against the lik- believed that the passion generated from ings of the West.” It was this that prompted one’s own Filipino aesthetic sensibility could

2008 Tablado, Boston Gallery, Quezon 2014 Flores, Patrick D., and Louise Ann Aired ANC news channel. Philippine Daily Inquirer. July 23. City, Philippines D. Marcelino. “Decisions,” in The August 18. (Online) FoEM, Art Center – SM Megamall, Mirror and Monitor of Democ­ Suárez, Angelo V. “Salvaging Suárez, Angelo V. “A portrait of the Mandaluyong City, Philippines racy in Asia. Exh. cat. Gwangju the Author: The Social Turn in artist as moron.” Philippine Daily TutoK: Kargado, Ateneo Art Museum of Art. Gwangju. Philippine Poetry.” High Chair 15 Inquirer. November 20. (Online) Gallery, Quezon City, 2013 Ateneo Art Awards 2013: Mark­ (July–December). (Online) Philippines ing Time, Shangri-La Plaza and 2009 Suárez, Angelo V. “Buen 2007 TutoK: Nexus, Loyola House of Ateneo Art Gallery, Quezon City, Calubayan: Reluctant Insider.” Studies, Ateneo de Manila Univer- Philippines. Preview Magazine (October). sity, Quezon City, Philippines 2012 Miranda, Donna, ed. Working Tuazon, Wire. “Chaosmosis and a Artists Group. Published on the Stupidogram,” in 13 Artists Awards occasion of INexactly THIS, Kunst- and Exhibit 2009, p. 6. Exh. cat. Selected Bibliography vlaai – Festival of Independents, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Amsterdam. Manila. (Online) Manila. 2015 Buen Calubayan: Biowork. Exh. 2011 “Storyline: Malaya.” Storyline 2007 Rondina, Johnathan Libarios. cat. Ateneo Art Gallery. Quezon (series). Created by Paolo Villa­ “Buen Calubayan: Unearthing City. luna and Patricia Evangelista. the archaeology of consumption.”

Buen Calubayan 29 Biowork, Mount Banahaw 3, 2015 Oil on canvas 122 x 152 cm

30 Biowork, Mount Banahaw 1, 2015 Oil on canvas 122 x 152 cm

Buen Calubayan 31 32 Eternal Landscape 1, 2012 Oil on canvas 61 x 183 cm

Buen Calubayan 33 The Necessity of Art, 2014 Oil on canvas 152 x 183 cm

The Archives, 2014 Oil on canvas 152 x 183 cm

34 Spoliarium V, 2013 Oil on canvas 200 x 200 cm

Buen Calubayan 35 Pasyon and Revolution: Towards a History from Below, 2014 Hammock crafted from strips of texts from the first chapter of Pasyon and Revolution by Reynaldo Ileto Dimensions variable Exhibition view, Ateneo Art Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines, 2015

36 Employee 55, 2014 Office desk, book shelf, white boards and bulletin boards, notebooks, map notations, documentations, office documents and office supplies Dimensions variable Exhibition view, Lopez Museum, Pasig City, Philippines, 2014

Buen Calubayan 37 Louie Cordero

Education Slow Education, MO_Space, Mandaluyong City, Philippines Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Taguig City, Philippines Bad Tastes, West Gallery, Quezon Vermont, USA 2001 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Misprint Messiah (with Carlo City, Philippines Deluxe, Finale Art Gallery, Painting, University of the Ricafort), DAGC Gallery, Makati East Meats West (with Heyd Mandaluyong City, Philippines Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, City, Philippines Fontenot), Art Palace, Austin, 2002 Torts and Damages, Green Philippines 2010 Sacred Bones, Jonathan LeVine Texas, USA Papaya Art Projects, Quezon Gallery, New York, USA 2005 And the World Smiles with You, City, Philippines Soft Death, Osage Gallery, Hong Theo Gallery, Makati City, 2001 Transmissions, Finale Art Gallery, Selected Solo Exhibitions Kong, China Philippines Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2009 Soft Death, Osage Gallery, Pathology for Boredom, Green Knowing Evil Will Prevail, Sur- 2015 Golden Rule, Bangkok University Singapore Papaya Art Projects, Quezon rounded By Water, Mandaluyong Gallery, Thailand 2008 Pilgrimage to Semina Mountains, City, Philippines City, Philippines Warslime, Blanc Gallery, Quezon West Gallery, Mandaluyong City, Black Boxes and Other Devices, City, Philippines Philippines Finale Art Gallery, Mandaluyong 2014 Colour Combo Phantasma, West Absolute Horror, MO_Space, City, Philippines Selected Group Exhibitions Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines Taguig City, Philippines Adobo Empire (with Jordin Isip), Through Mind And Back, Finale Art Death Scream (with Mariano Riviera Gallery, New York, USA 2015 Open Sea, Musée d’art contem- File, Makati City, Philippines Ching), Blanc Compound, 2004 If Assholes Could Fly, This Place porain de Lyon, France 2013 Smog for Rainbows, Richard Koh Mandaluyong City, Philippines Would Be An Airport, Theo Gal- Black and White Paintings and Fine Art, Singapore 2007 DELUBYO, Giant Robot, lery, Makati City, Philippines Drawings, BenCab Museum, 2012 Welcome Spiritualist Camp, West Los Angeles, USA Motherlode (with Robert Baguio City, Philippines Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines 2006 Neo-gativland, Magnet Gallery, Gutierrez), 111 Minna Gallery, Imaging Philippine Flora: 1877 2011 Meta, Blanc Peninsula, Makati Quezon City, Philippines San Francisco, USA to the Present, Metropolitan City, Philippines Synthetic Fury, Finale Art Gallery, 2003 Republic, Red Mill Gallery, Museum of Manila, Philippines

38 There is always an air of ambiguity in the using symbolisms of poverty, imperialism, and (The Second Dark Age) (2012), Cordero moves world created by Louie Cordero: a world consumerism, usually concocted in a gloomy forward to what is for him essentially “the inco- that is often described as bizarre or riotous, or satirical atmosphere. Cordero, however, herence of forms against the incoherence of and sometimes even grotesque or abject. In deviates from these templates to produce imagination.” There are strips of lines, curves, his paintings, sculptures, and installations his own rendition of the city, celebrating it in shapes, and images which, when treated Cordero uses anatomical innards, muscle bright, neon colors with depictions of its uber- with both logic and fantasy, are forced into tissue, veins, and eyeballs to construct a mundane, almost absurdist moments. In My some sort of coherence—the shape of eye- new, unclassifiable species that has evolved We (2011), he presents a visual parody of an balls, veins, and innards; geometric lines through forms, shapes, and patterns, and inherently Filipino vice—the indiscriminate intersecting with free-flowing blobs of tissue then juxtaposes them with iconographies singing inside videoke bars. He depicts the and meat. from the current social milieu: the images of riotous and sometimes deadly results of some Through his art, Cordero continues to Catholicism, the relics of the so-called Third festive moments: incidents that have occa- assimilate the ways of the naïve, the native, World (Southeast Asia and Africa), the air- sionally made the headlines of local tabloids, and the lowbrow together with the sensuous brushed panels of the Manila jeepney, the allure of affluence and progress. His charac- stuntmen of lowbrow Filipino films, the primi- teristic mélange of forms, uncategorized slew tivism of native crafts, and the localized nar- Louie Cordero was born in Manila, of shapes, and snippets from real life become ratives of Western Popular culture—from Philippines, in 1978 the symbiosis of good and bad taste, of sanc- Hollywood imagery in shop signs and graffiti * tity and irreverence, and of humor and seri- to the sanctification of American pop songs in He lives and works in Quezon City ousness, which can be seen as an apt reflec- run-down videoke bars. and Malabon City, Philippines tion of the current state of Filipino society. For Multiculturalism, kitsch, and pastiche as much as these ventures may result in what have become trademarks for Filipino art, given most of us would call difficult and sometimes that the country is not only a set of different especially the right to sing Frank Sinatra’s shocking imagery, in Cordero’s world these islands with different dialects and traditions, popular ballad, My Way, as the cause of such are the succinct narratives of memory and but also a former colony of different impe- mayhem. fantasy, and a faithfulness to the history of rial forces, starting with the Spaniards in the In terms of composition, in recent years his motherland. late sixteenth century to the Japanese in the Cordero has slowly deviated from a purely middle of the twentieth century. It seems as if figurative and symbolist portrayal to more the average Filipino, who has been swamped constructivist and abstract forms. The result to this day with a smorgasbord of influences, is a new category of images that is entirely suffers from a certainhorror vacui—a need to his own: a juxtaposition of grotesque, narra- fill up the spaces because the nation itself is tive elements with cubist and constructivist crowded with unresolved histories. forms, a combination of primitivism and for- Most of the artists preceding Cordero malism, a hodgepodge of whimsical dream- portrayed the energy of Manila through its scapes and tropical landscapes. In his latest socio-historical context, attempting with their paintings, Epitaph for the Hands That Shaped paintings to expose political oppression by and Built the Divine (2015), and Prima Materia

2014 Drawn to Scale, UP Vargas Kong Cultural Centre, China Selected Bibliography Incorvaia, Kirsten. “The Second Museum, Quezon City, Philippines A Tale of Two Cities: Busan/Seoul, Coming of Thrilla in Manila.” 2013 Manila Vice, Musée International Seoul/Busan, Busan Biennale 2006 2015 Louie Cordero: Golden Rule. Exh. Juxtapoz: Art & Culture Magazine. des Arts Modestes, Sète, France 2004 Wild Imagination: The Grotesque cat. Bangkok University Gallery. February. Revealing Signs of the Present, Illustrated, Lopez Memorial Bangkok. Wong, Jill. “Cordero Revisited Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Museum, Pasig City, Philippines 2011 Singapore Biennale 2011: Open Zombies.” C Arts: Asian Contem­ Philippines 2002 Faith + the City: A Survey of House. Exh. cat. Singapore Art porary Art and Culture. April. 2012 Panorama: Recent Art from Contemporary Filipino Art, Museum et al. Singapore. 2007 Guillermo, Alice G. “Louie Cordero Contemporary Asia, Singapore Metropolitan Museum of Manila, 2010 Francisco, Francis, and Maria at Finale Art File.” Asian Art News Art Museum Philippines; Chulalongkorn Chittyrene C. Labiran, eds. 2, vol. 17 (March/April) 2011 Maximum City: Survive or University, Bangkok, Thailand, Without Walls: A Tour of Philippine Owens, Annie. “Louie Cordero.” Escape?, 14th Jakarta Biennale, et al. (traveling exhibition) Paintings at the Turn of the Hi-Fructose: Under the Counter National Gallery of Indonesia, 2001 Surrounded, Cultural Center of Millenium. Pasig City. Culture Magazine 6. Jakarta the Philippines, Pasay City, 2009 Caruncho, Eric S. “Louie 2006 Lerma, Ramon E. S. “The abject BISA: Potent Presences, Metropoli- Philippines Cordero’s Visceral Art.” Philippine art of Louie Cordero.” The Philip­ tan Museum of Manila, Philippines 2000 Signing at Kataga: An Exhibition Daily Inquirer. May 31. (Online) pine Star. December 4. (Online) Open House, 3rd Singapore of Text and Images, UP Vargas Ching, Isabel. “Louie Cordero: Ocampo, Manuel. “Mutant Zom- Biennale, Singapore Art Museum Museum, Quezon City, Philippines Kitsch with Teeth,” in Some bie. Catholic Tastes [interview].” 2008 The World in Painting, Heide Faith + the City: A Survey of Rooms. Exh. cat. Osage Gallery Giant Robot 43 (August–Septem- Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen, Contemporary Filipino Art, Earl Lu Hong Kong; Osage Gallery, ber): pp. 68–73. Australia Gallery, LASALLE-SIA College of Shanghai. Hong Kong. 2006 Fuzzy Logic, Lopez Memorial the Arts, Singapore Fairley, Gina. “Sacred Ghoul.” Museum, Pasig City, Philippines Panimula, Ayala Museum, Makati Asian Art News 3, vol. 9 Metropolitan Mapping, Hong City, Philippines (May/June).

Louie Cordero 39 Epitaph for the Hands That Shaped and Built the Divine, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 200 x 180 cm

40 Prima Materia (The Second Dark Age), 2015 Acrylic on canvas 200 x 180 cm

Louie Cordero 41 Spectrum and Otherness Blues, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 200 x 180 cm

42 Pong on Earth 4, 2014 Automotive paint, fiberglass, resin, steel 91 x 152 x 274 cm Edition of 4

Pong on Earth 3, 2014 Automotive paint, fiberglass, resin, steel 91 x 152 x 274 cm Edition of 4

Louie Cordero 43 Creation of Matter, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 152 x 152 cm

44 Society of Ornamental Delusions, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 122 x 152 cm

Louie Cordero 45 46 My We, 2011 Mixed media installation with a videoke machine, video, paintings, fiberglass sculptures Dimensions variable Exhibition view, Singapore Art Museum, 2011

Louie Cordero 47 Jigger Cruz

Education 2013 Grays Between Bold Parallels, 2011 Dead End, West Gallery, Quezon Selected Group Exhibitions Blanc Gallery, Quezon City, City, Philippines 2007 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Far Eastern Philippines Anti-Depressants on Paper, The 2014 Manila: The Night is Restless, The University, Manila, Philippines Depth Circus, West Gallery, Crucible Gallery, Mandaluyong Day is Scornful, Arndt Singapore Quezon City, Philippines City, Philippines 2013 Abstrakt, Michael Haas / Contem- Surface Default, Light & Space 2009 Constructing Deconstruction, porary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany Selected Solo Exhibitions Contemporary, Manila, Tala Gallery, Quezon City, Water, Taksu, Kuala Lumpur, Philippines Philippines Malaysia 2015 Subtraction Paradise, Arndt 2012 Counter Glitch Habitation, 2008 Swing, Blanc Gallery, Makati Abstraction: Lost and Found, Berlin, Germany Primae Noctis Art Gallery, City, Philippines Taksu, Singapore Deep Down into the Ecstasy of Lugano, Switzerland 2012 Latitudes. Encounters with the False Modernism, Primo Marella Spatial Soother, West Gallery, Philippines, Part II, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy Quezon City, Philippines Gallery, Milan, Italy 2014 Overtones of Dispositional Plat­ Birth of the Party Bantam 2011 Manuel Ocampo’s Boycotter of form, abc art berlin contempo- Paintings, Secret Fresh Gallery, Beauty, West Gallery, Quezon rary, Arndt Berlin, Germany San Juan City, Philippines City, Philippines

48 Jigger Cruz started to explore the combina- up—beginning with the canvas, the frame, expect to be the subject. The overlaying of tion of figuration and abstraction within the and the content underneath that has been the undecipherable, which is also evident in frame during the early stages of his career. obstructed from our view. Portraits rendered Cruz’s sculptures such as Metaphorical Suf­ The apparent ambivalence between the illu- in Baroque tones, Cubist reconstructions focation (2014), casts a shadow over what sionistic qualities of painting and its inherent in the manner of Pablo Picasso, or the idyl- is familiar. The shape of a human body is form as a leaden, physical object is a conun- lic landscapes of Dutch realist painters are shrouded by a blanket of canvas, bearing drum that would hound Cruz’s nascent formu- defaced and, in some instances, deformed, the artist’s trademark orchestration of free- lations about the possibilities of constructing to simulate a scenario or ideology of how pre- flowing lines of brushstrokes and pigments. art. Experimenting on the academic forms cious treasures from the past can fall prey to The immediate relational object, the body— of painting, sculpture, and installation, he the whimsical aesthetics of a philistine. the very measure of beauty and humanity— directed his queries toward configurations But this act of seeming desecration succumbs to Jigger Cruz’s transgressions in shapes, pigments, and other propositions eventually challenges our judgments on the within the throes of tradition. What is defaced, about the materiality of art. auratic qualities of art, and finds its place as vandalized, occluded, and deconstructed is In 2011, he finally turned all these ques- the whole notion of art itself. tions about the nature of art on the art itself and began to tackle the problem head-on: Jigger Cruz was born in Malabon City, attempting to fundamentally accept the Philippines, in 1984 canonical structure of painting and treat it pri- * marily as an idea and as a part of art history, He lives and works in Manila, before tearing it apart again as an object. Philippines In his show Home Sweet Home (2011), Cruz undermines our ideas about an antiquated object with a painting he concocted to pres- a critique on the canons of taste. In another ent the illusion of datedness, replete with a work called Broken Sunday (2013), Cruz dis- damp, moldy canvas and a rustic, discolored solves the canvas from the top by scorching, frame. Even the imagery used here engenders creating a disfigured frame and leaving the disorientation through its archaism: a depic- object with a “crest” of gaping negative space. tion of an idyllic rural landscape, in the style The thick layering of impasto lines replaces of the old Flemish masters. This is followed the theme of “landscape” portrayed on the by an artistic act that appears to be totally canvas, creating its own contours, its own disjointed from the whole project: a thick con- terrain—its own version of a landscape. The glomeration of lines, bursting with colors, has idea of painting as representation mutates been splayed liberally in various directions to the idea of painting as material in order to across the center of the frame. represent a given concept. Cruz’s method creates the impression of The real subject—Cruz’s raw, textured, vandalized work which, paradoxically, has chaotic blots of thickly layered oil pigment— been meticulously fabricated from the ground thus obscures the image a viewer would

Survivalism, Light & Space Tabi Tabi Po, 1AM Gallery, San 2008 This Time Tomorrow, Blanc 2004 Philippine Art Awards, National Contemporary, Fairview, Manila, Francisco, USA Compound, Mandaluyong City, Museum of the Philippines, Philippines Enemy, Art Center Megamall, Philippines Manila, Philippines Thunderkiss, Metro Gallery, San Mandaluyong City, Philippines Boxed, Cubicle Art Space, Pasig Juan City, Philippines You Are Not Here, Pablo Gallery, City, Philippines Anti-Hero, Altro Mondo, Makati Bonifacio Global City, Taguig 2007 Pink Fumes, Pablo Gallery, Selected Bibliography City, Philippines City, Philippines Quezon City, Philippines A Soundtrack to Nothing, The 2009 A Book About Death: An Unbound December Show, Blanc Gallery, 2015 Arndt, Matthias, ed. Jigger Cruz. Crucible Gallery, Mandaluyong Book on the Subject of Death, Makati City, Philippines Berlin. City, Philippines Emily Harvey Foundation, New Opposite Attracts, big sky mind, 2014 Cristobal, Geronimo. “Jigger Cruz Tanaw, Boston Galllery, Quezon York City, USA Quezon City, Philippines Superstar.” Art Explainer. May 14. City, Philippines If You Only Walk Long Enough, 2004–2006 November Rhapsody, Art (Online) 2010 Painting with a Hammer to Nail Studio 83, Singapore Center Megamall, Mandaluyong the Crotch of Civilization, Manila Looking for Juan, Cultural Center City, Philippines Contemporary, Taguig City, of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines Philippines

