Art in the Park 2014

Yesterday, I was at the Jaime Velasquez Park in Salcedo Village, Makati for this year's Art in the Park. Art in the Park is the annual gathering of the country's best galleries for an affordable art fair, capping the price for artworks at P30,000.

The art fair is set in a public park to make it more accessible to everyone. This is Art in the Park's eight run.

Most of the artworks I saw were priced way below P30,000. The ones I liked cost P5,000, P15,000, and P16,000, but I have plans of commissioning artworks from my artist friends.

The turnout this year was bigger than its previous runs in 2012 and 2013. This year, there were more than 50 booths and it extended to the parking lot of the venue. It was way more crowded this year, too, and though I hate crowds, I'm happy because it means more people are getting interested in art.

I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures because of the large crowd, but I was fortunate enough to have picked up some stuff along the way. I think 'along the way' is an accurate description of how I navigated through Art in the Park. There were parts where it was hard to appreciate the pieces because of the human traffic. Perhaps Trickie Lopa and the team are interested in getting a bigger venue?

My boyfriend and I got matching portraits done by Apol Sta. Maria. He was sharing a table with Rob Cham and theirs was one of the most high-traffic areas in the art fair. No wonder, because Apol was drawing free portraits and Rob was selling his comics.

According to Apol, he can draw you in less than three minutes. I wasn't able to confirm because Mylene Dizon appeared out of nowhere and started talking to everyone. She was absolutely charming.

I also got a copy of Apol's A Balut Ate My Luois Vuitton and Rob's Stories. The two artists have a very distinct sense of humor and style, and both comics were absolutely hilarious.

I also got some of Mano Gonzales's postcards. I've been meaning to get them from him since December, but things keep coming up. We finally met after three months of talking online. I'm also planning to have a few portraits commissioned from him because I like his style and it fits with the decor I'm planning for my room. It's taking a while because I can't decide what to have him illustrate. There are so many designs running through my head that I might just end up having him put everything in a single canvas.

My favorite artwork has to be Bale Dutung's pan de bagnet. It's slices of crispy bagnet  and KBL (kamatis, bagoong, and lasuna) on slow-toasted ciabatta bread. The bread keeps the juices in so it explodes with every bite. It was so delicious.

I've actually wanted to try Claude Tayag's pan de bagnet since I started covering Art in the Park two years ago for The Philippine Star. However, I always go right after lunch so I'm full by the time I get there. I made it a point to eat a little before going yesterday. I was so hungry by the time I got there that I started seeing slices of bagnet in every artwork I saw.

My boyfriend isn't into art, but I managed to convince him to come with me. He ended up buying some pins and magnets. This one is my favorite.

I hope more people could come next year. And I hope the organizers could get a bigger venue. Maybe Ayala Triangle?

My features on Art in the Park for The Philippine Star can be found here, here, and here.

I Love Kusama at the Ayala Musem

There’s no place else to go but the Ayala Museum for the I Love Kusama exhibit. Mounted for the first time on such a large scale, the exhibit is home to the Philippines’ possibly largest collection of paintings, prints, installations, and merchandise of the famed Japanese designer Yayoi Kusama.

Kenneth Esguerra, senior curator and head of conservation for the Ayala  Museum. Photo by the Ayala Museum

Minister Setsuo Ohmori, Head of Chancery of the Embassy of Japan. Photo by the Ayala Musem

Yayoi Kusama became a mainstream hit when she was tapped by Marc Jacobs to design a series of bags for French luxury label Louis Vuitton. In true Kusama fashion, she draped colored dots on the handbags, shoes, jewelry, and clothes, adding a touch of whimsy on a storied brand. But even before her historic partnership with Jacobs, she has wowed the art world with her experimental take on art.

