Author: admin
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College Guys
Press Release “The College Guys” exhibition opens with a party at 371 art space For the College Guys, a loose artistic group composed of Francis Bejar, Francis Commeyne, Geronimo Cristobal, Jr. and Chalk Zaldivar, artworks need not be alienated from their everyday reality. Conceived to present a series of new works forged under a fresh…
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Rodel Tapaya: Visions of Lore
Tapaya’s paintings recurrently depict narratives embedded in Filipino cultural history that offer sharp and often piercing commentary on contemporary life and issues. Through his adept manipulation of folk aesthetic and material, Tapaya provides his mythical characters with allegorical significances that transcend common perception, offering fresh insights about their origins and relevance. The paintings become a…
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Two Rizal exhibitions at UP Diliman
He never claimed to be a god in any of his writings but the photographs of his monuments for a show entitled Over Rizal at the Vargas Museum would make you believe otherwise. Employing the lighter tone and the touristy production, the exhibition retells history from the people who read about it, reflecting how the…
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Rodel Tapaya at Vargas Museum
The Jorge Vargas Museum is a humble and elegant institution, but I have sometimes thought that the artist who is offered a one-man show there might well think twice before accepting. Maybe it’s the air of self-importance that surround those exhibitions they hand an artist there, maybe it’s simply that few men have the actual…
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Renato Orara, Drawer.
I was searching through the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) collection last night, out of curiosity, for a Filipino artist and found only two names. The first one is Lino Brocka. The original film of Bona is currently kept—luckily—in the MoMA Film Archive of the world’s best movies. I think there is no existing copy…
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The sound gestures of Olivier Ochanine
Last night at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, as the torrential weather coated the entire city with an unlikely charm, a warm and wonderful treat took place. The French conductor Olivier Ochanine, who became the musical director of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra in March this year, had decided to present a superb selection consisting…
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The Black Bouquets of Juvenal Sanso
Bouquet Elegant by Juvenal Sansó, c. 1960, ink on paper Let me begin by telling you the story of how I crossed paths with Sansó. It happened, quite amusingly, two years ago at a group exhibition I organized in an SM Megamall gallery. Sansó happened to be passing by on his way to a different…
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An Echo from the Fields
An Echo from the Fields Lex Marcos paints a Miguel Hernández tribute Geronimo Cristobal, Jr. April 16, 2010 The Spanish poet Miguel Hernandez’s last verse written on a hospital wall said, “Goodbye, brothers, comrades, friends: let me take my leave of the sun and the fields.” In this gripping final act of poetry, Hernández was…
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Krzysztof Wodiczko “Guests”
The Polish pavilion – actually a windowless cube – is surprisingly transparent this year. Floor-to-ceiling windows with rounded arches open the view to the outside. Through the slightly milky panes, the visitor standing in the dark of the exhibition space can observe people doing different activities. Some are chatting, others are busy cleaning the windows,…
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Destiny of Empty Caskets
This critical reflection on Soledad’s Sister (Anvil 2008), second novel of Jose Dalisay was written as final paper for Professor Maria Celeste Coscolluela’s Comparative Literature class at UP. (2008) Paez doesn’t appear on any road map, but it occupies as enduring a place in the Filipino imagination as Tondo or Rosales. Because Paez is in fact…
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A portrait of downhearted objects
Caroline Ongpin at Paseo Gallery September 1-15, 2009 Paintings in oil abound the gallery walls in Caroline Ongpin’s exhibition, ‘Spaces for Contemplation’, at Paseo Gallery, 4th Floor Building A, SM Megamall. The paintings invite us to settle with the gallery, each one a depiction of rooms and several household objects. They are reminiscent of Edward…
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Pictures/dreams
The Ulla and Heiner Pietzschs Collection New National Gallery, Berlin June 19, 2009 – November 22, 2009 When the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection in the Eastern Student Building opened as an annex to the Neue Nationalgalerie vis-à-vis the Museum Berggruen last year, Berlin was given the opportunity to familiarize itself permanently with “Surreal Worlds” for the first…
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‘Lost Dragonfly’: Tradition and translation
By Oscar Campomanes Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 18:39:00 07/12/2009 Filed Under: Arts and Culture and Entertainment, Poetry MANILA, Philippines – “The process of cultural translation,” says eminent anthropologist Talal Asad, “is inevitably enmeshed in conditions of power.” Cultural critic Rey Chow chimes in that one form of power involved in the translation of anything—from…
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Mike Kelley Educational Complex Onwards, 1995 – 2008
WIELS Contemporary Arts Center, 12.4. – 27.7.2008 The barren title Educational Complex Onwards evokes analysis and an unsettling association with school as both an educational institution and a metaphorical torture chamber. Mike Kelley initiated his critique of the educational system in 1995, prompted by widespread assumptions that his prolific work—especially his stuffed animals—stemmed from a…
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Luneta Hotel, a Remnant of a Beautiful Era
I wrote this article during my freshman year in college. At the time, there were very few in-depth articles about the old hotel, and it ended up being read by quite a few people and cited as a reference in some news articles. Every time I see it quoted, I feel a bit embarrassed because…
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Knife to the heart
Zhang Yimou choreographs fighting bodies that turn every action into the purest calligraphy It’s obvious, flying is commonplace in Chinese cinema but certainly isn’t its exclusive domain. The acrobatics witnessed in the Matrix, where Trinity seems to stand in the air like a black angel has been an international trend. We can also witness gravity-defying…
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In the mood for love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000)
Hong Kong 1962: Ambitious newspaper editor Chow (Tony Leung Ka Fai) and shy secretary Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) are among the many immigrants who have fled to the British crown colony after the conquest of Shanghai by the Chinese Communists. Although both are married and receive a regular salary, they can afford only a subleased room…
Geronimo Cristobal 