Jigger Cruz 49 50 Disjointed, 2015 Oil and spray paint on canvas and wooden frame Diptych, 172 x 282 cm

Jigger Cruz 51 The End of Horror in 60 Seconds Extent of Culture, 2014 Oil an spray paint on canvas and wooden frame 180 x 147 cm

52 Crawling from the Wreckage, 2015 Oil and spray paint on canvas and wooden frame 163 x 132 cm

Jigger Cruz 53 Blares of the Opposite, 2013 Oil on canvas and wooden frame 163 x 193 cm

54 Bolted Shadow from Within, 2015 Oil on canvas and wooden frame 172 x 141 cm

Jigger Cruz 55 56 Metaphorical Suffocation,2014 Broken Sunday, 2013 Oil on canvas, resin Oil on canvas and wooden frame 132 x 53 x 25 cm 65 x 80 cm

Jigger Cruz 57 Marina Cruz

Education Studio, Raffles Arcade, Singapore 2008 Open House, The Drawing Room, 2013 The Philippine Contemporary: To 2012 Corners of My Sleep, Artinformal, Makati City, Philippines Scale the Past and the Possible, 2003 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Mandaluyong City, Philippines Embroidered Landscapes, La Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Painting, University of the Philip- In the House of Memory, Mind Set Trobe University Visual Arts Philippines pines Diliman, Quezon City, Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan Center, Bendigo, Australia 2011 BISA: Potent Presences, Metropoli- Philippines Inside Out, BenCab Museum, Lest You Forget, Boston Gallery, tan Museum of Manila, Philippines Baguio City, Philippines Quezon City, Philippines 2009 Daloy: A Continuing Vision of a 2010 Simple Depictions (with Rodel Recollections, Artinformal, Center, Cultural Center of the Selected Solo Exhibitions Tapaya), Total Gallery, Alliance Mandaluyong City, Philippines Philippines, Pasay City, Philip- Française de Manille, Makati City, 2007 Dollhouse, Artinformal, Mandalu- pines 2015 Wear and Tear, Mind Set Art Philippines yong City, Philippines 2008 Sentimental Value, SOKA Contem- Center, Taipei, Taiwan 2011 Forget Me Not, West Gallery, 2005 Kambal, Boston Gallery, Quezon porary Space and The Drawing Meditations on Unearthed Ter­ Quezon City, Philippines City, Philippines Room, Beijing rain, West Gallery, Quezon City, The Connective Thread, Ernst & Strange Familiarities, Familiar Philippines Young Building, Singapore Strangers, Alliance Française de 2014 Fabric Skin, Artinformal, Manda- 2009 Spontaneous Moments, The Selected Group Exhibitions Manille, Makati City, Philippines luyong City, Philippines Drawing Room, Makati City, 2007 Sungdu-an 4: Extensions, Capitol 2013 Flower Arrangements, Finale Art Philippines 2014 Woman-Home: In the Name of University Museum of Three File, Makati City, Philippines, Un/Fold, Ateneo Art Gallery, Asian Female Artists, Kaohsiung Cultures, Cagayan de Oro City, Lost Finds, Artesan Gallery + Quezon City, Philippines Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan Philippines

58 Painted dresses, magnified from a certain Before she began painting children’s dress­es, acquires imperfections, and how it becomes spot and rendered in detail, call for a formal- Cruz explored a wide range of themes revolv- more fragile through the passing of time. ist mode of interpretation. In the hands of ing around childhood. In her triptych Waiting Through these paintings, Marina Cruz Marina Cruz, they undergo a process of sub- for a Home (2014), she combined dolls she had has continually explored an essential trait lime composition to produce an effect similar collected with paintings of dormitories. The found within the region: the valued continuum to minimalist abstraction. The patterns found title of the work alludes to the sad reality of that proceeds from close family ties among in each textile—whether checkered, dotted, orphanages. Even though the beds look neat succeeding generations. Through her art, she lace-patterned, or pinstriped—recall the and clean, there is a certain sense of rigor is able to transpose the activity of one gen- works of abstractionists who focused on to here, which contrasts with our more idealized eration to the next: her grandmother’s dress- the interaction between colors and shapes. view of childhood. The dolls placed in front of making, her mother’s fittings, and her own The folds and creases of each dress create a these paintings insufficiently stand in for the activity of painting. This closed cycle of famil- particular kind of texture, similar to the man- children missing in the images, thus suggest- ial undertakings, carefully pieced together nered strokes and painterly surfaces per- ing a feeling of displacement. The specific and sympathetically presented by Cruz, has petuated by formalists. Unexpected details become rare in a world that has developed such as threadbare hems or blotchy stains the propensity to reach outward rather than adds further vitality to the overall composi- Marina Cruz was born in Bulacan, inward, due to the globalizing technologies. tion, while buttons, holes, tears, and armies Philippines, in 1982 of seams complete the story. * The clothes that Cruz paints are part of She lives and works in Bulacan, a deeper fabric of remembering forgotten Philippines family narratives: her chance encounter with a heap of family heirlooms, and discovering the small dresses that her mother and her abstraction of their bodies can be interpreted mother’s twin sister wore as children, which as suggestions of abuse. In a series of works left a lasting impression on her. The damaged, titled Doll Heads (2013–2014) Cruz painted brittle condition of the tiny dresses opened dolls, showing how their use had changed up a remarkable world from the past able to their appearance: their hair in a mess or away, be codified through such objects. From then scratches marking their faces. on, Cruz began to unearth more than a hun- While in Doll Heads the traces of usage, dred dresses made by her grandmother for scratches, and stains may refer to psycho- her mother and aunt. She proceeded to paint logical states, in the artist’s new paintings them, embroider them, cast them in resin, and of clothes, every hole, stain, and thread- use them in installations and videos for exhibi- bare hem tells its own distinct story. The fab- tions. For her, they served as a family archive, ric serves as a metaphor for the close-knit through which the unspoken lives and histo- and interwoven relationships of each gen- ries of an earlier generation were embedded. eration: how it is subject to damages, how it

Tampo Lapuk, 2nd Dumaguete Selected Bibliography Guazon, Tessa Maria. “Parallel the Paulino Que Collection. Exh. Terracotta Biennial, Philippines Bounties: Objects as Presense cat. Finale Art File. Makati City. 2006 A/P: Analogue Playground, 2015 Mind Set Art Center, ed. Marina and Phantom in the works of 2011 Marina Cruz: Forget Me Not. Exh. Ateneo Art Gallery, Quezon City, Cruz. Taipei. Pamela Yan and Marina Cruz,” pamphlet. West Gallery. Quezon Philippines 2014 Marina Cruz: Dolled Up. Exh. in Art Basel Hong Kong: The Art City. 2005 Armour, Corredor Gallery, Col- pamphlet. Art Fair Philippines. Show. Exh. cat. Ostfildern. 2010 Hilario, Riel. “Marina Cruz,” in lege of Fine Arts, University of the Makati City. 2012 Marina Cruz-Garcia: In the House Without Walls: A Tour of Philippine Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Marina Cruz: Flower Arrange­ of Memory. Exh. cat. Mind Set Art Paintings at the Turn of the Mille­ Philippines ments. Exh. pamphlet. Finale Art Center. Taipei. nium. Edited by Francis Francisco 2004 [email protected], Cul- File. Makati City. Marina Cruz: Inside Out. Exh. cat. and Maria Chittyrene C. Labiran. tural Center of the Philippines, Ito, Lisa. “Deconstructing dress: BenCab Museum, Baguio City. Pasig City. Pasay City, Philippines Form and history in Marina Cruz’s Quezon City. 2009 Flores, Patrick. “Home is Leaving,” Gamit, UP Vargas Museum, Fabric Skin,” in Marina Cruz: Cobangbang, Lena. “Marina in Marina Cruz: Home is the place Quezon City, Philippines Fabric Skin. Exh. cat. Artinformal, Cruz,” in 2012 Thirteen Artists you will leave. Exh. cat. The 2003 Buod: Celebration of the Year of Mandaluyong City. San Juan Awards. Exh. cat. CCP – Cultural Drawing Room. Makati City. the Family, National Commission City. Center of the Philippines. Pasay for Culture and the Arts, Manila, 2013 Lost Finds: New Works by Marina City. Philippines Cruz. Exh. cat. Artesan Gallery + Flores, Patrick. “Striking Likeness,” 2002 Toys, Ayala Museum, Makati City, Studio. Singapore. in Imaging Identity: 100 Filipino Philippines Self-Portraits. A Selection from

Marina Cruz 59 60 Waiting for a Home I, II, III, 2014 Damaged Dolls, 2014 Oil on wood and found objects Automotive paint on fiberglass Panel 1: 46 x 102 x 16 cm (middle) 76 x 61 x 56 cm Panel 2: 39 x 82 x 16 cm (top) Exhibition view, The Link, Makati, Philippines, 2014 Panel 3: 41 x 71 x 16 cm (bottom)

Marina Cruz 61 62 Red Feathers and Red Flowers, 2014 White Patterns on Red, 2015 Oil on canvas Oil on canvas 183 x 132 cm 157 x 127 cm

Marina Cruz 63 64 Thin Red Line, 2014 Blue and White with Pink Under, 2015 Oil on canvas Oil on canvas 154 x 102 cm 122 x 102 cm

Marina Cruz 65 Kawayan de Guia

Selected Solo Exhibitions 2006 Junk-tion Box, Boston Gallery, 2009 Bomba, Botanical Garden Selected Group Exhibitions Quezon City, Philippines Baguio City, Philippines 2015 Bezoar (Non-linear Drawings),MO_ 2002 Gestures of the Unfamiliar, 2007 Where Have All the Monkeys 2015 The Vexed Contemporary, Space, Taguig City, Philippines Gallery SOAP, Kitakyūshū, Gone, VOCAS, Baguio City, Museum of Contemporary Art 2012 Halsema AX(iS) Art Project, MO_ Japan Philippines and Design, Manila, Philippines Space, Taguig City, Philippines 2001 Earth to Sky, Lopez Memorial 2006 Bukatot, Delphic Art, Baguio City, After Utopia: Revisiting the Ideal Copy Right, Ben Cab Museum, Museum, Pasig City, Philippines Philippines in Asian Contemporary Art, Baguio City, Philippines 2005 Session Road Mosaic Project, Singapore Art Museum Buwaya, La Trobe University Baguio City, Philippines Archipel Secret, Palais de Tokyo, Visual Arts Center, Bendigo, Selected Projects in Public Space 2004 Taloy Makoy – Ang Maskara ng Paris, France Victoria, Australia Politikong Pinoy (The Mask of the Black & White Paintings & Draw­ 2011 A Lot of Sound and Fury Signify­ 2015 Markets of Resistance, Baguio Filippino Politician), Tuba, ings, BenCab Museum, Baguio ing Nothing, The Drawing Room, City Market, Baguio City, Philippines City, Philippines Makati City, Philippines Philippines 2003 Baguio Art Congress, Baguio 2014 Re:View 2014, BenCab Museum, 2010 Bomba, UP Vargas Museum, 2014 Bomba, Makati Stock Exchange, City, Philippines Baguio City, Philippines Quezon City, Philippines Makati City, Philippines Maize Maze, Malcolm Square, 2013 Manila Vice, Musée International 2009 Katas ng Pilipinas: God Knows 2012 To the End of the World, AX(i)S Art Baguio City, Philippines des Arts Modestes, Sète, France Hudas Not Pay, The Drawing Project, Halsema, Mountain 2002 The New Plantations, rice- Vol de Nuit, Ho Chi Minh City, Room, Makati City, Philippines Province, Philippines terraces, Hapao, Philippines Vietnam Ice Cold Happiness, Soka Art Idaya, AX(i)S Art Project, Baguio 2001 Earth Art, Haus Seneca, Steyr, The Mona Lisa Project, Cultural Center, Beijing, China City, Philippines Austria Center of the Philippines, Pasay 2007 Incubator, The Drawing Room, 2011 AX(i)S Art Project Tent, Burnham 2000 Freedom Wall, Baguio City, City, Philippines Makati City, Philippines Park, Baguio City, Philippines Philippines Sensorium: Media/Art Kitchen,

66 Kawayan de Guia stresses that his drawings, mirrors—offer a whole range of associations Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Her body is entirely assemblages, installations, and projects in both local and global in nature—from ravag- wrapped with a surplus of filmstrips from dis- public spaces are not intended to be political ing crowds of party tourists leaving a trail of carded photo albums found in one of Manila’s art, or art with political subject matter. Rather destruction wherever they go, to acts of war oldest districts, and images range from those they are always bound to the act of produc- based on prevarication and justified by false of public events to infrastructure projects: in ing objects politically. Born to a Filipino father promises, to the entanglement of economy other words, the disjointed symbol of union (filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik) and a German and politics. That Bomba was conceived becomes a patchwork of forgotten memories. mother, de Guia grew up in the highlands of in 2010 as a site-specific piece in a public In his series of assemblages Bezoar (Non- Baguio City, Philippines. He is deeply rooted space—it was installed at the Manila stock linear Drawings) (2015) de Guia combines het- in the traditions and rituals of this mountain- exchange—leads one to assume that the art- erogeneous materials and motives: fragments ous region, once an isolated community of ist’s scathing criticism is here directed at the from everyday life are juxtaposed with draw- indigenous folk before being subjected to specific global market players trading there. ings as well as found prints and photographs Western influence during the twentieth cen- In another work, Liberty, de Guia presents that seem to depict or refer to historical events tury. He has always been proud to proclaim the famous statue in two different versions, and figures. The title Bezoar refers to a mass the creativity of his community, and his works of encapsulated indigestible fibers trapped are nurtured by his geopolitical stance. His in the gastrointestinal systems of animals. idea of history is one where the people’s spirit- Kawayan de Guia was born in Baguio City, Bezoars were believed to have the power of ual ties with the land are woven with the mate- Philippines, in 1979 a universal antidote against any poison and rial longings of the West and other urbanized * were sought-after collectors’ items for Euro- cities of the archipelago. Through actively He lives and works in Baguio City, pean cabinets of wonder. De Guia’s assem- organizing art projects and festivals, de Guia Philippines blages, themselves reminiscent of cabinets of tries to draw from what he believes to be a wonders, seem to reflect the clash of tradition purer form of art-making—one that is rooted and modernity, and of Filipino identity and in the topography of the mountains and is both rendering the icon as a contradiction. At Western culture: just as with a bezoar, influ- deeply connected to the local crafts. first, in 2014, the statue was presented as a ences that are unable to be assimilated are For his own works he gathers from the mock replica erected above a bustling market- encapsulated. current lay of the land—entangled with West- place in downtown Baguio City, supported by Kawayan de Guia operates within the ern civilization and popular culture, trapped a crude arrangement of wooden planks. Far surmounting instances of contradictions that between the aftermath of war and the removed from the real statue’s location in New pervade his homeland, as well as the conflicts advances of progress. He digs for new relics, York Harbor, where it has stood since the late that threaten to engulf his own sense of self. pieces from modern man’s spoils that have 1800s, a gift from France as the motherland of In exploring these flurries of paradoxes, his helped define what Baguio City is now known revolutions, her sudden insertion in the middle art touches on subjects ranging from the per- as: a summer capital with an unforeseen mix- of an urban, third-world environment demon- sonal to the collective, depicting, gathering, ture of colonial and native cultures, and a vast strates how dominant cultures can turn under- sculpting, and transforming objects that play playground offering recreation and pleasure. developed communities into an odd specimen a role in the local community’s everyday life In his installation Bomba (2010–2015), glitter- harboring both traditional and Western val- and tradition into new entities that thrive in a ing and rotating bombshells—instruments of ues. In the second version from 2015, Lady world of contradictions and resistance. death, now covered in sparkling mosaics of Liberty is lying in fragments on the floor at

Ayala Museum, Makati City, 2006 New Directions, The Rotunda “Kawayan de Guia,” in After Object and Kawayan de Guia’s Philippines Gallery, Neilson Hays Library, Utopia: Revisiting the Ideal in ‘Bomba’: A Review.” Humanities The Collectors Show: The Weight Bangkok, Thailand Asian Contemporary Art, pp. Diliman: A Journal on Philippine of History, Singapore Art Museum 2004 ASEAN Art Awards, National 56–57. Exh. cat. Singapore Art Humanities 2, vol. 7. (Online) 2012 Everyday Objects, BenCab Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Museum. (Online) Flores, Patrick. “Devices of Recol- Museum, Baguio City, Philippines Kapwa: Bukal ng Pagkataong 2013 Sahakian, Marlyne. “These are lection,” in Bomba. Exh. cat. UP 2011 Stories of Dreams and Realities: Filipino, Metropolitan Museum of troubled (tribal) times. Kawayan Vargas Museum, Quezon City. Contemporary Art from the Philip­ Manila, Philippines de Guia.” ArtAsiaPacific81 Makati City. pines, Rossi & Rossi, London, UK Sungdu-an 3: Making the Local, (March/April). (Online) 2009 Perez, Padmapani. “[Un]Made by 12th Jeonju International Film Cultural Center of the Philippines, The Collectors Show: The Weight Walking,” in Bored on the 4th of Festival, Republic of Korea Pasay City, Philippines of History. Exh. cat. Singapore Art July. Exh. cat. Ateneo Art Gallery, 2010 Highland 8, BenCab Museum, 2003 Actuality/Virtuality, Fukuoka Museum. Quezon City. Baguio City, Philippines Prefectural Museum, Japan Toh, Joyce. “Halsema Hijinks: On 2001 Cruz, Joselina. “Earth to Sky by 2009 Verso Manila, Verso Arte Contem- 2002 RE-MAP, Laforet Museum Kokura, the Road with AX(iS) Art Project.” Kawayan de Guia.” Curator’s poranea, Turin, Italy Kitakyūshū, Japan Singapore Biennale 2013. (Online) notes. Lopez Memorial Museum. New Figuration, BenCab Museum, 2010 Ito, Lisa. “Kawayan de Guia,” in (Online) Baguio City, Philippines Without Walls: A Tour of Philippine 2008 Swarm in the Aperture: Recent Selected Bibliography Paintings at the Turn of the Mille­ Photography in the Philippines, nium. Edited by Francis Francisco National Museum of the 2015 Ito, Lisa. “Kawayan de Guia’s and Maria Chittyrene C. Labiran, Philippines, Manila Bezoar Show.” Exh. notes. pp. 194–197. Pasig City. 2007 22nd Asian International Art Mo_Space, May 17. (Online) Guazon, Tessa Maria. “Dissonant Exhibition, Bandung, Indonesia Toh, Joyce, and Tan Siuli. Enchantments: The Resonant

Kawayan de Guia 67 Red Dogs (from the Bezoar – Non-linear Drawings series), 2015 Mixed media on paper, meter sticks 100 x 82 cm