Infinity Nets of Love / 1998 / acrylic on canvas and Gathering of Souls / 1988 / acrylic on canvas and Sprouts (Transmigration of the soul, metempsychosis) / 1990 / acrylic on canvas

Sex Obsession / 1992 / acrylic on canvas (diptych)

Imagery of Human Beings / 1987 / oil on canvas (triptych)

Anyone familiar with Kusama’s art knows that she is known for her repetitive series of dots that take over her canvases. What many do not know is that these dots, or “infinity nets” as she would call them, are a result of hallucinations that began in childhood. According to her, “One day I was looking at the red flower patterns of the tablecloth on a table, and when I looked up I saw the same pattern covering the ceiling, the windows and the walls, and finally all over the room, my body and the universe. I felt as if I had begun to self-obliterate, to revolve in the infinity of endless time and the absoluteness of space, and be reduced to nothingness.”

Flower / 1989 / acrylic on canvas and Phantom Flower / 1989 / acrylic on canvas and Mushroom / 1989 / acrylic on canvas

Mirror Boxes, where a viewer can peep into a peephole and see small mirrored balls reflected infinitely

Woman with a Shadow of a Bird / 1975 / acrylic and collage on paper and Dots Obsession / 2003 / acrylic on canvas

She began “obliterating” items with dots as early as the age of 10, using canvases, everyday items, gourd installations, and penis-shaped intrusions that were another trademark of hers. Kusama is also known for her Mirror/Infinity rooms, an installation where an entire room is lined with mirrors and neon-colored balls to create the illusion of a never-ending space. Equally popular are her Body Festivals in the 60s where naked participants were covered in dots.

Mimosa / 1980 / marker pen on paperboard and Hat / 1978 / watercolor on paperboard and others

Statue of Venus Obliterated by Infinity Nets No. 2 / 1998 / mixed media and Sex Obsession (Gold Dress) / 1999 / dress, stuffed sewn fabric, gold paint

Yayoi Kusama merchandise

Because of her hallucinations, Kusama is voluntarily staying at the Seiwa Hospital for the Mentally Ill, where she continues to make art. Her influence is such that she is a respected artist in the avant-garde genre and has inspired artists like Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg.

Yayoi Kusama merchandise

Yayoi Kusama merchandise

Today, Kusama’s works are revered around the world, with exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, the Tate Modern in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in LA, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, among many others.

Collector Kim Camacho

Lito and Kim Camacho

Lito and Kim Camacho are two of the leading Filipino collectors of Kusama art, mounting for display their vast collection of art and merchandise. The couple first saw Kusama’s art in 2004 at the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo for Yayoi Kusama: Eternity-Modernity. Some time later, the couple got to meet the artist in her hospital residence. According to Kim, she showed up in Kusama sunglasses, dress, wellingtons, and bag. Kusama was amused and ended up signing the bag and the wellingtons. According to Kim, this may be the only signed Kusama merchandise in the world.

I Love Kusama is part of the Ayala Museum’s Collectors Series, a program to showcase the selections from leading private collectors in curated thematic exhibitions. The Ayala Museum launched the exhibit for the 40th year of the ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation and the Philippines-Japan Friendship Month. The museum has also invited Akira Tatehata, one of the world’s leading experts on Kusama and the curator the Japanese Pavilion during the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993 (when Kusama represented the country) for a one-time lecture on Aug. 10, 4 p.m., at the Ground Floor Lobby. The exhibit will be on display until September 1.

This article first appeared at When In Manila.

EWWS' Foods + Panty Monsters' third anniversary

It's strange to imagine that Ryan Vergara and Garovs Garovillo, the brains behind the powerhouse that is Everywhere We Shoot (EWWS), have never had a solo exhibit. Strange, considering they are everywhere. The power couple is at every art event I go to. Their work is Everywhere, from the billboards they shoot, the pictures they post online, and the art they produce. We have also witnessed their historic wedding, videos of which spread online like wildfire. Yes, it is safe to say that EWWS has reached cult status.

So now, at the height of their careers (and marital bliss), the two have mounted their first solo exhibit at Pablo Fort. Entitled Foods, it is a tongue-in-cheek take on food. They are literally photos of food, and there is a touch of Warhol in it. The pieces are a celebration of everything that is mass produced. The photos themselves are gorgeously taken. The shots are simple yet crisp, with backgrounds that pop, adding depth to an otherwise everyday subject.

