masarapmatulog!

masarapmatulog is a solo video art exhibition of Andrei Salud which I curated last January.
A Visual Pond project, it was held at the 2nd floor of the independent art space, Cubicle Art Gallery, in Maybunga, Pasig. We also opened another video art exhibition in the first floor - Garish Barish, which was a show curated by Jet Pascua, a Filipino artist based in Norway.

For masarapmatulog, I selected videos from a pool of Andrei's existing works but Andrei also got the chance to experiment during the exhibition, sometimes switching the videos that were being projected. One evening, he projected eyes against the 2nd floor window of the gallery so those outside in the street saw a giant peeking out! Andrei managed to get some very short documentation (4 seconds!) of that which can be viewed here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=SOR_UKhRWRQ

You might also want to check out some of his videos at youtube.com/user/masarapmatulog.

Below is the short text I wrote for the exhibition. For those reading who don't understand Filipino, "masarap" means delicious and "matulog" means to sleep. The end of the piece translates to something like, "It's nice to sleep? Then go ahead and sleep!"

masarapmatulog!

The exhibition title, masarapmatulog, refers to the name by which the artist goes by his video work. Certainly, it captures the character of his video art pieces well—frank, snappy, and with both the relish and flippant air of youth. This first solo video art exhibition of Andrei Salud shows a body of work which represents his unique aesthetic in the medium.

So what is a masarapmatulog video?

A masarapmatulog video is marked by being crisply short. Most works rarely reach a minute while some are just five to thirteen seconds long. Their briefness delivers a “hanging” quality. They are like incomplete sentences—or in a word: bitin. These suspended thoughts though are all Salud cares for—just a few seconds to deliver an idea—but they are really all the audience needs. Viewers can complete, ponder or even swat at these dangling impressions, whatever may be the reaction to what the artist has begun. This can be seen in At the Races, a 29-second work that closes with shots of a gasmasked guy in midair, about to pounce on his binocular-ing roommate, and the view from the front seat of a speeding car.

A masarapmatulog piece is often distinguished with its deliverance of irony and satire. Salud’s work can whimsically lampoon political/social/cultural figures. Stolen footage from the movie Imelda is given new flavor with the tune In Da Club by Beyonce. The catchy music includes such fitting lyrics as “My nails my hair my diamond rings/Shining with all my fancy things/My crib my car my clothes my jewels/Why you mad? Cause I came up and I ain't changed.” The image of President Marcos briefly at the start of the work hints as well at a deeper meaning as Beyonce croons, “So come give me a hug, sexy little thug.”

A masarapmatulog video artwork also at times incorporates the use of toys. These can be dolls, clay or Lego. Toys, of course, are associated with play, which is what the artist does as well. It’s undeniable that several of the artist’s works are simply experimental and indeed very random. But collectively these videos strike off into a compelling dynamic, even if it may be comedic at the same time.

There are others who also “play” and add hints of irony to their video artworks but none come as refreshing or as original as Salud. Who, after all, can suddenly come up with the idea of syncing a dated footage of our current President to a recorded sound of “I’m not wearing any underpants, you know”? Or make Barbie dolls paint a swastika sign and a fanged face on a dollar bill before setting it on fire? Or use a flashlight to mimic scuba diving in the deep or in the dark?

There is something about Salud’s works that are a bit twisted Nickoledeon or wry Mtv. Yet, unlike Nickoledeon, masarapmatulog videos happily delve into the political. And unlike Mtvs, his videos don’t try to sell you anything—not music, not toys, not a lifestyle, not even the artist himself who merrily continues to produce his work regardless of having exhibitions or not.

It may be argued that Salud’s pieces are done simply for amusement. Perhaps there is some truth in the statement but, if so, then why not? Who says art can’t be amusing? Like the recalcitrant and indulgent name by which Salud and this exhibition go by, his works ultimately challenge art as a dignified and solemn affair.

Masarapmatulog? Eh, di matulog nga!

Portraits c/o Tattoos

This piece was published in my column for the Philippine Star on 21 January 2008. I left my newspaper copy of the article back home so I'll just post some of the pics I have of this show :)

Portraits c/o Tattoos
By Clarissa Chikiamco

What does 2008 hold for the Philippine contemporary art scene? Plenty if the spate of recent shows is any indication—and plenty meaning plenty good. One such show that opened 2008 to much promise is Indelible, a solo exhibition of Bembol de la Cruz, at Finale Art Gallery at SM Megamall.

Indelible

Indelible, which runs till 22 January 2008, features portraits not of particular individuals but of individuals’ tattoos. Rather than featuring the usual headshots that portraits often are, the all oil-on-canvas show parades a mix of various tattoos on assorted entities, alleging that these pigmented markings reveal far more about the individuals than a normal portrait would.

Tattoos are an interesting choice as theme as they have become emblems of deviance in society with the extremely tattooed becoming a source of fascination to the public. Television has had its share of specials on the subject—what motivates people to profusely tattoo themselves? What significance do these stained skins imply? Why did these persons pick these designs? What stories lay behind these tattoos? Is it the decorative these persons are choosing to impress upon themselves permanently or something more?