68 Ifugao (from the Bezoar – Non-linear Drawings series), 2015 Mixed media on paper, meter sticks 100 x 82 cm

Kawayan de Guia 69 Palit Ulo, 2011 Artist’s blood, bullets, found objects, mixed media on paper 152 x 213 cm

70 Ligaya de Pilipinas – I Scream and Cigarettes, 2014 Mixed media assemblage with found objects and meter sticks 153 x 245 x 61 cm

Kawayan de Guia 71 Bomba, 2010–2015 Liberty, 2015 Mirrors, resin, rotating device, sound, 10 min video Fiberglass, 35mm celluloid film, LED lights Dimensions variable Dimensions variable Exhibition view, Singapore Art Museum, 2015 Exhibition view, Palais de Tokoyo, Paris, 2015

72 Kawayan de Guia

Left and right (detail): Rock and Roll Jukebox, 2009 Mechanism, wood, metal, speakers, amplifier, vinyl, neon lights 185 x 184 x 74 cm

74 Kawayan de Guia 75 Alfredo Esquillo

Education Bato Bato Sa Langit, SLab, Silver- Mandaluyong City, Philippines El Guernica: Deconstrucción, lens, Makati City, Philippines Devotion (with Norberto Roldan), Ayala Museum, Makati City, 1993 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in 2008 Reclamation Project, Tin-aw Art John Batten Gallery, Hong Kong, Philippines Painting, University of Santo Gallery, Makati City, Philippines China BISA: Potent Presences, Metropoli- Tomas, Manila, Philippines 2007 Bahay-Bahayan, West Gallery, 1999 Recent Works, Red Mill Gallery, tan Museum of Manila, Philippines Mandaluyong City, Philippines Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, 2009 4th Prague Biennale, Czech 2006 Enero Nueve, Boston Gallery, Vermont, USA Republic Selected Solo Exhibitions Quezon City, Philippines 1997 Masa Kultura, Hiraya Gallery, 2006 Tipon, Metropolitan Museum of Pasyonista, Nineveh Artspace, Manila, Philippines Manila, Philippines 2014 Sequence Consequence, Finale Laguna, Philippines 2005 Incarnation, Disarming Figura­ Art File, Makati City, Philippines 2005 Autotheater, West Gallery, Man- tions in Philippine Art, National LOOB (with Renato Habulan), UP daluyong City, Philippines Selected Group Exhibitions Museum of the Philippines, Vargas Museum, Quezon City, 2004 Third World, Nineveh Artspace, Manila, Philippines Philippines Laguna, Philippines 2013 The Philippine Contemporary: To 2nd CP Biennale, Jakarta, Indo- 2012 Semblance/Presence (with Dysfunctional, West Gallery, Scale the Past and the Possible, nesia Renato Habulan), NUS Museum, Mandaluyong City, Philippines Metropolitan Museum of Manila, 2004 Identities versus Globalisation?, National University of Singapore 2003 Tragikomedy, West Gallery, Man- Philippines Chiang Mai Art Museum, Thai- 2011 Kalooban Narratives, Tin-aw Art daluyong City, Philippines 2011 Beyond the Self: Contemporary land; National Gallery, Bangkok, Gallery, Makati City, Philippines High, Pinto Gallery, Antipolo City, Portraiture from Asia, National Thailand; Museum of Ethnology, 2010 Exodus, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Philippines Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Aus- Berlin-Dahlem, Germany Singapore 2001 Banig Icons, West Gallery, tralia, et al. (traveling exhibition) 2003 The American Effect: Global

76 Alfredo Esquillo’s meticulous method of colonial rule. But during the past decade, his uninterrupted revelation within its surface, embodying realness and accuracy in every works have started to turn inward, exploring appearing as an accurate depiction of spir- detail of his paintings paradoxically sub- the facets of individual strife and identity, itual reveries. One of his recurrent motifs is scribes to themes that lie outside the rules which for him are rooted in the Filipino con- loudspeakers, some of them winged, or with of objectivity—visions that evoke surrealism cept of being. He has begun to explore native legs and a grotesquely large ear in place of and are built from the throes of fantasy. These concepts of existentialism, which have never the horn (for example, Megaphoniacs, 2015). images march like penitents from inside the completely freed themselves from the shack- In Temptation of Sane Eski (2012) a pointing frame: suffering, tumbling, speculating, seek- les of religion and tradition. hand reaches out of the loudspeaker, remi- ing redemption. His images, which sometimes His characters are always subject to a niscent of God’s hand in classical Christian also unfold in three-dimensional space in his moment of trial, to a serendipitous instant or iconography giving his command to mankind. sculptures and installations, are drawn from extreme distress, which forces them to take a The image of the loudspeaker is emblematic biblical passages and symbols of Catho- righteous path. His symbolism is redolent with in its hybrid combination of a technical appa- lic faith, while the surrounding elements are the binary concepts of good and evil: angel ratus with human and animalistic extremi- gathered from the more familiar articles of ties. Orders that come from above enslave ordinary, contemporary life. the human figure—whose name “Eski” in the His technical virtuosity is astounding Alfredo Esquillo was born in work’s title is the nickname of the artist—by when it comes to rendering photorealistic Quezon City, Philippines, in 1972 wrapping it in inscribed banderoles. In this impressions of the human condition, enough * sense, what emerges from the speakers might to make his viewers believe that they could be He lives and works in be understood as a kind of soliloquy. derived from yesterday’s events—as sudden Las Piñas City, Philippines. Esquillo’s paintings develop as subdued incantations from contemporary society. But symphonies of fantasy and reality, of eso- his subjects often represent visions of a mind teric visions and of ordinary waking life. They entering a dream that is perfectly composed wings and tongues of fire, golden specters are rich with meaning and religious sym- yet disturbingly portrayed. It is a dream that against plastic bric-a-brac. He tries to include bolism, and are always plotted with unex- reverts to its own immediate and familiar set- his own image in the process, being fully pected visual associations and transforma- ting: surrounded by banal objects, Esquillo’s aware of the subjectivity of his method even tions. Through the combinations of veracity characters are undoubtedly homegrown, and as it tackles inexhaustible and universal con- and fantasy, realism and surrealism, anguish his concepts about them are as Filipino as cepts of salvation. He presents himself as a and ecstasy, the spiritual and the mundane, they can get. man—a subject of art, prone to anguish, mis- the esoteric and the ordinary, and serendipi- Having won numerous accolades during ery, temptation, and even loss of meaning— tous scenes grounded in domestic banality, his young career as an artist, including the parodying the push and pull between ration- Esquillo creates a piercing portrayal of a man Grand Prize from the ASEAN Art Awards in ality and spirituality that dogs the intricacies in search of the essence of contemporary 1995, Esquillo has produced art that has gone of creating art. Filipino life. through several stages of transformation: from His usually understated handling of dealing with socio-political concerns as in his colors, applied using his present medium earlier pieces, to progressing to historical con- of choice—oil on ethylene-vinyl acetates— tent that explores the Philippines’ past under makes each composition flow like a smooth

Perspectives on the United States, Selected Bibliography Exh. cat. National Portrait Gal- “Alfredo Esquillo Jr.,” in Without 1990–2003, Whitney Museum of lery, Canberra, et al. Canberra. Walls: A tour of Philippine paint­ American Art, New York, USA 2014 Alfredo Esquillo: Sequence Con­ Semblance/Presence: Renato ings at the turn of the millennium. 2002 Under Construction: New Dimen­ sequence. Exh. cat. Finale Art File. Habulan and Alfredo Esquillo, Jr. Edited by Francis Francisco and sions of Asian Art, Japan Founda- Makati City. Exh. cat. NUS Museum. Singapore. Maria Chittyrene C. Labiran, pp. tion Forum and Tokyo Opera City Quek, Tse Kwang. “Alfredo Esquillo Que, Paulino and Hetty. “Alfredo 168–171. Pasig City. Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Jr.,” in 30 Art Friends 2: Collecting Esquillo Jr.,” in The Collectors 1999 “Alfredo Esquillo Jr.,” in The 1st Brown Man’s Burden, Babilonia Southeast Asian Art, pp. 224–225. Show: Asian Contemporary Art Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, pp. 1808, Berkeley, California, USA Singapore. from Private Collections – Chi­ 172–175. Exh. cat. Fukuoka Asian 1999 1st Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, 2013 Loob: Renato Habulan and mera, pp. 26–29. Exh. cat. Singa- Art Museum. Fukuoka. Japan Alfredo Esquillo. Exh. cat. Vargas pore Art Museum. Singapore. 1998 Flores, Patrick. “Alfredo Esquillo, 1998 Cien Años Despues, Cultural Museum. Quezon City. 2010 Cortes, Joseph. “No Pretty Pic- Jr.,” in At Home and Abroad: Center of the Philippines, Pasay Alfredo Esquillo. Makati City. tures for Alfredo Esquillo.” Con­ 20 Contemporary Filipino City, Philippines; Museo de Arte Flores, Patrick D. “Social Realism: temporary Art Philippines 11: pp. Artists, p. 76. Exh. cat. Asian Art de Ponce, Puerto Rico; Spanish The Turns of a Term in the Philip- 46–51. Museum of San Francisco. San Cultural Centre, Havana, Cuba; pines.” After All: A Journal Alfredo Esquillo: Bato Bato Sa Francisco. Generalitat Valenciana, Valencia, of Art, Context and Enquiry 34: Langit. Exh. cat. SLab, Silverlens. Spain pp. 69–70. Makati City. 1998 At Home and Abroad: 20 Contem­ 2012 Flores, Patrick D. “Materiel,” in Orlando, Edmundo. “The Seas of porary Filipino Artists, Asian Art Beyond the Self: Contemporary Exodus.” Valentine Willie Fine Art. Museum of San Francisco, USA Portraiture from Asia, pp. 48–53. (Online)

Alfredo Esquillo 77 78 Megaphoniacs, 2015 Fiberglass reinforced resin, oil, acrylic, speakers, amplifiers, audio recording Dimensions variable Exhibition view, Secret Fresh Gallery, Manila, 2015

Alfredo Esquillo 79 80 Attack of the Killer Confetti, 2015 Oil on ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) panels Triptych, 183 x 366 cm

Alfredo Esquillo 81 82 Temptation of Sane Eski (Reprise), 2012 Oil on ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) panels Triptych, 244 x 366 cm

Alfredo Esquillo 83 I Heart Quiapo 2, 2014 Two interwoven oil paintings on pelon 182 x 120 cm

84 Potensiya 1 (top) and 2 (bottom), 2014 Oil on pelon and piña fabric 252 x 163 x 6 cm each

Alfredo Esquillo 85 Ian Fabro

Education Selected Group Exhibitions

Since 2010 Studies in Studio Arts, 2013 Dirty, Poorly Dressed and Filled University of the Philippines with Love, Erehwon Center for the Diliman, Quezon City, Arts, Quezon City, Philippines Philippines Extraction, Light and Space Contemporary, Quezon City, Philippines Selected Solo Exhibitions 2012 Wander Lost, Republikha Art Gallery, Quezon City 2015 Hurt Anatomies, Artinformal, 2010 Fresh Meat, Sining Kamalig Mandaluyong City, Philippines Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines 2014 Biblical Violence, Blanc Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines

86 In Ian Fabro’s pen-and-ink drawings and col- for composing his works. They hold together as the string of interlocked poses flows in lages, the entire frames are usurped by a hundreds of individually drawn and then cut- unison towards a grander narrative. And the host of tragic figures: emaciated bodies, con- out figures, transforming them from drawings narratives—they grow in Biblical proportions, torted limbs, screaming faces, and skinned into intricate bold reliefs. In Are My Lessons evidenced by Fabro’s 2014 solo show called carcasses. The idea of a central subject is Done? (2014), Fabro uses staple wires to stitch Biblical Violence, for which he tackled scrip- eradicated, replaced by a single overwhelm- together various severed heads, which could tural themes such as the apocalypse, drought, ing event—a debacle that seems to have have started out as innocent sketches on a flood, plagues, and Judas’s creation. In these extinguished all human characteristics as the pad. By gathering these together en masse, sets of works, Fabro cast naked female and figures inside the frames meld into a harrow- Fabro demonstrates the way in which individ- male bodies out into the frame, as well as ing vision of limbs and faces, dissolving into ual lives are subsumed into a type of collective winged creatures, decaying carcasses, and the great equalizer of the inferno, the apoca- excess—whether through triumph or tragedy, possessed faces. Suffering is palpable here, lypse, or the afterlife. for example, mass protestors or mass victims— as is the inevitability of violence and death. Fabro is a young, prodigiously gifted art- in this day and age. The greater paradox in Fabro’s works is how ist in whose unexpected sensibility can be the harmony and fluidity of his compositions seen the influence of the Classicists and the relay the certainty of mankind’s fall. Baroque. Part comic-book illustrations, part Ian Fabro was born in San Mateo, A sense of revelation—tied in with the El Greco tableaus, part paper-cut collages, Philippines, in 1993 pronouncements of Judgment Day—is inher- Fabro’s scenes coalesce into a single mysti- * ent in these drawings. The feeling is both cal force where elongated forms and swirling He lives and works in San Mateo, ominous and mystical, yet is almost harrow- strokes gravitate across the frame. Both char- Philippines ingly appropriate for a society that has lost in acters and their viewers are drawn inexor­ably touch with useful divinations. And in the por- into the cataclysmic event. The crushing lack tents of seemingly anachronistic renditions of space adds to the anguish of crowded Tortured masses as depicted in Fabro’s enters Fabro, as a herald of history’s violent bodies; these are more like scenes from Dante drawings have a long history in Western art, tales. His art acts as a light re-embodiment of Alighieri’s Inferno than from any other mod- from Luca Signorelli’s frescoes of hell in the those prophecies drawn on paper that cycle ern-day fable of hell. cathedral of Orvieto (1499–1505), to Peter from myth to inanity, from hearsay to humor. Beyond the flux of pale and dark hues, a Paul Rubens’s Fall of the Damned (ca. 1620), His works are specimens of contemporary band of staple wires—made of zinc-plated to Gustave Dorés’s illustrations of Dante’s exegesis—interpreting omens and scriptures steel—invade the plane (You Wanted Me Holy, Divina Commedia (1850)—all of which have through drawings that form like shadows and You Wanted Me Hollow, 2015). These hordes of heavily influenced the iconography of float- smoke; compositions that grow into a throng foreign intrusions occupy the scene as persis- ing souls in Hollywood films and narrative of symbols; and fables that are ensnared by tent, dashed lines or serve as stitches adjoin- cartoons. Although Fabro’s vision of society the occasional staple wire. ing the limbs of Fabro’s suffering bodies. seems to summon its own bleak end, there They add to the tortuous surface; they seal is a comparable specter of violent beauty the fate for each character’s imprisonment. emanating from each of his drawings. Every Aside from their unexpected lustre, the staple bodily gesture portrayed in one of his scenes wires and pins also serve as the artist’s tool demonstrates the beauty of the human form,

Ian Fabro 87 Left and right (detail): You Wanted Me Holy, You Wanted Me Hollow, 2015 Ballpoint pen, ink, staple wire, paper on canvas 210 x 76 cm

88 Ian Fabro 89 Left and right (detail): Are My Lessons Done?, 2014 Ballpoint pen, ink, staple wire, paper on canvas 210 x 76 cm

90 Ian Fabro 91 Left and right (detail): Nobody, Not Even the Rain Has Such Small Hands, 2014 Ballpoint pen, ink and staple wire on paper Triptych, central panel: 287 x 124 cm; right and left panels: 198 x 76 cm

92 Ian Fabro 93 Nona Garcia

Education 2010 Fractures, West Gallery, Quezon Actuality/ Virtuality, Gallery as the wounds fit the arrows?, City, Philippines SOAP, Kitakyūshū, Japan Cultural Center of the Philippines, 2000 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Synonyms, Finale Art File, Makati 2002 Ambient Stills, West Gallery, Pasay City, Philippines Painting, University of the City, Philippines Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2013 The Porous Border, G23 Gallery, Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, 2008 Planted Landscapes, Podium, Transmission, Finale Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Philippines Mandaluyong City, Philippines Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2011 It’s Natural to Imagine Jungles, 2007 Points of Departure, West RX: Critical Remedies (with MO_Space, Taguig City, Gallery, Mandaluyong City, Norberto Roldan), Lopez Philippines Selected Solo Exhibitions Philippines Memorial Museum, Mandaluyong Sit, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala 2006 Weather, Magnet Gallery, City, Philippines Lumpur, Malaysia 2015 Unearth, Arndt Berlin, Germany Quezon City, Philippines This is not a Fairytale, G23 2014 Recovery, BenCab Museum, Strange Familiarity, West Gallery, Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Baguio City, Philippines Mandaluyong City, Philippines Selected Group Exhibitions 2010 Latitudes. Encounters with the 2012 Before the Sea, West Gallery, After a While, You Get Used to It, Philippines, Primo Marella Quezon City, Philippines Finale Art File, LaO Centre, Makati 2015 I Went To The Forest To Live Gallery, Milan, Italy False Apparitions, Valentine Willie City, Philippines Deliberately, Artinformal, 2009 Post-Tsunami Art: South East Fine Art, Singapore 2005 Scene of the Crime, West Gallery, Mandaluyong City B(l)ooming, Primo Marella Somewhere Else, Finale Art File, Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2014 Re:View 2014, BenCab Museum, Gallery, Milan, Italy Makati City, Philippines 2004 New Paintings, Galleria Duemila, Baguio City, Philippines 4th Prague Biennale, Czech 2011 Space and Two Points (with MM Mandaluyong City, Philippines Markets of Resistance, Baguio Republic Yu), MO_Space, Taguig City, 2003 New Specimen, West Gallery, City Market, Philippines 2008 Futuramanila, Osage Gallery, Philippines Makati City, Philippines What does it all matter, as long Hong Kong, China