If you follow either (or both) of them on Instagram, you'd know that Vergara and Garovillo are addicted to grocery shopping. This love is the idea behind Foods, which explores the glorification of food items that we take for granted. Here, we get the chance to observe and see them with fresh eyes. I'm not sure if I'm just seeing their beauty for the first time, or EWWS just takes excellent photos. The most amusing part is how they are unlabeled, yet you know what the food are. There is Chickenjoy, McDonald's fries, Nissin cup noodles, Andok's chicken, and Cheetos. My favorite is the sandwich.

Joan Bitagcol, Gelo Arucan, Paulo Castro, Jujiin Samonte, Melvin Mojica, Joey Samson, and Ivarluski Aseron 

Garova Garovillo aka Mrs. Vergara 

"Fashion staple and creative genius" Melvin Mojica 

The supporters

Foods was a lot of fun because it seemed like a large intimate gathering. Everyone seemed to know each other. I had the pleasure of being acquainted with Jujiin Samonte, Paulo Castro, and the rest of the Panty Monsters, because I wrote about their third anniversary party in Today x Future that night. I want to write more about it, but there are no words to explain the fun I had. The amazing music and the balmy Cubao night was an intoxicating combination that made me lose control on the floor. Seriously, no DJ has ever made me dance like the Panty Monsters did.

I also got to meet Romeo Lee, one of the local artists I admire. I have a notebook from Delirium with his work on the cover, and I giddily showed it to him. He offered to sign it for me. He mentioned that he doesn't have a copy and though I want to give him mine, I wrote some personal stuff that I didn't want him to read. Oh, to be a teenager-at-heart with so many feelings!

Leeroy New's Monstrosities

Provocateur Leeroy New recently had his solo exhibit Monstrosities at Galleria Duemila. I've been meaning to go at an earlier time, but my weekends have been so busy that I kept putting it off. It was only until I realized that it was the last weekend for the exhibit that I forced my ass off the bed and visit.

It's a shame if you didn't catch Monstrosities, because it offers a fresh take on Leeroy's art. We usually see his alien pieces - those vibrant pods made of conduit tubes and cable ties. While they were entertaining (I first saw them in Psychopomp's Reef, his outdoor exhibit for BGC), I wanted to see something more from the artist. I knew there was something more twisted than his organic microbe-looking installations, and I saw them in Monstrosities.

Gatekeeper 

Study on Monstrosity

The exhibit was like a breath of fresh air because of its departure from his alien pods, but it had enough references to stay true to New's vision. There was Gatekeeper, done in similar fashion to Gaga's dress in the Marry The Night video, white blobs which I suspect were from Sputnik, the comic book store in Cubao X (which he designed), and the familiarly unfamiliar creatures in the Leeroy New mythology.

Guardians: Imagined Cosmologies

His most interesting creatures in Monstrosities are the Guardians, five bony fish-like (or is it bird-like?) hybrids that look like they are about to attack. They are both colorful and grotesque, and you want to pull away, but fascination is drawing you in. Stalagmite-like legs creep from its base, a gorgeous mosaic of pop colors. Closer inspection will reveal that it is made of plastic, and you have to admire New for his innovative use of everyday objects, such as toys.

Rorschach

There is the Rorschach series, a group of six trophy heads that are equally frightening. They are twin heads of varying creatures, all unrecognizable, with their fangs bared. Their eyes (which I suspect are store-bought) are creepy, and seem to follow you everywhere. Again, you applaud New for his use of common objects, this time of the plastic rope used to tie boxes and make "grass skirts" for grade school hula performances.

Portrait

His portraits were just as fascinating, three large masks of varying details, each expressing a unique face. One is happy, one is sad, and the most disturbing is hungry, with tongues trying to escape its wide mouth. They are colorful, festive, but the emotion that wells up inside is fear. This is not something I would put above my bed.

Landscape

Surprisingly, New had three sketches, called Landscape. I think they were the weakest bunch, but all three were sold (separately or together?). They look like pink smoke but a close up would show something sexual, with a hint of a labia and a nipple. It's distinctly New, but I feel he excels more in sculpture and installation art.