Indelible asserts that the significance of these tattoos is multiple just as the portraits in the show are multiple. De la Cruz not simply depicts portraits of these tattoo designs but portraits of the persons on whom the tattoos are on. It may just be a torso, a chest, a hand, a back or various bits and pieces in the area of where tincture has met the flesh—all missing the faces that normally are essential for portraits. Yet, these zones of strangely alluring defacement display identities through their symbolisms and marked individuality. These people are called “collectors” just as others who buy fine art. Yet, they are probably very much as well “curators.” The placement, size, image and color of design are choices that are thoroughly theirs with their preferences and the distinct reasons behind them (that one can only begin to surmise) divulging more than a facial portrait would.

These collectors notably require artists to have the art they collect. A collector may have more than one tattoo artist and certainly not just any tattoo artist will do. In choosing someone whose steady hand, creative design and process determines the quality of a mark for life, serious collectors are [or ought to be if they aren’t] most finicky. Casting aside those who denigrate the profession through improper training and contemptible kiosks that result in cheap work, being a tattoo artist is a craft of supreme discipline. In the exhibit, de la Cruz pays homage to the tattoo artists’ work by immaculately capturing their form of art in these detailed paintings. As much as the works are portraits of the tattoos and its collectors, they also represent these artisans, imprinting the art that their own hands helped imprint.

De la Cruz would certainly know firsthand about the art of tattooing, tattoo collecting and its psychological underpinnings. He is a collector himself and the show is very much a self-portrait of the artist. There are four pieces, not including the Multiple Portraits that are collages of different tattoos of various collectors, which feature de la Cruz’s remarkable collection. It is tempting to specifically name these works but, for fear that viewers may give more weight to these pieces when all are deserving of attention, will just leave it up to the interested to find out. All the works in the show in their own way are self-portraits of de la Cruz anyway—the choice of subject matter doesn’t ring any truer in other artists than in this one. Indelible also reflects not only de la Cruz as a collector but as an artist and as a person as well.

Who is Bembol dela Cruz?

For those who are unfamiliar with dela Cruz, he is indisputably one of the most cleverly skilled painters of the day. A group who initially saw his show, A History of Things, at Mag:net ABS, two years ago via pictures thought the painted images had the actual objects glued on the canvas. Others who saw his works from Measures, a Finale Art Gallery show in 2007 that featured images of multiple rulers on backgrounds of war and destruction, believed real rulers were genuinely stuck on the paintings when they were really painted. This trompe l’oeil effect never fails to astound onlookers appreciative of the artist’s prowess.

Being so technically accomplished is not without its downside, however. Viewers can get so taken away by skill, scrutinizing a work by all angles that the concept of the piece or the exhibit is sometimes sadly forgotten all together. While skill is indubitably fundamental for an artist, the reality is skill can only go so far. If an artist is so technically adept then all the more for him/her to be choosy on what to paint and why.

Dela Cruz, who finished from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts with a major in painting in 2002, is continuously coming up with intriguing concepts that also pose a challenge his skill. His ideas usually dwell on the weighty side—automobile collisions that mingle on the abstract, sites of destruction and rules of law, seemingly innocuous everyday objects that are also tools of torture—so in comparison, Indelible is actually lighter fare (yet without sacrificing on substance). The 31-year old artist continues to grow into his potential and will undoubtedly produce more outstanding work this year and in the years to come.

More works of Bembol dela Cruz may be viewed at http://bembolbee.multiply.com. Email the author at letterstolisa@gmail.com and visit http://writelisawrite.blogspot.com.

Full Circle

I love the work of Hanna Pettyjohn and I'm so glad I was able to write about her for Preview. I first saw her work in May 2006, when she had her first solo exhibit at Mag:net ABS. I found it so original and different from what other artists in Manila are doing! I have pics of her show up in my multiply but best to check the pics she has at hannapettyjohn.multiply.com.

The published piece had been edited a bit so I'm posting the original one in full here. Cheers!

Full Circle

For many artists who toil for their art, the end product after months of hard work is something that should be maintained, preserved and safeguarded. But for artist Hanna Pettyjohn who destroys her works of art and recreates them into new art forms, her works are in a continuous progression—not to simply be maintained but to be regenerated into something new.

“I really like the way this process is potentially limitless,” says Hanna, who uses stoneware clay in her works. “I’d like to keep working with this process.” While her practice may be seen as cyclic in its creation-destruction-recreation, the process doesn’t return to the same, never resulting in an identical work of art. This is something Hanna has explored since college where she studied fine arts at the University of the Philippines – Diliman. “For my thesis I made figurative works and broke them, then made sculptures out of the shards, cast the sculptures in wax, melted the wax, cast that in sugar, and so on,” she says. She graduated in 2005 yet continued in exploring this creative process for her first and second solo exhibitions held last year. “I broke bust pieces I made in college and used the shards to fill the eggs I made for my first solo exhibition. I broke and melted the eggs and then used the shards and wax from it to make the mattress piece for my second solo show.” The outcome of these events is a series of works that are linked to each other and laden with layers of meaning from the forms they were before.