94 Nona Garcia’s art is a contemplative account of the frame which is devoid of any other com- of sacred relics are stored in light-boxes. Their into the act of looking. It depicts facets of the ponent. Does the change in viewpoint negate arrangement typifies a crude shape of a known world through her own brand of pic- everything there is to the meaning of portrai- mountain. These relics were part of the culture torial realism—faithful in its representation, ture? This is the question that makes Garcia’s of the mountain region’s indigenous tribes, yet harrowing from where it stands in her portraits exceed the classifications of mere and are dissected through an X-ray machine— chosen vista. Her subjects exist in our every- depiction, and enter the conceptual plane, an act which resembles an alchemy of science day world—places, objects, people—and her using painting itself as a means of inquiry into and myth. This installation sums up Garcia’s depiction strategically utilizes the methods of its own notions about representation. probe into her surroundings and solidifies her their corresponding genres: landscape, still In the painting Shed (2015), the spectacle enquiry and coolly objective look at what lies life, and portraiture. But in Garcia’s paintings, is reminiscent of a miniature landscape. The beneath the surface of venerated things, mak- these genres are commemorated not through troughs and crest that shape the mound of ing their substance—their crude essence—all their astounding presence but through states limestone and gravel deposits loosely sym- the more dumbfounding. that demonstrate the distressing absences bolize the form of mountain ranges. Found Just as sacred relics can, mountain peaks found within the picture. Her way of looking and vestal landscapes can generate awe. In is a continuous memorialization between the Garcia’s paintings, they turn into desolate, seen and the unseen. Nona Garcia was born in Quezon City, almost banal objects, but they also reveal Emulating the photographer’s eye, Garcia Philippines, in 1978 more mystery than any glorious rendition of composes her images through the nuances * a sunset dipping across a valley. Instead of of framing and viewpoint. Her subjects are She lives and works in Baguio City, gazing at the panorama, Nona Garcia turns depicted in the way they were found—aban- Philippines her attention towards its oblique details and doned, unkempt, or in ruins. The scenery concealed views: dilapidated houses, aban- Garcia chooses to paint stands as evidence doned kitchens, uninhabited rooms, obscured to a former presence. The desolated rooms, in a limestone quarry in The Cordilleras, one objects, and absent faces. And through the sheds, and shanties that occupy Garcia’s of the mountainous regions in the Philippines, whole spectrum of her work, one is likewise frame speak of lingering activities that used this shed invokes the haunting existence of the engaged in a continuous search for what is to define their existence, leaving a shadowy, place itself, which is filled with abandoned hidden from one’s sight. hidden narrative that completes the picture. mines. The soft, pale colors selected by Gar- Even her portraiture invites this kind of com- cia engulf the entire canvas in a singular view pletion—of filling the gaps—while being cen- of a desolated entity. Her inclusion of debris, tered, no less, on the face. tools, planks of dried wood—minute details In her work Sitting Still (2013), the usual rendered in a painstakingly realist fashion— elements that characterize portraiture are become organic components that comprise present, except for a single revision in arrange- a synthesized view of despondency, a meton­ ment: the model’s back is turned against the ymic detail of a barren landscape. painter. All indicators of the genre are there: Even actual objects in Garcia’s art are the subject sits for the artist, her body is retrieved from mere appearances. In her propped into a pose, she occupies the center installation work Recovery (2015), X-ray films

2005 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, ASEAN Art Awards, Singapore Art Francisco and Maria Chittyrene Pleasure + Pain. Exh. cat. Green Japan Museum C. Labiran, pp. 146–149. Pasig Papaya Art Projects, Quezon 2004 Cross Currents, Bangkok Univer- City. City; 24HR Art – Northern Territory sity Gallery, Thailand Lorenzo, Isa, and Nona Garcia. Centre for Contemporary Art, 2003 Thirteen Artists Awards, Cultural Selected Bibliography “Postlocal: Painting.” Silverlens Darwin. Quezon City. Center of the Philippines, Pasay Galleries. (Online) 2002 Whitewash. Exh. cat. Ateneo Art City, Philippines 2014 Helu-Trans Collectors Series. Lumbao, Cocoy. “Nona Garcia: Gallery. Quezon City. Pleasure + Pain, Green Papaya Southeast Asia Contemporary. Fractures.” West Gallery. (Online) 2001 RX: Critical Remedies. Nona Art Projects, Quezon City, Exh. cat. Artspace. Singapore. 2009 “Nona Garica,” in Post-tsunami Garcia, Norberto Roldan. Exh. Philippines; 24HR Art – Northern 2012 Lumbao, Cocoy. “Nona Garcia: Art: Emerging Artists from cat. Lopez Memorial Museum. Territory Centre for Contempo- Before the Sea.” West Gallery. South-East Asia. Edited by Mandaluyong City. rary Art, Darwin, Australia (Online) Eleonora Battiston, p. 119. Exh. 2002 Utopia, The Box, Singapore “Haven’t We Met Before. New cat. Primo Marella Gallery, Milan. Whitewash, Ateneo Art Gallery, Paintings by Six Filipina Artists.” Bologna. Quezon City, Philippines Index Codex. (Online) 2008 Nona Garcia: Planted 2001 Surrounded, Cultural Center of 2011 Gibb, Susan. “Space and Two Landscapes. Exh. cat. Podium. the Philippines, Pasay City, Points.” Exh. pamphlet. Mo_ Mandaluyong City. Philippines Space. Taguig City. (Online) 2004 Cross Currents. Exh. cat. Bangkok 2000 Faith + the City: A Survey of 2010 Cobangbang, Lena. “Nona Gar- University Gallery. Bangkok. Contemporary Filipino Art, Earl Lu cia,” in Without Walls: A Tour of 2003 13 Artists Awards 2003. Exh. cat. Gallery, LASALLE-SIA College of Philippine Paintings at the Turn of Cultural Center of the Philippines. the Arts, Singapore the Millenium. Edited by Francis Pasay City.

Nona Garcia 95 Shed, 2015 Oil on canvas 244 x 335 cm

96 Unearth, 2015 Oil on canvas 242 x 335 cm

Nona Garcia 97 98 Desert, 2015 Oil on canvas 197 x 335 cm

Nona Garcia 99 100 Recovery, 2014 60 lightboxes, X-rays Dimensions variable

Nona Garcia 101 Sitting Still, 2013 Oil on canvas 213 x 152 cm

102 Untitled, 2010 Oil on canvas 30 x 21 cm

Nona Garcia 103 Pow Martinez

Education Dogs Playing Poker, Manila Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines Day Is Scornful, Arndt Singapore Contemporary, Makati City, Easy Listening Paintings, Magnet 2013 Manila Vice, Musée International 2004–2006 Studies in Painting, Philippines Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines des Arts Modestes, Sète, France Kalayaan College, Quezon City, 2013 1 Bit, MO_Space, Taguig City, 2010 March of the Pigs, LOSTprojects, Pirate, Megumi Ogita Gallery, Philippines Philippines Marikina City, Philippines Tokyo, Japan 2002–2004 Studies in Visual Com- Losing My Edge, Pablo Gallery, Hyper Blast Abomination, Magnet 2012 Bastards of Misrepresentation, munication, University of the Taguig City, Philippines Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines Topaz Arts, New York, USA Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Medieval Woodcuts, Finale Art 2009 The Brutal Gardener, Magnet Gal- 2011 Confessions of a Sinner, Manila Philippines File, Makati City, Philippines lery, Quezon City, Philippines Contemporary, Makati City, 2012 Sploshing, Finale Art File, Makati One Billion Years, West Gallery, Philippines City, Philippines Quezon City, Philippines Postlocal: Painting, SLab, Silver- Selected Solo Exhibitions Low Res, West Gallery, Quezon 2007 Pathetic Doggy Paddle, Magnet lens, Makati City, Philippines City, Philippines Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines Greatest Hits: Bastards of Mis­ 2014 May Cause Profound Mental Cyborg Scallops, SLab, Silverlens, representation, Doing Time on Retardation, Pablo Gallery, Makati City, Philippines Filipino Time, 8. Salon Hamburg, Taguig City, Philippines 2011 Nature Paintings, Now Gallery, Selected Group Exhibitions Germany Caught Between Honor and Makati City, Philippines Hide the Women and Children, Revenge, How Far Will One Man Destroyed Planets, Pablo Gallery, 2014 Brave New Worlds, Metropolitan MO_Space, Taguig City, Go, Silverlens, Makati City, Taguig City, Philippines Museum of Manila, Philippines Philippines Philippines Cut Hands Have the Solution,West Manila: The Night Is Restless, The Salvation in a Nest of Vipers, Y3K,

104 The art of Pow Martinez is imbued with an imp- untouched by the more somber and concept- as cannibals, who swallow WD-40 lubricant ish delight. His paintings are laden with char- centered complexities of most figurative for better digestion. As an exercise, his oeuvre acters and creatures depicted with his typical paintings that follow canonical themes. Mar- releases the imagination from restrictions mixture of startling rawness and humor. His tinez’s own path to the primal, to finding imposed through intellectualizing art. As fin- images are spectacles that move between pure expression, is a return to the naiveté of ished work, it flies in the face of most repre- characteristics of the naïve and the grotesque. cartoon-like images with their special kind of sentational paintings that are bound in their His manner of painting, with loose, inchoate, humor, as in Mommy’s Acid Trip (2012). This cultural polemic. impulsive strokes done in thick, impasto lines work makes us reflect on the childlike qualities Martinez’s idea of culture, in whatever and applied in bright colors, suggests an from which art can spring: the unexpected medium he chooses, is that of an un-rarefied innocence of expression; but there is simul- and the playful. Yet the faces of his charac- street commodity. His paintings, direct but taneously an irreverent take on the signifi- ters are marked by round, empty, bewildered with an agenda that seems always to be cance of culture, for his subjects appear as eyes while the crooked lines that form their bound up in jest, are haphazardly composed, deliberate presentations of the uncouth and mouths and teeth are equally contradictory like comical graffiti with a certain kind of unrefined, and are often depicted in silly or political awareness combining beauty with graphically obscene poses. roughness. The layers of paint are unruly; the Martinez is also known as a musician, Pow Martinez was born in Manila, strokes have no apparent scheme and the taking part in experimental music projects. Philippines, in 1983 consequential drips are allowed to run down His musical works are composed with layers * the canvas as if neglected. But despite the of electronic effects, found sound, atonal He lives and works in Manila, breaking of rules or values normally associ- strains, and sheer noise. The cacophony of Philippines ated with “good” art, Martinez’s works bring styles and the amusing names with which he us back to the question: how can one’s crea- shapes his music are telling to his evolution tive impulse ever be validated? One is temp­ as a visual artist. His sound works are, for him, signs undermining the ostensibly naïve sur- ted, of course, to look back to the works of exercises in coming up with new aural experi- face. This is where innocence and irreverence past masters, and the criteria they adhered ences; and as with all experimental work, they meet. The puerile scenes Martinez depicts to, but these are too moribund for contem- can be seen as a shattering of tradition. Mar- turn out either vividly obscene or humorously porary artists such as Martinez, who, in his tinez uses the same approach for his paint- absurd. And like his music—which strives to own way, defies the establishment and their ings, combining various strategies aimed at connect with the unheard tone or melody— long-held traditions, and puts in their place exposing this medium’s excessively mannered his paintings, in relation to the visible world, notions of the wickedly fun. tradition. try to tap the limits of taste and connect it with The deliberate return to the unrefined, social topics, as, for example, the reference to raw, and underdeveloped quality of images sexual exploitation in his painting We Are Here leads to comparisons with Art Brut painters, for the Women (2014). At times his message while the way Martinez renders the human verges on the cynical, as when he depicts, figure shows an affiliation with the American in bright colors, a group of people in a small Abstract Expressionist Philip Guston. The barge guided by the Reaper (New World, 2011) almost solipsistic world of pure expression is or portrays members of High Society (2014)

Melbourne, Australia 2007 Shoot Me: Photographs Now, 2005 Common and Uncommon Goods, Part II,” in Roberto Chabet: Fifty Complete and Unabridged, Part MO_Space, Taguig City, Future Prospects, Manila, Years. Exh. cat. King Kong Art II, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong Philippines Philippines Projects Unlimited, et al. Manila. 2010 Bastards of Misrepresentation, I Have Nothing to Paint and I’m Other Matters, Future Prospects, 2010 Ocampo, Manuel, ed. Bastards Doing Time on Filipino Time, Freies Painting It, MO_Space, Taguig Manila, Philippines of Misrepresentation: Doing Time Museum, Berlin, Germany City, Philippines on Filipino Time. Exh. cat. Freies 2009 Selected Memory, Richard Koh Sungdu-an 4: Extensions, Capitol Museum Berlin. Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia University Museum of Three Selected Bibliography 2008 Room 307: Inkling, Gutfeel & Welcome to the Jungle, Artinfor- Cultures, Cagayan de Oro City, Hunch. Exh. cat. National Art mal, Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2014 Manila: The Night is Restless, Gallery. Manila. Philippines 2006 The Blank Show, West Gallery, The Day is Scornful. Exh. cat. 2008 Serial Killers, Green Papaya Art Quezon City, Philippines. Arndt Singapore. (Online) Projects, Quezon City, Philippines Long Goodbye, Magnet Gallery 2012 Flores, Patrick D. Imagining Iden­ Zero Percent, Green Papaya Art Katipunan, Quezon City, tity: 100 Filipino Self-Portraits: Projects, Quezon City, Philippines Philippines A Selection from the Paulino Que Room 307: Inkling, Gutfeel Strait from the Source, Future Collection. Exh. cat. Finale Art & Hunch, Contemporary Art Prospects, Manila, Philippines File. Makati City. Projects, National Art Gallery, Missing Vocabularies, Green 2011 Ketamine: Pow Martinez. Makati Manila, Philippines Papaya Art Projects, Quezon City, Philippines City, Philippines “Complete and Unabridged,

Pow Martinez 105 106 Aesthetic Police, 2015 Oil on canvas 122 x 183 cm

Pow Martinez 107 We Are Here for the Women, 2014 Oil on canvas 183 x 183 cm

108 Mommy’s Acid Trip, 2012 Oil on canvas 183 x 183 cm

Pow Martinez 109 The Come Down, 2014 Oil on canvas 137 x 160 cm

110 High Society, 2014 Oil on canvas 137 x 160 cm

Pow Martinez 111 New World, 2011 Oil on canvas 157 x 137 cm

112 Year 10,000 Problem, 2011 Oil on canvas 213 x 183 cm

Pow Martinez 113 Manuel Ocampo

Selected Solo Exhibitions 2012 Cryptic Slaughter, Finale Art File, 2006 No System Can Give the Masses Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt am Makati City, Philippines the Proper Social Graces (with Main, Germany 2015 The Corrections, Tyler Rollins Fine The 80s, Topaz Arts, New York, Damien Deroubaix), La Maison 1999 The Nature of Culture (with Art, New York, USA USA Rouge, Paris, France Gaston Damag), Centro Andaluz The Devil Follows Me Day and 2011 Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill, 2005 Mumu Territorium, Art Center – de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville, Night [...], The Drawing Room, Graz, Austria SM Megamall, Mandaluyong Spain Singapore The Ghost Poo of Painting, City, Philippines The Inversion of the Ideal, Galería Black Dada, Nosbaum & Reding, philara – Sammlung zeitgenössis- New Works, Lieu d’Art Contempo- Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, Luxembourg cher Kunst, Düsseldorf, Germany rain, Sigean, France Spain Goya vu par Ocampo [...], Musée KalimanRawlins, Melbourne, 2004 Finale Art File, Mandaluyong City, 1998 Yo Tambien Soy Pintura, El Museo Goya, Castres, France Australia Philippines Extremeño e Iberoamericano de 2014 Notes from the Ste Anne Asylum, 2010 Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York,USA 2003 Wunderkammer, Gesellschaft Arte Contemporáneo, Badajoz, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, 2009 Monuments to the Institutional für Gegenwartskunst, Augsburg, Spain France Critique of Myself, Pablo Gallery, Germany Why Must I Care For a Girl Who Beware of Painting, The Crucible Taguig City, Philippines Lee Almighty, Magnet Gallery Always Scratches Wherever She Gallery, Mandaluyong City, She Has a Hot Ass, The Gertrude Katipunan, Quezon City, Itches, Delfina Foundation, Philippines Contemporary, Melbourne, Philippines London, and Centre Cultural 2013 The Corrections, SOD Space of Australia 2001 Free Aesthetic Pleasure Now!, Tecla Sala, Barcelona, Spain Drawings, Copenhagen, 2007 Guided by Sausage, LE (9) BIS, Babilonia 1808, Berkeley, 1997 Heridas de la Lengua, Track 16 Denmark Saint-Etienne, France USA Gallery, Santa Monica, USA 20 Years of Intestinal Mishaps, Kitsch Recovery Program, 2000 Those Long Dormant Pimples of Hacer Pintura Es Hacer Patria, Carré Sainte-Anne, Montpellier, Lizabeth Oliveria Gallery, Los Inattention [...], Sprüth Magers Galería OMR, Mexico City, France Angeles, USA Projekte, Munich, and Galerie Mexico

114 “One person’s blasphemy could be another Ocampo does not shy away from sacrile- Behind the explicit images lies a profound person’s form of spiritual expression.” Thus gious depictions of religious icons, taboo sub- inquiry into the notions of artistic creation Manuel Ocampo elucidates on his often mis- jects, and forbidden symbols; his most recent itself. Sometimes the artist himself becomes understood art forms, stating that if a work works also include more dissociated codes the subject of his own parody, being included starts to offend someone’s tastes and values, and uncategorized juxtapositions. His work through the use of text or grotesque figures. then it has succeeded in “staking a claim of presents the vanity fair of a society desiring Ocampo shatters the special distinctions held its meaning in the world […] as a statement of products with maximum commercial values for artistic agency, for treating the painter as existence.” 1 as much as perfect-looking bodies. The art- a maker of worlds. This is why his paintings, Studying and living in Los Angeles in the ist disagrees explicitly by painting in a rough rather than being spectacles that generate early 1990s, Ocampo became part of a new and speedily executed way, showing motives shock, are challenges to the academies of breed of artists who were starting to head in that have been fragmented and destroyed “bad” and “good” in art. For Ocampo a “bad” a different direction, away from the career- like a Christ figure without head and arms in painting, if such a thing existed, is a concept oriented experiments of the New York scene Scheiss (2015), or skeletons, as in El Tirano de that limits the possibilities both of personal into more introverted expressions of both imagination and visual culture in general. In banal and multicultural experiences in con- his world there are no exemptions; everything temporary America. In 2003, he went back Manuel Ocampo was born in Quezon City, is thrown together: religious icons, baroque to Manila, where he opened galleries and Philippines, in 1965 surfaces, supermarket brands, body parts, curated shows with Filipino artists, becoming * bones, and buzzards. The abject qualities influential to a number of artists who share He lives and works in Quezon City, that continue to pulsate from his paintings are the same concerns in challenging the grandi- Philippines postscripts to a world that has already been osity and reverence assigned to works of art, dissolved in the mixture of high and low cul- especially paintings. ture, of canonical and street art. The hard-edged, antagonistic, irreverent, Europa, El Tirano de America (2015) or Islamic and graphic art of Ocampo met its fair share Disco Painting (2015). 1 Manuel Ocampo in conversation with Ringo of controversy during the 1990s. The perceived In a series titled Notes from the Ste. Anne Bunoan in: “Interview with Manuel Ocampo.” blasphemy in his works does not essentially Asylum (2013), the manner of composition Asia Art Archive, October 2011, occur within the set values of the cultures he undermines activities that tend to intellec- http://www.aaa.org.hk/Diaaalogue/Details/1084 chooses to represent, but rather arises within tualize the frame. The metaphors are direct, (October 9, 2015). the sterile art world itself. The motivation in the visual puns appear shallow, and the sym- each of Ocampo’s new works seems to stem bols derived from various contexts coalesce from the idea of a guileless existence. His works into a singular cartoonish world. Inferences simply try to “be,” and in so doing shock us of race, religion, sex, and vice are met with by undermining established taste and values references to humor, distaste, and ignorance. regarding art and beauty. To Ocampo, the His works embody pastiche in expression, associations and agendas overlying paintings and throughout the years have consistently have become trite and cumbersome. In his challenged the notions of standards or taste. view, the work will always outlast the context.