Monstrosities sent me reeling. I'm not really quite sure what to make of it. The execution was interesting, the premise, promising. But I wasn't really sure what New was trying to say with the exhibit, or if he was trying to say anything at all. Perhaps my mind is just too limited to process or keep up with him? I don't know, but I have always thought his production is topnotch.

The Leeroy New mythology is growing over the years - from his microbes to his muscle dress to the controversies he has been part of in the past. Maybe New is ahead of his time. Maybe there will come a time when we will all finally understand what he is trying to say. By that time, mythology will be religion and these creatures - these monstrosities - have become real. That is a world I'm excited to see.

Tokwa Penaflorida's Hypnagogia

Tokwa Penaflorida recently opened his first-ever solo exihibt Hypnagogia at Vinyl on Vinyl, The Collective. Tokwa, whose distinctive art nouveau portraits are making waves in pop culture, is one of the new artists to watch out for. His characters and pastel colors are a nice break from some of the aggressive art I've been seeing lately.

Hypnagogia is a collection of 15 portraits and features the same girls Tokwa is known for. They are the sad, forlorn, and melancholic folks, with a touch of ephemera that reverberates through the canvas. It is a contrast to the sweet candy colors Tokwa's works are bathed in. But this time, the cast is in a state of dreaming - that point at the brink of sleep - where we're not quite sure if what we're seeing is real. After all, that is what hypnagogia means.

Intimate Strangers 18x24 in mixed media

His portraits usually capture a certain dreaminess so it's expected that he would use sleep as a reference for his first solo exhibit. I got to chat with him between his autograph-signings and he says that he picked hypnagogia because he suffers from insomnia. I used to be an insomniac, too, and I often found myself thinking of the strangest things in the silence of the night as I forced myself to sleep. Perhaps that is why his girls have a touch of eeriness to them?

Dreamcatcher 38x45 in mixed media

Counting Down to Praemorditium 18x24in mixed media

His largest portrait is Dreamcatcher and just beyond the girl is a faint shadow of the Native American charm. This subtle reference to the universal symbol of sleep sets the tone for the scenes and characters in Hypnagogia. There is the out-of-body experience in Astral Projection, the dream of us falling in space in Sudden Drop (Falling back), and the habit of counting sheep in Counting Down to Praedormitium. Praedormitium was one of my favorites - the pink sheep that surround the girl look like brains. It's an interesting context, whether to be attracted to the fluffy mammals or repelled by the brains.

Succubus 36 and Incubus 16 18x12 in mixed media

 Batibat(s) 22x30 in mixed media

There are also the monsters in the sleep mythology - an incubus, a succubus, and batibats or bangungot (vengeful demons that take on the form of an old fat woman that suffocates human by sitting on their chest - nightmare in Western folklore). Again, there is the interesting contrast in Batibat(s). The black blobs are surrounded by flowers and they have purples eyes and lips.

Recurrence 18x24 in mixed media

Perhaps the most personal work for Tokwa is Recurrence. The canvas almost lacks color, save for a faint splash of pink, yellow, and blue, and it seems to be a foreboding of things to come. Tokwa has dreamt of this girl since he was a kid, and he could never explain who she was or why she's holding a needle. According to him, he has never seen her before.

His washed out-backgrounds mixed with the glazed expression his girls have brings to mind an intense languor that makes you stop in your tracks and slow down. His sinewy lines go on forever. In Tokwa's world, nothing goes by too fast. His languor is infectious and chills you down. It brings to mind slow nights, and that probably explains the pile of pillows strategically placed along the wall of the exhibition. Although this could just be Tokwa being clever - after all, he did serve tokwa (tofu) on opening night.

The beauty with Tokwa Penaflorida's art is that it is still at its infancy. He has been around, painting the walls of the new Heima in Brixton, having group exhibits with Soleil Ignacio, and gracing the pages of Garage, but he is still entering mainstream consciousness. It's great to be a part of an artist's progress and watch his art grow. I once told him, I'd buy his works as soon as I get rich. As of now, I can only support him as a friend and writer. But I am excited for his growth and the kind of works he'll present by the time I can afford to clean out his studio.