The process, believes Hanna, is very similar to writing, which she also often does. “I think putting something I make through a process like this where the object is created, destroyed, then reconstructed into something else is a lot like writing, and totally relevant to me personally.”

The personal touch is something critical for Hanna, who counts French-born artist Louis Bourgeios, known for her deeply personal works, as an inspiring influence. In her first solo exhibition, The Elaborate Nest Between Child and Breast, Hanna composed a quilt from items that belonged to her late grandmother and items she painted of her grandmother’s belongings. The quilt was placed on a bed where on top lay Hanna’s sculpture of a bird, its maternal setting in a sense recalling the term “mother hen.” Stoneware clay eggs, oozing wax and spilling out slices and splinters of old forms, were placed around the exhibition area amidst stoneware clay hearts sprouting pieces from a common household mainstay, the walis ting-ting.

For her next show, Hanna thinks she may be working with painting, something she has been doing a lot of lately. While the show is yet uncertain with no definite date and venue in mind, it is certain to continue exploring Hanna’s regenerative process—a process that has infinite potential, just like its maker.

Orlina's Pinnacle

Sorry, troubles in posting

Sorry, I've been trying to update this blog but there seems to be a problem with uploading images. My internet connection here in Australia isn't as fast as the one back home. Please bear with me!

Visual Impact

Video art in the Philippines was the topic for Preview magazine's November 2007 Art Scene. There were some space limitations but my article in full appears below.

Visual Impact

In the past year, it seems that increasingly finding its place in the Philippine contemporary art scene is the medium of video art. In a medium fraught with difficulties, Jumpcut, End Frame Video Art Project and Mag:net’s Cinekatipunan have presented artists and experimental filmmakers with vital opportunities to exhibit their video artworks while the medium continues to appear in exhibitions staged at open-minded galleries, unbothered by its noncommercial nature.

The increasing presence of video art is still, however, no easy exertion and continually presents a challenge. “Of all the artistic mediums in the country right now, video art is the least prevalent,” says artist Jun Sabayton, curator of the Jumpcut 2 exhibition held at Green Papaya Art Projects last year which was also shown at the 24hr Art Space in Darwin, Australia last September. Video art is clouded with problems such as finding equipment (video cameras, editing gear, projectors, dvd players and multiple televisions – the plasma kind if one is lucky), encountering technical difficulties (even as simple as finding a way to loop the dvd player so one doesn’t constantly have to press “play”), designing the presentation (all the wires can make it quite messy) and discovering willing venues to show a medium that’s definitely not quite as collectible as paintings or draws a crowd the way a film does. All of this is done in the strong possibility that there will be no financial returns despite the investment – that is, if the artist found funding or self-funded it.

Artists Ian Madrigal and Mitch Garcia admit that while they make use of the equipment in their freelance graphic studio to make their video artworks, they are also faced with the problem of upgrading their equipment. “One thing is upgrading equipment is quite expensive so we have to maintain our day jobs and double our efforts in earning/working to afford making video artworks.” Yet, they’ve persisted in its production, believing in the medium. “The thing about video art (according to our point of view) is that you cannot cheat on it. The concept and technical aspect goes together and the artist must know at least basic video editing.”

Weekly showings of video art/experimental film at Cinekatipunan have given artists and filmmakers a regular and valuable venue to show their works, shortly to be joined by monthly video art exhibits at Listening in Style arranged by the non-profit organization Visual Pond. Dialogue/exchange with video art/new media communities abroad aids to foster the idea that the Philippine art scene is current with the art scene globally.

Video art, founded by Korean-born artist Nam June Paik beginning with his exhibition Exposition of Music – Electronic Television in Germany in 1963, takes its roots in the Philippines through experimental film and conceptual art. As written by video artist Tad Ermitaño in his essay Worlds Apart: The Two Faces of Video Art in the Philippines, video art’s tradition of experimental film “radiate[s] from the Mowelfund Film Institute (MFI), and the tradition of conceptual art… radiate[s] from the teachings of the conceptualist Roberto Chabet.” Ermitaño, who studied at Mowelfund, even had his video artwork selected and shown at the Ogaki Biennale in Japan last year. Of the conceptual camp, probably the most well known is Poklong Anading, who frequently uses video in his works and mounted a 4-channel video installation at the Ateneo Art Gallery for a week last April using four projectors.

Despite the continuous challenge, there is no place for video art to go but forward in the Philippines. The use of the medium is underscored by its increasing relevance in an age when moving images are ubiquitous - from the giant television in the highway to the plasma televisions playing ads in McDonald’s to the cellphones already in people’s pockets. Like a train gaining speed, the engine of this contemporary art form is accelerating to take Philippine art to new destinations - unplotted but all the more exciting.

Creative IT List 2007

I can't find my September 2007 issue of Preview :( Shucks, ok, we'll skip that first and go to October! I was particularly excited for the Creative IT List 2007, a lot of my recommendations made it on the list :D And I did write a lot as well - 5 write-ups on 6 artists! The 6 artists are Poklong Anading, Mideo Cruz, Yasmin Sison, Winner Jumalon and Angelo Suarez and Costantino Zicarelli, which I did a joint piece on.