1996 Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, Selected Group Exhibitions 1997 Unmapping the Earth, 2nd cat. Tyler Rollins Fine Art. New USA Gwangju Biennale, Republic of York. (Online) 1995 Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, 2015 Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s, Korea 2009 See, Sarita Echavez. The Decolo­ France Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, 1994 Asia/America: Identities in Con­ nized Eye: Filipino American Art Musée d’art contemporain de USA, et al. (traveling exhibition) temporary Asian American Art, and Performance. Minneapolis. Montréal, Canada 2012 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Con- Asia Society, New York, USA 2005 Manuel Ocampo: Bastards of 1994 Paraiso Abierto a Todos, The Mexi- temporary Art, Brisbane, Australia 1993 43rd Biennial Exhibition of Con- Misrepresentation. Exh. cat. can Museum, San Francisco, USA 2004 1st Bienal Internacional de Arte temporary American Painting, Casia Asia. Barcelona. Jean-Michel Basquiat & Manuel Contemporáneo de Sevilla, Spain Washington, D.C., USA 2002 Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Ocampo, Henry Art Gallery, 2001 Plateau of Mankind, 49th Espo- 1992 documenta IX, Kassel, Germany Painting. London/New York. University of Washington, Seattle, sizione Internazionale d’Arte, Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s, 2001 Les Chiens Andalous. Exh. cat. USA Venice, Italy The Museum of Contemporary Track 16 Gallery. Santa Monica. 1992 Matrix Berkeley 150, University Art 2nd Berlin Biennale, Germany Art, Los Angeles, USA 1999 Manuel Ocampo: God Is My Museum, University of California, 2000 Made in California: Art, Image, Co-Pilot. Directed by Phillip Rodri- Berkeley, USA and Identity, 1900–2000, Los guez. Santa Monica. (DVD) 1988 Lies, Falls, Hopes, and Megaloma­ Angeles County Museum of Art, Selected Bibliography 1997 Heridas de la Lengua. Exh. cat. nia, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los USA Track 16 Gallery. Santa Monica. Angeles, USA Partage d’Exotismes, 5th Bien- 2013 Manuel Ocampo. Exh. cat. Carré 1996 Virgin Destroyer: Manuel nale d’art contemporain de Lyon, Ste. Anne, Montpellier. Ocampo. Honolulu. France 2010 Manuel Ocampo: An Arcane 1998 At Home and Abroad: 21 Contem­ Recipe Involving Ingredients Can­ porary Filipino Artists, Asian Art nibalized from the Reliquaries of Museum of San Francisco, USA Some Profane Illumination. Exh.

Manuel Ocampo 115 Notes from the Ste. Anne Asylum 4, 2013 Oil on canvas 250 x 200 cm

116 Notes from the Ste. Anne Asylum 3, 2013 Oil on canvas 250 x 200 cm

Manuel Ocampo 117 Ocampo_2013_Notes from the Ste. Anne Asylum (2)_Oil on canvas_200x250cm.tif

Notes from the Ste. Anne Asylum 2, 2013 Oil on canvas 250 x 200 cm

118 Notes from the Ste. Anne Asylum 1, 2013 Oil on canvas 250 x 200 cm

Manuel Ocampo 119 El Tirano de Europa, El Tirano de America (from the Fashion Update series), 2015 Silkscreen ink on canvas 243 x 304 cm

120 Scheiss (from the Fashion Update series), 2015 Silkscreen ink, varnish, canvas 182 x 122 cm

Manuel Ocampo 121 122 Islamic Disco Painting (from The Correction series), 2015 Silkscreen ink on canvas 122 x 243 cm

Manuel Ocampo 123 Alwin Reamillo

Education Nova Gallery, Makati City, of the Philippines and Galleria Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Philippines Duemila, Pasay City, Philippines; Taichung City, Taiwan 1997–1999 Major in Visual Art, Western 2011 Re:Played by Ear, Artinformal, Fremantle Arts Centre, Australia Bankstown: Live, Sydney Festival Australian Academy of Perform- Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2001 Semena Santa Cruxtations, 2015, Bankstown, Australia ing Arts, Edith Cowan University, Ang Balutviand: Manila–Hong Cultural Center of the Philippines, The Roving Eye: Contemporary Perth, Australia Kong–Manila, Tin-aw Art Gallery, Pasay City, Philippines, et al. Art from Southeast Asia, ARTER 1981–1985 Major in Painting, University Makati City, Philippines (traveling exhibition) Space for Art, Istanbul, Turkey of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon 2010 Thuringowa Helicopter Project, 1994 P.I. FOR SALE, Hiraya Gallery, 2014 Concept, Context, Contesta­ City, Philippines Darwin Festival 2010, Stokes Hill Manila, Philippines tion: Art and the Collective in Wharf, Darwin, and 1989 Ang kahon ay isang hukay ay Southeast Asia, Bangkok Art and The Substation, Melbourne, isang kahon, Cultural Center of Culture Centre, Thailand Selected Solo Exhibitions Australia the Philippines, Pasay City, 2011 Beyond the Self: Contemporary 2009 Play by Ear I + II, Galleria Philippines Portraiture from Asia, National 2015 Juanita, Herzog, Jambalam­ Duemila, Pasay City, Philippines 1987 At ang Bulung-bulungang Portrait Gallery, Canberra, bibe & Associates Invites You to 2008 Nicanor Abelardo Grand Piano de-cajon ni Mang Imo [...], Australia, et al. (traveling exhibi- UnHedged, Tin-aw Art Project, UP Vargas Museum, Pinaglabanan Art Galleries, tion) Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines Quezon City, Philippines San Juan City, Philippines 2009 Making it New: Focus on Contem­ 2014 Mise en (Matched) Scene, West Play by Ear (Oido), Gallery East, porary Australian Art, Museum Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines Perth, Australia of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2013 Tinubuang Lupa, National Com- 2007 Thuringowa Helicopter Project, Selected Group Exhibitions Australia mission for Culture and the Arts Pinnacles Gallery, Riverway Arts Thrice Upon a Time: A Century of Gallery, Manila, Philippines Centre, Townsville, Australia 2015 Sculpture by the Sea 2015, Bondi Story in the Art of the Philippines, Re:quiem para un arpicembalo di Mang Emo + Mag-himo Grand Beach, Sydney, Australia Singapore Art Museum Bartolomeo Cristofori […], Piano Project, Cultural Center Asian Art Biennial 2015, National 2008 Tutubing Baka Helicopter Project,

124 Alwin Reamillo, who divides his time between to sound but also within the structure itself. and found objects such as a box of matches, Australia and the Philippines, has continued In a work called Ang Rocknroll Piano ni Egay miniature toys, and shredded banknotes. to work on projects that involve collabora- Navarro (2015) the instrument literally rolls Some of Reamillo’s assemblages and instal- tion: whether with other artists, craftsmen, because of its circular profile, thereby push- lations are presented like inventories, using, and communities; or with people from other ing the performativity of the piece beyond for example, a glass cabinet that allows the cultures. His methods closely resemble shop the function of the musical keys and further viewer to see all the objects stored inside. But practice, requiring collaborative processes into the interactivity of the whole sculpture: a their overall accumulation defies the nature and cross-cultural exchanges to carry out wheeled object that is meant to be playfully of clinical archives. Scattered, discordant, the constructions of machines, woodworks, set in motion. While some of his sculptures— unexpected, and loosely associated, the only instruments, vehicles, vessels, and simulated for instance, Nicanor Abelardo Grand Piano underlying motif is the artist’s use of wooden environments. His approach to making art Project (2010–2015)—can actually be used as platforms, shaped out of drums, cabinets, strongly echoes one of the cherished values of instruments in performances, they work just shelves, and boxes. The articles grow from Filipino folk called bayanihan, an old custom as well as “pictures” of music, evoking only them—a mix of organic and synthetic forms; which pertains to involving a whole village in imaginations of sound. the earthen, antiquated quality of wood order to complete an erstwhile difficult task. At absorbs them like an evolved artefact, mutat- the same time Reamillo reflects upon personal ing into a unique instrument, small enough to experiences, such as feelings of displacement Alwin Reamillo was born in Manila, be captured in a wooden case or almost as or the sensation of “gaps” or losses caused Philippines, in 1964 large as an entire room. by migration or moving between different * Every item in Reamillo’s assemblages, cultures. Thus he creates “social sculptures,” He lives and works in Las Pinas,~ Philippines, which are essentially ongoing projects, tells produced in collaboration across foreign and Beaconsfield, Australia a story about a journey—specifically, about exchange programs in different communities being away from home. This is akin to the such as in Germany, Japan, and Australia, way migrants often surround themselves with as well as his native Philippines. These involve Combining articles from different histori- collections of familiar objects to make sense not only gathering different materials for his cal and cultural references such as religious of who they are and where they came from. work, but also different people in order to cre- symbols from Buddhism (Ang Apotekariya Reamillo sees his assemblages as a kind of ate interactive and functional pieces. Vertical ni Antonio Laluna, 2014) or Christi- “historical painting,” but one that is “marked The son of a piano maker, Reamillo has anity (The Cabinet: Semana Santa Cruxta­ by unevenness,” and that is “always in flux.” incorporated through his art an organic sum- tions or How to Go Bble Sideways and Mul­ Through his art, Alwin Reamillo constantly mation of parts like an instrument—using tiply, 2010–2015), and interjecting processes makes connections between personal objects found or fabricated objects, and inviting from both archaic and modern technologies, and cultural relics, memory and history, the people to interact with the work in order to Reamillo essays rudimentary associations audience and the work. He examines how complete its meaning. Several of these works to trivialize both the commodification of cul- these interactions can change our ways of have actually utilized the form of both grand ture and our seemingly insatiable appropria- thinking, and how, eventually, his sculptures, and upright pianos, thus functioning as a tion of discordant beliefs that marks an era installations, and performances derived from tribute to his father’s craft and also to the built on pastiche. Items that adorn his mixed familiar and functional objects can bridge the ideal of human interactivity in sculpture. In media installations and assemblages are just gap between art and life. some of these sculptures, dynamism is not as diverse: vintage photographs, sets of tools, just confined within the instrument’s ability crab shells and claws, and other fabricated

Museo Pambata, Manila, At Home and Abroad: 20 Contem­ Selected Bibliography 2005 Echoes of Home: Memory and Philippines porary Filipino Artists,* Asian Art Mobility in Recent Austral-Asian 2005 Echoes of Home: Memory and Museum of San Francisco, USA, et 2014 The Roving Eye: Contemporary Art. Exh. cat. Museum of Brisbane. Mobility in Recent Austral-Asian al. (traveling exhibition) Art from Southeast Asia. Exh. cat. Third Fukuoka Asian Art Trien­ Art, Museum of Brisbane, Aus- Cinco Continentes y Una ARTER – Space for Art, Istanbul. nale: Parallel Realities. Exh. cat. tralia et al. (traveling exhibition) Ciudad,* Museo de la Ciudad de 2013 Beyond the Self: Contemporary Fukuoka Asian Art Museum. Parallel Realities, 3rd Fukuoka Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico Portraiture from Asia. Exh. cat. 2003 National Sculpture Prize and Asian Art Triennial, Japan 1997 6th Bienal de la Habana,* Casa Natio­ nal­­ Portrait Gallery,Canberra. Exhibition. Exh. cat. National 2004 UWA Perth International Arts de Asia, Havana, Cuba Garing, Thea. Alwin Reamillo: Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Festival, Fremantle Arts Centre, 1996 Above and Beyond: Austral/Asian Re:quiem para arpicembala di 2002 Shaw, Angel, and Luis Fran- Australia Interactions, Australian Centre for Bartoloneo Cristofori di nuovo cia, eds. Vestiges of War: The 2003 National Sculpture Prize & Exhibi­ Contemporary Art, Melbourne, inventione chef a il piano e il forte. Philippine-American War and the tion (in collaboration with Roselin Australia, et al. (traveling exhibi- Exh. cat. Nova Gallery, Manila Aftermath of an Imperial Dream Eaton), National Gallery of tion) 2010 Making it New: Focus on Contem­ 1899–1999. New York. Australia, Canberra, Australia 1995 Peace Art from Asia: War and Art porary Australian Art. Exh. cat. 2000 The Bridge / Construction in Pro­ 1999 At Home and Abroad: 20 Contem­ 1995, Osaka International Peace Museum of Contemporary Art cess VI. Exh. cat. Melbourne. porary Filipino Artists,* Metropoli- Center, Japan Australia, Sydney. 1995 TransCulture: la Biennale di tan Museum of Manila, Philippines 2009 Thrice Upon A Time: A Century of Venezia 1995. Exh. cat. Palazzo 1998 Construction in Process VI – The Story in the Art of the Philippines. Giustinian Lolin (Fondazione Levi), Bridge, Melbourne, Australia Exh. cat. Singapore Art Museum. Venice. Tokyo. The Edge of Awareness,* Organi- 2007 Legaspi-Ramirez, Eileen. “Making sation Mondiale de la Santé, Do: The Mang Emo + Mag-himo Geneva, Switzerland, et al. * in collaboration with Juliet Lea Grand Piano Project.” (traveling exhibition) (since 1993) Inquirer.net, May 24. (Online)

Alwin Reamillo 125 Ang Rockenroll Piano ni Egay Navarro, 2015 Mixed media construction with pine cable drum on disused upright piano, recycled car-tire strips 113 x 145 x 113 cm

126 Ang Apotekariya Vertical ni Antonio Laluna, 2014 Two disused upright pianos, reused pine cable drums, digital sign, constructed wooden boxes, ammunition case, exhaust fan, Buddha statue, found objects Dimensions variable

Alwin Reamillo 127 The Cabinet: Semana Santa Cruxtations or How to Go Bble Sideways and Multiply, 2010–2015 Mixed media on printed bedsheet, found objects, constructed wooden cabinet, LED lights 243 x 365 x 43 cm

128 Alwin Reamillo 129 Recuerdo, 2013–2014 Two constructed wooden suitcases, video, reused pine cable drum, piano keys and parts, hand tools, objects Dimensions variable

130 Alwin Reamillo Nicanor Abelardo Grand Piano Project, 2010–2015 Restored parlor grand piano, grand piano lids, objects, video Dimensions variable Unnatural History: ang totoong alamat ng pilipinas o pensar en la inmortalidad del cangrejo, 2012 Mixed media on reused pine cable drum, found objects 75 x 120 x 4 cm

132 Alwin Reamillo 133 Norberto Roldan

Education No Empire Lasts Forever, Taksu 2005 Esperanza y Caridad, Green 1989 Images of the Continuing Struggle, Singapore Papaya Art Projects, Quezon Artspace, Sydney, Australia 1973 Bachelor of Arts, Major in 2012 Hail Mary, Vulcan Artbox, City, Philippines 1987 Images of War, Hiraya Gallery, Philo­sophy, St. Pius X Seminary, Waterford, Ireland 2004 Confessional Box, Alliance Manila, Philippines Roxas City, Philippines Heretical Bias Towards Indiffer­ Française de Manille, Makati City, 1975 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in ence, Now Gallery, Makati City, Philippines Selected Group Exhibitions Visual Communications, Philippines 2003 Mother of Perpetual Colony, University of Santo Tomas, 2011 The Beginning of History and Charles Darwin University Art 2015 Rev | Action: Contemporary Art Manila, Philippines Fatal Strategies, Now Gallery, Gallery, Darwin, Australia from Southeast Asia Sundaram 2001 Master of Arts, Major in Art Studies, Makati City, Philippines 2001 Faith on the Periphery, Green Tagore Gallery, New York, USA University of the Philippines Dili- 2010 Not Past Nor Future, Neither Dead Papaya Art Projects, Quezon First Look: Collecting Contem­ man, Quezon City, Philippines Or Alive, Silverlens, Makati City, City, Philippines porary at the Asian, Asian Art Philippines RX: Critical Remedies (with Nona Museum, San Francisco, USA 2009 Give Me Tears Give Me Love Let Garcia), Lopez Memorial Museum, 2014 What does it all matter, as long Selected Solo Exhibitions Me Rest Lord Above, Pablo Mandaluyong City, Philippines as the wounds fit the arrows?, Gallery, Taguig City, Philippines Devotion (with Alfredo Esquillo), Cultural Center of the Philippines, 2015 The Past Is Another Country, MO_ Sacred is the New Profane, Taksu John Batten Gallery, Hong Kong, Pasay City, Philippines Space, Taguig City, Philippines Singapore China No Country: Contemporary Art 2014 One Day I Will Find the Right Everything is Sacred, Taksu Kuala 1999 Faith in Sorcery, Sorcery in Faith, for South and Southeast Asia, Words and They Will Be Simple, Lumpur, Malaysia Hiraya Gallery, Manila, NTU Center for Contemporary Art Taksu, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2008 Objects and Apparitions, MO_ Philippines Singapore and Asia Society, Hong 2013 Savage Nation, MO_Space, Space, Taguig City, Philippines 1994 Orasyon, Hiraya Gallery, Kong, China Taguig City, Philippines 2007 Oil, Magnet Gallery, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines 2013 No Country: Contemporary Art Philippines for South and Southeast Asia,

134 Norberto Roldan’s art traces the roots of divided across a diptych sporting a pair of critique on the state of racial and territorial Filipino identity through the use of objects, gold-laced vestments removed from a saint’s dispute. images, and text. In his assemblages and statuette, and enshrined in artificial illumina- In Quiapo, Between Salvation and Dam­ installations made from religious garments, tion (Revolt­ , 2014). nation (2014), Roldan constructs a replica vintage fabric, found objects, and anti- In Roldan’s more recent series of paint- of a confessional box usually found inside quated photographs, he presents their union ings, images are paired with textual passages. churches in Manila. The reference to the dis- as symbols of the very composition of the Fili- With titles such as The War Speech and The trict of Quiapo is an ode to one of Manila’s pino consciousness—as an identity forged War Prayer (both 2013), these diptychs show most symbolic places of worship—the Quiapo through the intertwined agendas of spiritual scenes of machinery related to warfare, Church, as well as one of Manila’s busi- and political annexation, as subjects deeply appropriated literature from famous authors est flea markets which is situated along the influenced by the shadows of an imperial such as Mark Twain, and speeches from iconic streets of Quiapo. At the middle of the confes- past. His assemblages, which convey a sense figures such as the former emperor of Ethio- sional box stands a glass cabinet filled with of ritual tied to religious ceremonies, beckon pia, Haile Selassie. These two-dimensional different objects—a statuette of Christ car- like altars: their centerpieces are made from rying the cross, a collection of antique arma- old liturgical vestments—robes used by Cath- ments, and different concoctions prescribed olic priests adorned with intricate embroidery Norberto Roldan was born in Roxas City, by quack doctors and faith healers such as and lacework. Philippines, in 1953 abortive potions as well as anting-anting As the Philippines is deeply rooted in the * amulets or charms trapped in vials, which are foundation of Catholic teachings, spirituality He lives and works in Manila, important aspects of Filipino mythology. In plays an immense part in forming the con- Philippines Roldan’s two-winged confessional box, a kind cept of Filipino identity. The artist acknowl- of dichotomy is raised between the spiritual edges this; the priests’ chasubles and saints’ and the worldly; the need for divine absolu- vestments signify the country’s veneration for works, although tackling more contempo- tion and faith is pitted against the alternative: tales of divine intervention. Whether from past rary concepts, do not stray from the themes turning to heretic remedies. revolutions or modern-day uprisings, religion explored in Roldan’s assemblages. The role Whether seen as an archive of symbols, has always been a driving force in mediating of politics and spirituality are shown to still texts, and objects, or as an anthropological change. work in tandem, even in the modern age of endeavor to discover and interpret the world Roldan’s assemblages also include an­­ imperialism, or as lingering models of influ- through its antiquated articles, the works of tique vases, glassware, and candlesticks, ence for a post-colonial era. The depiction Norberto Roldan dwell within the more minute each standing on a panel, contrasting with of war machines elicit awe, especially in activities of collecting, arranging, and com- contemporary liquor and soda bottles— an enormous fleet such as the aircraft car- posing objects to present a new narration of an illustration of the past’s stronghold on rier in The War Speech, which conveys the a country’s history and her people’s collective present-day vices. The placement of light fix- majestic notions of conquest. Combined with memory. tures inside the panels conclude the assem- a string of words based on a modern-day blages, with a new sort of mysticism created emperor’s proclamation to the UN while fight- through the resulting glowing texts. One piece, ing apartheid in his country, the image that for instance, spells out “Revolt,” carefully Roldan chooses to paint becomes a powerful

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Makati City, Philippines 1992 New Art from Southeast Asia, 2008 de Veyra, Lourd. “A Rusty Sign at Museum, New York, USA Identities versus Globalisation, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, the End of a Bloody Empire, The Philippine Contemporary: To Chiang Mai Art Museum, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum and Norberto Roldan’s Oil.” Artlink 1, Scale the Past and the Possible, Thailand; National Gallery, Hiroshima City Museum of vol. 28. Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Bangkok, Thailand; Ethnolo­gi­ Contemporary Art, Japan 2007 Thompson, Jonathan. “Norberto Philippines sches Museum, Berlin, Germany Roldan at Magnet Gallery.” Asian 2011 Negotiating Home, History and 2003 Arts of People III: Santo, Fukuoka Art News 2, vol. 17 (March/April). Nation: Two Decades of Contem­ Asian Art Musem, Japan Selected Bibliography 1999 Torres, Emmanuel. “The Magic porary Art from Southeast Asia, 2000 Faith + the City: A Survey of Medicine Cabinets of Norberto 1991–2010, Singapore Art Museum Contemporary Filipino Art, Earl 2013 Constantino, Marika B. “[Norberto Roldan.” The Philippine Star, May 2010 No Soul for Sale – A Festival of Lu Gallery, LASALLE-SIA College Roldan:] CHEERS! What’s old is 10, p L-4. Independents, Tate Modern, of the Arts, Singapore; Metro- new again.” The Philippine Star. 2004 Roldan, Norberto. “War, Politics London, UK politan Museum of Manila, Philip- January 27. (Online) and Religion,” in Contemporary 2008 Galleon Trade: Bay Area Now 5, pines; Chulalongkorn University, 2011 Lenzi, Iola, Negotiating Home, Asian Art Forum. Hong Kong. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Bangkok, Thailand (traveling until History and Nation: Two Decades 2002 Kember, Pamela. “Alfredo Esquillo San Francisco, USA 2002) of Contemporary Art from South­ and Norberto Roldan.” ArtAsia­ Beyond Frame: Philippine Pho­ 1998 ASEAN Art Awards, Hanoi Opera east Asia, 1991–2010. Exh. cat. Pacific 36 (October–December). tomedia, UTS Gallery, University House, Vietnam Singapore Art Museum. Singa- 1992 Arata, Tani. “Norberto Roldan,” of Technology, Sydney, Australia 1997 Memories of Overdevelopment: pore. in New Art From Southeast Asia. 2005 Flippin’ Out: Maynila to Williams­ Philippine Diaspora in Contempo­ Norberto Roldan: The beauty of Exh. cat. Tokyo Metropolitan Art burg, Goliath Visual Space, New rary Art, Art Gallery, University of history is that it does not reside Space, et al. Tokyo. York, USA California, Irvine, California, USA in one place. Edited by Taksu 2004 Crossings: Philippine Modern and Plug In ICA Gallery, Singapore. Exh. cat. Art Stage and Contemporary Art, Ayala Winnipeg, Canada Singapore. Singapore.

Norberto Roldan 135 Quiapo, Between Salvation and Damnation, 2014 Mixed media installation 260 x 366 x 366 cm

136 Norberto Roldan 137 Rebel, 2015 Vintage priest’s chasuble with embroidery, lace fabric, wooden Santo sculpture, metal amulet and lighting fixtures on wooden panels Diptych, 183 x 244 cm

138 Revolt, 2014 Old saints’ vestments with gold trimmings and embroidery, lace fabric, metal and soft amulets, lighting fixtures on wooden panels Diptych, 214 x 305 cm

Norberto Roldan 139 My Brother and the Order of the Knights of the Moonshadows, 2010 Vintage priest’s chasuble, vintage fabric, wooden altar, old photograph and found objects on wooden panels Diptych, 183 x 244 cm

140 Litany, 2014 Vintage religious estampitas, flattened soft-drink tops and fabric on wooden panel Diptych, 208 x 198 cm

Norberto Roldan 141 Mestiza 2, 2015 Oil and acrylic on canvas Diptych, 213 x 304 cm

142 NorbertoNorberto Roldan Roldan 143 Kaloy Sanchez

Education Contemporary, Makati City, Selected Group Exhibitions Self-Portraits, Finale Art File, Philippines Makati City, Philippines 2006 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major 2011 Missives to the Ocean, This Time 2014 Manila: The Night Is Restless, 2011 Anti Hero, Altro Mondo, Makati in Studio Art, University of the Last Year, West Gallery, Quezon The Day Is Scornful, Arndt City, Philippines Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, City, Philippines Singapore 2010 Twelve by Nine, West Gallery, Philippines Too Loud a Solitude, Valentine 2013 The Mona Lisa Project, Cultural Quezon City, Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Center of the Philippines, Pasay Philippines Malaysia City, Philippines 2010 Enemy, Paseo Art Gallery, Selected Solo Exhibitions 2010 To the Memory of Sin, West Gal- 2012 Painting the Sublime, Manila Mandaluyong City, Philippines lery, Quezon City, Philippines Contemporary, Makati City, 2010 A Thousand Times Yes, Manila 2014 Oh! The Unspeakable Things, 2009 Black Water Cross, West Gallery, Philippines Contemporary, Makati City, Arndt Singapore Quezon City, Philippines 2012 Secret Rooms & Hidden Motives, Philippines 2013 Nausea, West Gallery, Quezon 2008 Hint:Eye, West Gallery, Quezon Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala 2009 Figuration Now, Paseo Art Gallery City, Philippines City, Philippines Lumpur, Malaysia Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2012 Ring Around The Rosie, Manila 2012 Imagining Identity: 100 Filipino Seeing You, Seeing Me: Contem­

144 The human figure has always been subject ness of the walls, floorboards, tiles, and fur- Sanchez embodies the tendency of the art- to an interpretation able to be attributed to niture match the unappealing contortions of ist to find expression through the image of a specific generation. Kaloy Sanchez rep- the bodies and their seemingly deteriorating another. The sitter or model becomes a mir- resents a new crop of Filipino artists who state. While the surroundings are sometimes ror into which the artist looks, and reflects a have continued the tradition of painting the marked by ambiguous graffiti-like shapes and vision that has been tainted by society’s own human body, displaying a keen interest in the lines, several characters in Sanchez’s paint- sordid state. With his portraits, Kaloy Sanchez dynamic between subject and sitter. ings have legs and feet that are blemished offers us glimpses of some of reality’s most Since the time of the British painter Lucian with tattoos, drawing the viewer’s attention unrefined moments. Freud, ideas about nakedness in portraiture to another artwork within the work—and into have come to be more about confronting the another set of possible narration. realities of the subject rather than celebrat- The kind of portrayals found in Kaloy San­ ing their form. Sanchez’s own depiction of chez’s paintings seem to denote two states the flesh seems to be traced directly from Freud’s unflattering representations of the human body; his figures are likewise requi- Kaloy Sanchez was born in Manila, ems to the unheralded state of being naked— Philippines, in 1982 the frailty of being human, a condition which * has perhaps never been so exposed as in the He lives and works in present day. Malabon City, Philippines Sanchez’s monochromatic portraits, ren­ dered­ in acrylic and graphite, reflect the veiled realities of a society that seems to be only: that of arousal, and that of detumes- always struggling against the incompre- cence. The artist renders his subjects through hensibility of living. His characters, whether such a polarity, and the accompanying feel- young or old, are usually trapped in a state ing is either that something taboo has just of agitation, bewilderment, or plain resigna- transpired, or that we are on the brink of a tion, while seemingly having come to terms moment about to turn carnal. Either way, with the shackles of sexual vice or exclusion. Sanchez is progressing from the more neu- His tableaux depict moments that are arrived tral instances found in Lucian Freud’s paint- at through omission: whether of body parts— ings. While it is said that the latter’s scenes faces, limbs, hands; or of a premise—where are like moments between main acts, it can be characters appear to be caught in the middle argued that Sanchez’s are the initial and final of an undisclosed episode of loss and desire. frames. All the same, his works are significant They are set against backdrops of what contributions to the contemporaneousness of appear to be derelict apartments; the gritti- the painted figure.

porary Portraiture, Manila Selected Bibliography Contemporary, Makati City, Philippines 2014 Manila: The Night is Restless, Halo Halo, Manila Contemporary, The Day is Scornful. Exh. cat. Makati City, Philippines Arndt Singapore. (Online) Bayan ni Nanding, Manila 2012 Flores, Patrick D. Imagining Iden­ Contemporary, Makati City, tity: 100 Filipino Self Portraits: A Philippines Selection from the Paulino Que Twelve by Nine, West Gallery, Collection, pp. 188–189. Exh. cat. Mandaluyong City, Philippines Finale Art File. Makati City. 2007 O, Pablo Gallery, Quezon City, 2011 Lopa, Trickie. “ Nothing to Hide.” Philippines Town & Country (December): p. 54.

Kaloy Sanchez 145

La tristesse durera toujours, 2015 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 152 x 213 cm

Kaloy Sanchez 147 Opposite page: Tinnitus, 2011 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 183 x 122 cm

Aspartame, 2012 Acrylic on canvas 122 x 91 cm

Nostos, 2011 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 91 x 122 cm

148 Kaloy Sanchez 149 Another Monday Morning, 2012 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 152 x 122 cm

150 Lollipop, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 122 x 91 cm

Kaloy Sanchez 151 Linger, 2015 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 122 x 91 cm

152 Leviathan, 2013 Acrylic and graphite on canvas 152 x 122 cm

Kaloy Sanchez 153 José Santos III

Education 2009 {Un}common, Artinformal, 2001 Flat Land, West Gallery, Makati City, Philippines Mandaluyong City, Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2011 Monumental, Manila Contempo- 1997 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Philippines Epeisodion, Boston Gallery, rary, Makati City, Philippines Painting, University of the 2006 Insights, West Gallery, Mandalu- Quezon City, Philippines 2010 Crossover: Samtidskunst fra Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, yong City, Philippines 1999 Reflections, Boston Gallery, Filippinerne\Sydøstasien, Brønd- Philippines Journeys, Art Space, Singapore Quezon City, Philippines salen Exhibition Hall, Copen­ Phases, Boston Gallery, Quezon 1995 Building Blocks, Boston Gallery, hagen, Denmark City, Philippines Quezon City, Philippines Dekalogo, UP Vargas Museum, Selected Solo Exhibitions 2005 Times II, West Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2009 Figuring the Times: Philippine 2014 2hide, Pearl Lam Galleries, 2004 Past Presented, Boston Gallery, Selected Group Exhibitions Paintings 1996–2009, Finale Art Singapore Quezon City, Philippines File, Makati City, Philippines 2013 In Transition, BenCab Museum, 2003 Perspectives, Boston Gallery, 2015 Off Site / Out of Sight, University Pitik-Bulag Letra at Liwanag: A Baguio City, Philippines Quezon City, Philippines of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon Celebration of Philippine Con­ Confertum: Collecting Crowds, Orientations, West Gallery, City, Philippines temporary Art and Poetry, GSIS UP Vargas Museum, Quezon City, Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2013 Revealing Signs of the Present, Museum, Pasay City, Philippines Philippines 2002 Paper Planes, Pinto Art Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, 2008 Silent Tension, TAKSU, Kuala 2011 Sneak Peek, The Centro Iloco de Antipolo City, Philippines Philippines Lumpur, Malaysia Juan Luna Hall, Sitio Remedios, Acts, West Gallery, Makati City, 2012 Imagining Identity: 100 Filipino 2007 Beyond Borders II, Artspace, Ilocos Norte, Philippines Philippines Self-Portraits, Finale Art File, Singapore

154 After cutting through a wall of his studio along gallery wall, while their contents remain com- fragment of the printed piece is also attached with the closet in front of it, José Santos III pletely hidden from our view. The ambiguity as an object. The extensive process that sur- chanced upon an entirely hidden visual com- of such objects—an undoubted condition of rounds this piece demonstrates the artist’s position. The resulting crevice revealed cross- something present, signified by the shapes propensity to seek meaning through de-famil- sections of both closet and wall, and sparked formed through the bags which are both tac- iarization. By breaking down the nature of Santos’s interest in the expansion of meaning tile and dense—reveals how the visual rep- representation through the combination of able to be generated from what is normally resentation of an object can paradoxically several copies of a very mundane object, José concealed from one’s view. The subsequent reveal meaning by actually suppressing it. Santos III is able to suggest the way meaning work, the polyptych Clockwise (2012), stands Santos’s works serve as conveyors to our permeates visible appearances: through the as an homage to both an object’s contain- senses: carrying objects as luggage, which is tears, cuts, cracks and cross-sections of sur- ment and its progression through time. The enveloped and wrapped around a cluster of faces that are virtually negated by the desire twelve vertically oriented canvases are pro- philosophical considerations that the artist to see through them. jected by the depth of their wooden frames. has pursued. His representation of the visible They approximate the cross-section of a closet cut into several parts. Like time capsules, they signify a different period, taking their cue José Santos III was born in Manila, from an analog clock’s segments. Mundane Philippines, in 1970 objects from both exterior and interior lives— from domestic routines that inhabit the mem- He lives and works in Pasig City, ory or the hidden codes that dwell within the Philippines psyche—are painted with their correspond- ing accessories attached underneath, and in some cases across, the frames, demarcating world—one of his main concerns—comes full the intervals that shape each day. circle in a work called Paperweight 1 (2014). In The idea of containment figures in most this work, the image of a rock goes through of Santos’s works, whether depicted in his a succession of transformations and configu- paintings through the inclusion of recepta- rations. It is photographed, printed on paper, cles—e.g. boxes, cans, drawers, and wooden mutilated, printed once again, and then con- crates—or in his installations that present cealed by the same image before it is finally actual objects wrapped in cloth. Santos’s painted. The final image becomes a loose inquiry into the notions of representation in consolidation derived from a single entity’s art deals with the limiting power of its own multiple incarnations. Through this, Santos subtext: “How do you represent what is hid- presents a tautological condition of mean- den?” In a work called Hide & Seek (2014), he ing. The tears and ruptures in the conceal- uses several fabric bags as vessels to hold ing print reveal the same object underneath. particular objects. These bags, sealed with The whole process of self-reflexivity is finally resin, are mounted to form rows against the synthesized through painting, while a small

2006 Emerging Fires, TAKSU Kuala Goethe-Institut, Quezon City, 2013 Bollansee, Marc. Southeast Asian Edited by Artinformal. Exh. pam- Lumpur, Malaysia Philippines Contemporary Art Now. phlet. Hong Kong International Art 2005 Portal Shifts, The Substation, 1992 Karnabal, Cultural Center of the Singapore. Fair. Manila. (Online) Singapore Philippines, Pasay City, Flores, Patrick D. Revealing 2011 Flores, Patrick D., ed. Monumen­ 2003 11th Asian Art Biennale Bang- Philippines Signs of the Present: Philippine tal. Exh. cat. Manila Contempo- ladesh, Bangladesh National 1991 3rd Baguio Arts Festival, Baguio Paintings 2000–2012. A Selection rary. Makati City. Museum, Dhaka, Bangladesh Convention Center, Baguio City, from the Paulino Que Collection, 2010 Francisco, Francis, and Maria 2001 16th Asian International Art Exhibi- Philippines Metropolitan Museum of Manila. Chittyrene C. Labiran, eds. With­ tion, Guangdong Museum of Art, Manila. out Walls: A Tour of Philippine Guangzhou, China Yraola, Dayang. José Santos III: Paintings at the Turn of the Mil­ 10th Asian Art Biennale Bang- Selected Bibliography Confertum: Collecting Crowds. lenium. Pasig City. ladesh, Bangladesh National Exh. cat. UP Vargas Museum, 2009 Almario, Virgilio S., and Marne Museum, Dhaka, Bangladesh 2014 Abaya, Leo, and Kenneth Tay. Quezon City. Mandaluyong City. Kilates, eds. Pitik-bulag: Letra at 2000 Thirteen Artists Awards, Cultural 2hide. Exh. cat. Pearl Lam Galler- (Online) liwanag: A Celebration of Con­ Center of the Philippines, Pasay ies, Singapore. 2012 Flores, Patrick D. Imagining Iden­ temporary Filipino Art & Poetry. City, Philippines Chan, Michele. “Hide and seek: tity: 100 Filipino Self-Portraits: A Manila. Kathang Kamay, Philippine Filipino artist Jose Santos III Selection from the Paulino Que Espinola, Manny, et al. The Center Gallery, New York, USA illuminates the ordinary – in pic- Collection. Exh. cat. Finale Art Philippines Yearbook 2009: 61 1994 To Be or Not To Be: The Industrial tures.” Art Radar, November 28. File. Makati City. Artists that will Change the World. Destruction of Nature, (Online) —. José Santos III: Clockwise. Manila.

José Santos III 155 On Higher Ground, 2014 Resinated fabric, boxes Approx. 275 x 40 x 40 cm each Exhibition view, Pearl Lam Galleries, Singapore, 2014 / 2015

Vertical Sleep, 2014 Resinated fabric, video by Leo Abaya Dimensions variable Exhibition view, Pearl Lam Galleries, Singapore, 2014 / 2015

156 José Santos III Borderline, 2013 Metal fence, concrete, resin, acrylic on canvas, and video Dimensions variable

A Collection of Stories IV, 2013 Vitrine containing resin casts and plaster and rubber molds Dimensions variable Exhibition view, UP Vargas Museum, Quezon City, Philippines, 2013

157 Paperweight 1, 2014 Mixed media on canvas 198 x 198 cm

158 Flip Side, 2015 Mixed media 122 x 91 cm

Unseen, 2013 Oil on canvas 61 x 51 cm

José Santos III 159 160 Clockwise, 2012 Oil and collage on canvas, wood, plastic, metal, resin Polyptych, dimensions variable

José Santos III 161 Rodel Tapaya

Education Bato-Balani, Ateneo Art Gallery, Memory Landscapes, The Draw- 2005 Lunan, Boston Gallery, Quezon Quezon City, Philippines ing Room, Makati City, Philippines City, Philippines 2002 “Intensive Studies” course, 2013 The Ladder To Somewhere, Arndt 2009 Mythical Roots, Soka Art Center, Recent Paintings, Big and Small emphasis on drawing and paint- Singapore Beijing, China Art Co., Mandaluyong City, ing, Parsons School of Design, 2012 Mystic Origins Plants, Wada Fine Diorama, The Drawing Room, Philippines New York, USA Arts, Tokyo, Japan Makati City, Philippines 2004 Balangkas, Boston Gallery, “Intensive Studies” course, Deities, West Gallery, Quezon 2008 Into the Forest, Utterly Art and The Quezon City, Philippines emphasis on drawing and paint- City, Philippines Drawing Room, Singapore ing, University of Art and Design, Prism and Parallelism, BenCab FOLKgotten, The Drawing Room, Helsinki, Finland Museum, Baguio City, Philippines Makati City, Philippines Selected Group Exhibitions 2005 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in 2011 Visions of Lore, Caprice Horn 2007 Perya, Boston Gallery, Quezon Painting from University of the Galerie, Berlin, Germany City, Philippines 2014 10th Gwangju Biennale, Republic Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, This Beast I Have Become, Mapapel, The Drawing Room, of Korea Philippines Y++ Gallery, Beijing, China Makati City, Philippines 2011 BISA: Potent Presences, Metropoli- Believe it or Not, Pinto Art 2006 Parables, Utterly Art and The tan Museum of Manila, Philippines Museum, Antipolo City, Philip- Drawing Room, Singapore 2009 Thrice Upon a Time: A Century of Selected Solo Exhibitions pines Looban, Boston Gallery, Quezon Story in the Art of the Philippines, 2010 Bulaklak ng Dila [Flowers of the City, Philippines Singapore Art Museum 2014 The Chocolate Ruins, Arndt Tongue], UP Vargas Museum, Tauhan, Big and Small Art Co., Verso Manila, Verso Arte Contem- Berlin, Germany Quezon City, Philippines Mandaluyong City, Philippines poranea, Turin, Italy

162 Rodel Tapaya’s paintings, often monumental constellations, are connected by a network of a winged dog, the symbol of liberation from in scale, make him the equivalent of an epic lines originating from an image of a Bogobo another ethnic tale, arrives. storyteller. The strain of narratives that works tribesman. At the center is a sugar-cane stalk Tapaya’s imagery is always predicated its way into his canvas is formed through a that literally provides droplets of water to the by native myth, which eventually intersects network of devices—from historical, satirical, tribesman, while a stream gushes from its with society’s present concerns. His works mythical, and folkloric themes to contempo- core into a dam which eventually turns into a reflect the tribulations of his country; he is, rary scenes—and makes for an overwhelm- tube and then into a power cable, suggesting first and foremost, a connoisseur of tales, pos- ing composition that seems to draw infinite the way in which water has been redirected sessing a keen eye for stories and narratives. associations with the other elements within to sustain an industrial society instead, leav- Whether these are carried from generation to the frame. The vast reach of Tapaya’s obser- ing the fields of the tribesmen dry (as shown generation via oral tradition or written down vations has enabled him to combine ethnic through the contrasting surfaces of verdant in epic poems, Rodel Tapaya finds a way to tales with ongoing social and ecological com- leaves against the mud cracks that formed in revitalize the narratives in his canvases. As all mentaries, resulting in a crowd of fragmented the land). In another work called Repatriated great storytellers do, he draws connections scenes that conjure up grand narratives. between the imagined and the real, history Tapaya’s paintings are prime examples of and the present day, and myth and current the socially critical art that has overwhelmed Rodel Tapaya was born in Montalban, events. His art is one of the few bearers of Fil- the Philippine landscape through years of Philippines, in 1980 ipino folklore and legends able to cross the poverty and political ineptitude. The compo- * threshold into the universal, being rich in both nents in his paintings are as diverse as the He lives and works in Bulacan, meaning and imagination, and validating a land’s cultural condition: attempting to assim- Philippines vibrant and worthwhile return to the power of ilate native customs with colonial influences, allegory in painting. traditional values with modern vices, Mother Nature with the course of progress, and folk Bodies (2014), Tapaya depicts the mananang­ belief against popular entertainment. These gal, mythical, accursed creatures from Philip- yoked combinations inevitably foster a kind pine folk tales said to have the ability to split of mutation created by Tapaya through both their bodies in two, leaving behind their tor- linking and juxtaposition, until they begin to sos as their upper extremities fly off in search flow into each other, creating their own inter- of food and prey. The artist uses this bizarre woven tales. tale as an allegory for the millions of Filipinos In a work called Refreshing Fluid (2014), who work overseas to ensure the survival of Tapaya draws inspiration from an archaic families they leave behind: citizens in effect legend about the origins of the Bogobo tribe, split in half, toiling in a land far from where one of the first to settle the southern Philip- their minds and hearts belong. The motifs of pine islands. In the story this tribe is described decapitation and flight reverberate through as having overcome a great drought by dis- the painting, as the desperate expatriates covering water in sugar canes. Tapaya estab- face the perils of beheading and the hazards lishes a plethora of associations that, like of working under extreme conditions, while

2008 Bridge Art Show, New York, USA Selected Bibliography — “Philippine Folk in a Labyrinth. Rodel Tapaya: Believe it or Not. 2006 New Directions, The Rotunda Rodel Tapaya at Art Stage Singa- Exh. cat. Pinto Art Museum. Gallery, Neilson Hays Library, 2015 Arndt, Matthias, ed. Rodel pore,” in Art Stage Singapore. Exh. Antipolo City. Bangkok, Thailand Tapaya. Berlin. cat. Singapore. Rodel Tapaya: The Beast I Have 2004 Alay 8, Pinto Art Museum, Antipolo 2014 Koerner von Gustorf, Oliver. Emerging Asian Contemporary Become. Exh. cat. Y++ Gallery. City, Philippines “The Spirits in the Forests. Rodel Philippines, Vol. 1. Rodel Tapaya: Beijing. Configured Drawings, Cultural Tapaya’s Magical Art.” ArtMag Mystic Origins Plants. Exh. cat. 2010 Rodel Tapaya: Bulaklak ng Dila Center of the Philippines, Pasay by Deutsche Bank 82. October 14. Wada Fine Arts. Tokyo. [Flowers of the Tongue]. Exh. cat. City, Philippines (Online) “Rodel Tapaya,” in 2012 Thirteen The Vargas Museum, Quezon Gamit, UP Vargas Museum, Rodel Tapaya: Bato-balani. Exh. Artists Awards. Exh. cat. Cultural City. Makati City. Quezon City, Philippines cat. Ateneo Art Gallery. Quezon Center of the Philippines. Pasay 2009 Rodel Tapaya: Diorama. Exh. Danas: Sinsin, Cultural Center of City. City. pamphlet. The Drawing Room. the Philippines, Pasay City, 2013 Chia, Adeline. “Rodel Tapaya Rodel Tapaya: Prism and Paralel­ Makati City. Philippines Mines Filipino Folklore for ‘Ladder lism. Exh. cat. BenCab Museum. 2002 Toys, Ayala Museum, Makati City, to Somewhere’ [interview].” Baguio City. Philippines Blouinartinfo. April 3. (Online) 2011 Cristobal, Jun. “Rodel Tapaya: 2012 Cristobal, Geronimo. Cloudland. A Painter’s Life [interview],” in Rodel Tapaya. Exh. pamphlet. Moment’s Notice: Collected Hong Kong International Art Fair. Encounters. Edited by Jun Cristo- Manila. bal. Manila/Berlin.

Rodel Tapaya 163 Creation and Destruction, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 215 x 346 cm

164 Wealth Creation, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 214 x 346 cm

Rodel Tapaya 165 Refreshing Fluid, 2014 Acrylic on canvas 213 x 152 cm

166 Sound of the Healing Garden, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 229 x 335 cm

Rodel Tapaya 167 168 Chocolate Ruins, 2013 Acrylic on canvas 305 x 732 cm

Rodel Tapaya 169 Protection in the Forest, 2013 Acrylic on canvas, framed with engraved tin sheet 166 x 137 cm

Lucky Fight, 2013 Acrylic on canvas, framed with engraved tin sheet 166 x 137 cm

170 The Magic Stone, 2012 Acrylic on canvas 152 x 193 cm

Rodel Tapaya 171 Tatong Torres

Education 2009 Odeon Universal Galaxy (with Day Is Scornful, Arndt Singapore The Magic of Second Life (SLB8), Leeroy New), Blanc Compound, Fete Dela WSK 2012, Nova Dazzle at Second Life® (108,20,22) Studies in Architecture, Mapúa Mandaluyong City, Philippines Gallery, Philippines A Crazy Lil Thing Co’llab, Secret Institute of Tech­nology, Manila, 2008 The Most Genuine Regret, 2012 Imagining Identity: 100 Filipino Fresh Gallery, San Juan City, Philippines Artinformal, Mandaluyong City, Self-Portraits, Finale Art File, Philippines Philippines Makati City, Philippines 2010 Re:View 2010, BenCab Museum, Spotlight Dilemma, Hiraya 2011 Ateneo Art Awards 2011: Anatomy Baguio City, Philippines Selected Solo Exhibitions Gallery, Manila, Philippines of Autonomy, Ateneo Art Gallery, Youtubia, Finale Art File, Makati 2006 Dominion, Hiraya Gallery, Manila, Quezon City, Philippines City, Philippines 2011 Glutted Vertebrates, 20Square, Philippines LEA (Linden Endowment for the Grand Opening, Pinto Art Silverlens, Makati City, Philip- Arts) Art Sandbox – Self-Curating Museum, Antipolo City, pines Gallery, LEA 5 Sandbox at Second Philippines Make_My_Day!, LOKI at Second Selected Group Exhibitions Life® (123,128,24) Cos Zicarelli, Tatong Torres, Allan Life® (119,37,29) University of Chester’s Secondlife Balisi: Modern Life is Rubbish, 2010 Make_My_Day!, Yarn Factory 2014 Dark Side of the Sun, Artinformal, Experiential Learning, Art and West Gallery, Quezon City, Art Projects, Tochigi, Japan, at Mandaluyong City, Philippines Design Department, University of Philippines Second Life® (141,231,16) Manila: The Night Is Restless, The Chester at Second Life® (66,17)

172 In 2010, an avatar artist named Koto Nizna he offers a critical perspective on what can be Sources for the images collected by the artist debuted his works in a newly constructed gal- counted as “real” concepts for art. range from obscure movies to pop icons. In lery called Yarn Factory Art Projects in Tochigi, Torres’s paintings—tangible, physical his painting 002sntp-lod (2014), for example, Japan (141,231,16)—a virtual address that can objects meant for the real world—are pri- he portrays American singer Nina Simone as only be found in the simulator program called marily sourced from the same digital sphere she appears during an image search in the Second Life, a virtual platform where internet where he invented his virtual self. They inte- internet, mired in the distortions accumu- users from around the world can recreate grate images that are culled from the virtual lated during an unsteady download progress. digital versions of themselves. Nizna’s show, landscape: from the continuous chain of Yet most of Torres’s scenes are accidental, which was called Make_My_Day_!, was vis- .jpeg and .gif images, from shared photos on acquired not for their social or historical rel- ited by several other avatars during its open- social media, and streaming video from online evance but through haphazard appearances ing, had live music performances from virtual platforms. Torres has begun to adapt, much on the web. For Torres, these are like sightings, international bands, and featured virtual in the same way as society did, to the visual or moments of serendipity: fleeting instances artworks: video, installation, and sculpture landscape formed by the burgeoning world where the significance of the image relies on based on found 3D objects arranged across its state during broadcast or streaming rather a virtual gallery. In 2011, Nizna’s show was than on any inherent symbolism or iconogra- re-exhibited, this time as a video work in the Tatong Torres was born in Valenzuela, phy. Whether his works refer to the real or dig- real world, and it received critical attention Philippines, in 1979 ital world is of no great consequence. As far as as a form of pioneering art for the internet * Torres is concerned, the online realm is very age. Conceptualized by Filipino artist Tatong He lives and works in Quezon City, much part of our life while offline. Recheta Torres, the man behind the avatar, Philippines From the intangible, digital sphere onto this virtual project was shortlisted in the Ate- the corporeal surface of the canvas, and neo Art Awards. then back to the virtual world: this is the This venture broke new ground in Philip- of codes and binaries. He stalks the digital cycle where Torres’s images are conceived. It pine contemporary art as it offered “the abil- interface just as a landscape painter might captures a new visual culture, one that has ity to expand from Torres’s art practice in real wander a prairie for inspiration. But instead of been acclimatized to the digital platform of life from which he has since recognized its simulating the nuances of how sunlight casts onscreen activities. This is the new world: a limitations,” as the curators for the Ateneo Art its shadow over the field or the movements new landscape in which artists such as Torres Awards observed.1 Torres acknowledged, “In made by each blade of grass, Torres records have immersed themselves, drawing from it this case [the virtual platform Yarn Factory], glitches—a kind of nuance concealed within new possibilities and new approaches to pro- I am the architect, the construction worker, the world inside the screen. He composes his ducing art. the manager, the curator, and the artist.” 2 paintings in contemplation of such digital 1 “Curatorial Notes,” in: Ateneo Art Awards 2011: He assumes complete control of the vision metamorphoses—the passage from one code Anatomy of Autonomy, exh. pamphlet, Shangri-la for his work, and overcomes the limitations— to another. Exploding pixels, truncated figures Plaza and Ateneo Art Gallery (Quezon City, 2011). whether material or conceptual—presented caused by missing data, and un-rendered 3D 2 Tatong Torres, “Make_My_Day_! exhibition of Koto by the real world. As a form of material work, faces make up the visual artistic language in Nizna,” yarnfactoryartprojects.blogspot, June 6, Torres exploits the ever-expanding landscape which Torres has become fluent. 2011, http://yarnfactoryartprojects.blogspot.de/ of the digital world. As a performance piece, (October 9, 2015).

2009 Forever and Ever and Ever and A +, Gallery Orange, Bacolod Selected Bibliography Paintings at the Turn of the Ever, Valentine Willie Fine Art, City, Philippines Millenium. Pasig City. Singapore A Massive Disoriented Order, 2014 Manila: The Night is Restless, The 2008 Bunoan, Ringo. Room 307: Seeing You, Seeing Me: Contem­ Artinformal, San Juan City, Day is Scornful. Exh. cat. Arndt Inkling, Gutfeel & Hunch. Exh. cat. porary Portraiture, Manila Philippines Singapore. (Online) National Art Gallery. Manila. Contemporary, Philippines Boxed 2, Cultural Center of the 2012 Flores, Patrick D. Imagining Iden­ Chan, Yonina. “The Fairest of Leeroy New, Tatong Torres and Philippines, Pasay City, tity: 100 Filipino Self-Portraits: A Them All: A Meditation on Gro- Costantino Zicarelli, Pinto Art Philippines Selection from the Paulino Que tesquerie Highlights Arguments Gallery, Antipolo City, Philippines 2006 Upgrade: Young Contemporary Collection. Exh. cat. Finale Art against Beauty.” Manila Bulletin. Flow 3, Silverlens, Makati City Artists Series V.1, Pinto Art Gallery, File. Makati City. June 16, p. E6. 2008 Room 307: Inkling, Gutfeel & Antipolo City, Philippines 2011 Jaucian, Ian Carlo. Ateneo Art Marcelo, Sam. “Ever Grotesque.” Hunch, National Art Gallery, Converge, Penguin Café Gallery, Awards 2011: Anatomy of Auton­ BusinessWorld, May 7, p. 7. Manila, Philippines Manila, Philippines omy. Exh. cat. Ateneo Art Gallery. Tatong Torres: The Most Genuine Luwalhati, Artinformal, Mandalu- 2006 Space Launch, Artinformal, Quezon City. Regret. Exh. cat. Artinformal. yong City, Philippines Mandaluyong, Philippines 2010 Francisco, Francis, and Maria Mandaluyong City. 2007 Tampo Lapuk, 2nd Dumaguete Chittyrene C. Labiran, eds. Terracotta Biennial, Philippines Without Walls: A Tour of Philippine

Tatong Torres 173 005sntp-lod, 2014 Oil on canvas Diptych, 183 x152 cm

174 001sntp-lod, 2014 Oil on canvas 183 x 244 cm

Tatong Torres 175 008sntp-lod (top) and 48 hour mush (bottom), 2012–2015 Oil on canvas Diptych, 122 x 183 cm

176 002sntp-lod, 2014 Oil on canvas 152 x 213 cm

Tatong Torres 177 178 Make_My_Day_!, 2010–2011 Screenshots of virtual installation in Second Life ® at Yarn Factory Art Projects, Tochigi, Japan (141,231,16) and at LOKI (119,37,29)

Tatong Torres 179 Ronald Ventura

Education Recyclables, Singapore Tyler Zoomanities, Art Center, Manda- Contrived Desires, West Gallery, Print Institute luyong City, Philippines Mandaluyong City, Philippines 1993 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Fiesta Carnival, Primo Marella 2007 Illusions & Boundaries, The Draw- 2003 X-Squared, West Gallery and Big Painting, University of Santo Gallery, Milan, Italy ing Room, Makati City, Philippines & Small Art Co., Mandaluyong Tomas, Manila, Philippines 2011 A Thousand Islands, Tyler Rollins Under The Rainbow, West Gallery, City, Philippines Fine Art, New York, USA Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2002 Visual Defects, West Gallery, Humanime (I), Fine Art Centre, Antipode: The Human Side, Arte- Mandaluyong City, Philippines Selected Solo Exhibitions Taipei, Taiwan san Gallery + Studio, Singapore Body, The Drawing Room, Makati 2010 Converging Nature, The Drawing 2006 Cross Encounters, Ateneo Art City, Philippines 2015 Big and Small, Ayala Museum, Room, Makati City, Philippines Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines 2001 The Other Side, The Drawing Makati City, Philippines Fragmented Channels, Primo Dialogue Box, West Gallery, Room, Makati City, Philippines 2014 E.R. (Endless Resurrection), Tyler Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy Mandaluyong City, Philippines Doors, Art Center, Mandaluyong Rollins Fine Art, New York, USA A Duad in Play (with Francis Ng), 2005 Human Study, The Cross Art City, Philippines Bulul, Ronald Ventura and the ICA Gallery, LASALLE College of Projects, Sydney, Australia 2000 Innerscapes, West Gallery, Man- Traditional Art of the Philippines, the Arts, Singapore Morph, West Gallery, Mandalu- daluyong City, Philippines Museo delle Culture, Lugano, 2009 Metaphysics of Skin, Tyler Rollins yong City, Philippines All Souls Day, The Drawing Room, Switzerland Fine Art, New York, USA Human Study, Art Center, Manda- Makati City, Philippines 2013 Voids and Cages, Galerie Major Highways, Expressways luyong City, Philippines Perrotin, Hong Kong, and Principal Arterials, Akili 2004 Dead-End Images, Art Center, China Mu­seum of Art, Jakarta, Indonesia Mandaluyong City, Philippines 2012 Watching the Watchmen, UP 2008 Mapping the Corporeal, NUS Black Caricature, Big & Small Art Vargas Museum, Quezon City, Museum, National University Co., Mandaluyong City, Philippines of Singapore Philippines

180 For many years, Ronald Ventura has pro- matic sphere from which, from time to time, In Carne Carnivale (from the Endless Resur­ duced artworks that attest to the powerful burst sudden rays of color; for example, a rection series) (2014), Ventura presents a car- force of imagination when intertwined with rainbow beams from the eyes of his creatures nival scene with performers masked as ani- the intricacies of history, the ambiguities of in Rainbow in the Abyss (2012–2013), or a yel- mals, their faces replaced by those of horses, nature, and the arbitrariness of contemporary low flame bursts from a dinosaur’s mouth in apes, and eagles. This coincides with Ventu- culture. Humans, unicorns and angels, toy Greatest Show (2012). More than stories, ra’s recurring motif of intertwining man’s figures and animals, skulls and images from these are cautionary tales—of a world being domain with that of beast, blurring ratio­ popular culture, protagonists from Christian eclipsed by its own imagination. nality with instinct, and presenting pleasure iconography: these may be inhabitants of From human faces to rampaging ani- and entertainment with a kind of ambiguity. very different worlds, yet Ventura’s paintings mals, Ventura’s paintings engage by the Behind the acrobatics and breathtaking rou- allow them to come together in a bizarre union. unshackled spirit within. His scenes depict the tines of circus characters, a text completes Brought together erratically they transform vigor of activity and transformation. Even his the thought: “the greatest show on earth.” each other in their claim for a new grotesque seemingly static portraits become “unfrozen” Through Ventura‘s vision the greatest show reality. It is their duty to appal and capture us becomes a great absurdity, where all crea- in front of the pictures, just as Saint Anthony tures on the world’s stage become one, both was tempted by visions of creatures from hell. Ronald Ventura was born in Manila, tamed and untamed—everything becomes In this way they can be compared to Pinoc- Philippines, in 1972 an act, a well-rehearsed trick. chio—a recurring motif in Ventura’s oeuvre— * Ronald Ventura’s paintings and sculp- and his desire to become real. He lives and works in Manila, tures, seemingly products of parody and jux- Ventura’s works span a myriad of narra- Philippines taposition, are in fact uncompromising mani- tives that range from Filipino folklore, world festations of the mind’s reality struggling with myth, pop fiction, realism, naturalism, and the ambiguities of history and culture. They fantasy. Combined in an exploded view inside through their metamorphoses. Everything present an architecture of the mind, moving the canvas, they signify what it means to be inside the canvas breaks into a succession of back and forth between the tamed surface of living in this day and age, particularly for the tales. The passages from each chapter move reality and the deep recesses of fantasy. third-world Southeast Asian minority. The from canvas to sculpture to installations, like combination of technical virtuosity and the creatures breaking out from their two-dimen- scope of subject matter displayed in each sional outline. As they roam the gallery space, painting evokes the qualities of an epic, for the essence of Ventura’s art becomes more pal- which Ventura has gained attention as a mas- pable, a lingering force in each individual seek- ter of his craft. The incredible depth of realism ing to break free through expression, imagi- he applies to his figures generates a haunt- nation, and transformation. This is where, in ing view of a once familiar milieu now beset Ventura’s pursuit, man and beast become one, with layers of associations with other worlds: as they shed every notion of history, memory, cartoon illustrations, mythical animals, ethnic and cultural identity in lieu of an instinct that tales, and elaborate plots. These grow from puts an end to all distinctions between tamer the base of Ventura’s signature monochro- and untamed, liberator and prisoner.

Selected Group Exhibitions Exposition, Yerba Buena Center Selected Bibliography Ronald Ventura: Recyclables. Exh. for the Arts, San Francisco, cat. Singapore Tyler Print Insti- 2011 Surreal Versus Surrealism in California 2014 Ronald Ventura: E. R. (Endless tute. Singapore. Contemporary Art, Institut Balik Guhit, Cultural Center of the Ressurection). Exh. cat. Tyler 2011 Ronald Ventura: A Thousand Valencià d’Art Modern, Spain Philippines, Pasay City, Rollins Fine Art. New York. Islands. Exh. cat. Tyler Rollins Fine 2010 Nanjing Biennale, China Philippines 2013 Bollansee, Marc. “Ronald Art. New York. (Online) 2009 4th Prague Biennale, Czech 2000 Guhit I, II & III, Ayala Museum, Ventura,” in idem. Southeast Asian 2010 A Duad in Play: Francis Ng & Republic Makati City; UST Museum, Univer- Contemporary Art Now, Ronald Ventura, LASALLE College 2005 Ateneo Art Awards; Cross Encoun­ sity of Santo Tomas, Manila; UP pp. 104–119. Singapore. of the Arts. Singapore. ters, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Vargas Museum, Quezon City, Kolesnikov-Jessop, Sonia. Ito, Lisa. “Ronald Ventura,” in Center, Makati City, Philippines Philippines “Filipino Artist Ronald Ventura Is Without Walls: A Tour of Philippine 2004 Korea Asian Art Festival, Insa Art Mad About Lithographs, Ayala Making Connections Across Paintings at the Turn of the Mille­ Plaza, Seoul, Republic of Korea Museum, Makati City, Philippines Cultures.” Blouinartinfo. nium. Edited by Francis Francisco 19th Asian International Art Exhibi- 1999 9th International Biennial Print February 18, 2013. (Online) and Maria Chittyrene C. Labiran, tion, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, and Drawing Exhibition, Taipei 2012 Flores, Patrick D. Ronald Ventura: pp. 24–27. Pasig City. (Online) Japan Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan Watching the Watchmen. Exh. 2009 Metaphysics of Skin. Exh. cat. 2003 Thirteen Artists Awards, Cultural 1998 ASEAN Art Awards, Hanoi Fine Arts cat. UP Vargas Museum. Quezon Tyler Rollins Fine Art. New York. Center of the Philippines, Pasay College and Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts City. (Online) (Online) City, Philippines Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam Rees, Lucy. “Ronald Ventura, 2002 ASEAN Art Awards, Bali Interna- 1st Lithograph Competition Exhibi­ Culture Compression [interview].” tional Convention Centre, Nusa tion, Drawing Room, Makati City, Flash Art (November/December): Dua, Bali, Indonesia Philippines pp. 86–89. 2001 8th Annual Filipino American Arts

Ronald Ventura 181 Kiss (from the Watching the Watchmen series), 2012 Fiberglass, resin, charcoal 183 x 79 x 59 cm

182 Ancestry (from the Watching the Watchmen series), 2012 Fiberglass, resin, charcoal, metal 213 x 82 x 82 cm

Ronald Ventura 183 Hell (from the Voids and Cages series), 2013 Oil on canvas 213 x 152 cm

184 Greatest Show, 2012 Oil on canvas 152 x 213 cm

Ronald Ventura 185 186 The Inbetween Nest, 2013 Oil on canvas 152 x 305 cm

Ronald Ventura 187 Carne Carnivale (from the Endless Rainbow in the Abyss, 2012–2013 Resurrection series), 2014 Oil and graphite on canvas Oil on canvas 214 x 275 cm 183 x 122 cm

188 Ronald Ventura 189 190 Photo Credits

Cover: Courtesy of private collection; Taipei, Taiwan // p. 65: Courtesy of Art and private collection, Singa- photo: José Santos III // p. 159 (bot- photo: Pow Martinez // p. 14: Courtesy ARNDT Fine Art; photo: Marina Cruz // pore; photo: Olivia Kwok // pp. 112–113: tom): Courtesy of BenCab Museum, of Artinformal, Mandaluyong City, p. 68: Courtesy of Kawayan de Guia Courtesy of private collection; photos: Baguio City, Philippines; photo: José Philippines, and Art Stage Singapore and Collection of Juan Carlo Calma; Pow Martinez // p. 116–119: Courtesy of Santos III // pp. 160/161: Courtesy of 2013; photo: Artinformal, Mandaluyong photo: MM Yu // p. 69: Courtesy of Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, and Hong Kong International Art Fair, Hong City, Philippines // p. 15 (top and bot- Kawayan de Guia; photo: MM Yu // Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg; photos: Kong, China; photo: At Maculangan // tom): Courtesy of J Studio, Taguig City, p. 70: Courtesy of The Drawing Room, Pierre Schwartz // p. 120: Courtesy of p. 164: Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Art and Philippines; photos: Mark L. Bugante // Makati City, Philippines, and Collec- Manuel Ocampo; photo: MM Yu // private collection, Malaysia; photo: p. 16: Courtesy Art in the Park 2014, tion of Paulino Que; photo: The Drawing pp. 121–123: Courtesy of Tyler Rollins Rodel Tapaya // pp. 165–166: Courtesy Makati City, Philippines; photo: Vince D. Room, Makati City, Philippines // Fine Art, New York; photos: MM Yu // of ARNDT Fine Art and private collection, Harn // p. 17: Courtesy of Art Fair Philip- p. 71: Courtesy of SEAC Collection, pp. 126–127: Courtesy of and photos: Philippines; photos: Rodel Tapaya // pines 2015, Makati City, Philippines; Singapore; photo: Olivia Kwok // p. 72: Alwin Reamillo // pp. 128/129: Courtesy p. 167: Courtesy of private collection, photo: Vince D. Harn // p. 18 (top and Courtesy of Singapore Art Museum Col- of ARNDT Fine Art; photo: Olivia Kwok // Australia; photo: Rodel Tapaya // bottom): Courtesy of and photos: lection; photo: Singapore Art Museum // pp. 130–131: Courtesy of and photos: pp. 168/169: Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Art Silverlens, Makati City, Philippines // p. 73 (top and bottom): Courtesy of Alwin Reamillo // pp. 132/133: Courtesy and private collection, Indonesia; photo: p. 19: Courtesy of private collection, Palais de Tokoyo, Paris, France; photos: of Hugo Bunzl Collection; photo: Alwin At Maculangan // p. 170 (top) : Courtesy Philippines; photo: Olivia Kwok // Kawayan de Guia // pp. 74–75: Cour- Reamillo // pp. 136–138: Courtesy of of ARNDT Fine Art and private collection, pp. 22–26: Courtesy of and photos: tesy of The Drawing Room, Makati City, ARNDT Fine Art; photos: Touki Roldan // Berlin; photo: At Maculangan // p. 170 Finale Art File, Makati City, Philippines // Philippines, and Collection of Norman p. 139: Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Art and (bottom): Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Art p. 27: Courtesy of MO_Space, Taguig Grisologo; photo: The Drawing Room, John Chia Collection; photo: Olivia and Michael and Janet Buxton Collec- City, Philippines ; photo: At Maculan- Makati City, Philippines // pp. 78/79: Kwok // p. 140: Courtesy of Michael tion, Australia; photo: At Maculangan // gan // pp. 30–31: Courtesy of private Courtesy of and photo: Secret Fresh Angelo and Marilou Samson Collection; p. 171: Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Art collection; photos: Buen Calubayan // Gallery, San Juan City, Philippines // photo: At Maculangan // pp. 141–143: and private collection, Berlin; photo: pp. 32/33: Courtesy of Arndt Fine Art; pp. 80/81: Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Art; photos: Rodel Tapaya // p. 174: Courtesy of photo: Christian Chiam // pp. 34–35: Art and Tin-aw Art Management, Inc., Touki Roldan // pp. 146/147: Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Art and private collection, Courtesy of private collection; photos: Makati City, Philippines; photo: Tin-aw Collection of John Lloyd Cruz; photo: Philippines; photo: Olivia Kwok // p. 175: Buen Calubayan // p. 36: Courtesy Art Management, Inc., Makati City, Antonio Luis Santos // p. 148 (top): Courtesy of Collection of Paulino Que; of Ateneo Art Gallery Collection, Philippines // pp. 82/83: Courtesy of Courtesy of Valentine Willie Fine Art, photo: Tatong Torres // p. 176: Courtesy Quezon City, Philippines; photo: Buen Valentine Willie Fine Art, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; photo: Kaloy of Collection of Jay Amante (top) and Calubayan // p. 37: Courtesy of Lopez Tin-aw Art Management, Inc., Makati Sanchez // p. 148 (bottom): Courtesy Collection of Toto Salgado (bottom); Museum, Pasig City, Philippines, 2014; City, Philippines; photo: Tin-aw Art Man- of West Gallery, Quezon City, Philip- photos: Tatong Torres // p. 177: Courtesy photo: Buen Calubayan // pp. 40–42: agement, Inc., Makati City, Philippines // pines; photo: Kaloy Sanchez // p. 149: of Collection of Soler Santos; photo: Courtesy of and photos: Bangkok Uni- p. 84: Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Art; Courtesy of West Gallery, Quezon City, Tatong Torres // pp. 178–179: Courtesy of versity Gallery, Thailand // pp. 43–45: photo: Olivia Kwok // p. 85: Courtesy of Philippines; photo: Ian Santos // p. 150: Tatong Torres // pp. 182–189: Courtesy Courtesy of Louie Cordero; photos: MM and photo: Tin-aw Art Management, Inc., Courtesy of West Gallery, Quezon City, of private collections, photos: The Work- Yu // pp. 46/47: Courtesy of Singapore Makati City, Philippines // pp. 88–89: Philippines; photo: Kaloy Sanchez // ing Animals Art Projects Art Museum Collection; photo: Singa- Courtesy of Artinformal, Mandaluyong p. 151: Courtesy of West Gallery, Que- pore Art Museum // pp. 50/51: Courtesy City, Philippines; photos: Mark Bugante // zon City, Philippines; photo: Antonio Luis of ARNDT Fine Art; photo: Bernd Bor- pp. 90–91: Courtesy of Artinformal, Santos // p. 152: Courtesy of ARNDT Fine chardt // pp. 52–53: Courtesy of ARNDT Mandaluyong City, Philippines; photo: Art and private collection, Singapore; Fine Art; photos: Jigger Cruz // p. 54: Miguel Castro // pp. 92–93: Courtesy photo: Antonio Luis Santos // p. 153: Courtesy of and photo: Jigger Cruz // Blanc Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines; Courtesy of West Gallery, Quezon City, pp. 55–56: Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Art; photo: Miguel Castro // pp. 96–101: Philippines; photo: Antonio Luis Santos // photos: Bernd Borchardt // p. 57: Cour- Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Art; photos: p. 156 (top and bottom): Courtesy of tesy of ARNDT Fine Art; photo: Olivia Bernd Borchardt // p. 102: Courtesy of and photos: Pearl Lam Galleries, Kwock // pp. 60–61: Courtesy of private private collection; photo: MM Yu // Singapore // p. 157: Courtesy of UP collection, Philippines; photos: At Macu- p. 103: Courtesy of Nona Garcia; photo: Vargas Museum, Quezon City, Philip- langan // pp. 62–63: Courtesy of ARNDT MM Yu // pp. 106–109: Courtesy of pri- pines; photo: Nathaniel Salang // Fine Art; photos: Marina Cruz // p. 64: vate collection; photos: Pow Martinez // p. 158: Courtesy of Pearl Lam Galleries, Courtesy of Mind Set Art Center, Taipei, p. 110: Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Art and Singapore; photo: At Maculangan // Taiwan, and private collection, Taipei, private collection, USA; photo: Olivia p. 159 (top): Courtesy of UP Vargas Taiwan; photo: Mind Set Art Center, Kwok // p. 111: Courtesy of ARNDT Fine Museum, Quezon City, Philippines;

191 Colophon Acknowledgements

Editor © 2016 the artists, the authors, I would like to thank all the artists for their Matthias Arndt and DISTANZ Verlag GmbH, support and their generous contributions to Berlin this publication. My thanks also go to their Managing Editor galleries in Manila for supporting this project; Kristin Rieber Distribution to my team in Berlin and Singapore, Norman Gestalten, Berlin Crisologo and Erwin Romulo, for their valuable Co-editors www.gestalten.com advice and insight; to the managing editor Norman Crisologo, Erwin Romulo [email protected] Kristin Rieber for her extraordinary commitment and indispensable advice; to DISTANZ Verlag for Texts ISBN 978-3-95476-117-3 their trust in embarking on this venture into a Matthias Arndt (foreword), Printed in Germany new art landscape, and to the graphic designer Cocoy Lumbao (artist profile Bijan Dawallu for his excellent work. texts and introductory essay) Published by DISTANZ Verlag —Matthias Arndt Portraits of the artists www.distanz.de Tim Serrano Presented by Design Bijan Dawallu, Berlin www.arndtartagency.com Design of publication series Delia Keller, gestaltung berlin Cover Image Pow Martinez, New World, 2011 Editing Kristin Rieber, Holger Birkholz, Sarah Quigley

Copyediting Sarah Quigley

Editorial Assistance Viola van Beek, Enzo Belen

Image Editing max-color, Berlin

Production Management DISTANZ Verlag, Sonja Bahr

Production optimal media GmbH, Röbel/Müritz

Zean Cabangis Annie Cabigting Buen Calubayan Louie Cordero Jigger Cruz Marina Cruz Kawayan de Guia Alfredo Esquillo Ian Fabro Nona Garcia Pow Martinez Manuel Ocampo Alwin Reamillo Norberto Roldan Kaloy Sanchez José Santos III Rodel Tapaya Tatong Torres Ronald Ventura