Tag: Paintings
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Book Review of Enigmatic Objects for Southeast Asian Studies journal
In Enigmatic Objects: Notes Towards a History of the Museum in the Philippines (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2023), National Artist for Literature Resil B. Mojares offers a thoughtful and absorbing meditation on the origins of collecting in the Philippines. Organized like a cabinet of curiosities, the book assembles stories of portraits, phrenological skulls, coconut-shell…
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La Mujer Filipina allegedly by Felix Hidalgo
Some doubts have been casts on the authenticity of a Felix Hidalgo painting which was sold by auction recently. FÉLIX RESURRECCIÓN HIDALGO Y PADILLA (Filipinas, 1855 – España, 1913). “Nativa Filipina”. Óleo sobre lienzo. The most common misgivings are that the painting did not seem to conform to the fashion style of the period when…
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Propaganda at Lopez
On Trauma, Postmemory, and Modernity in Propaganda at the Lopez Museum The first half of 2015 in the Manila art scene has been marked by an endless parade of the second-rate, the trying-hard, and the copycat. Attend any art fair or gallery opening and you are confronted by the fact that, despite the sheer volume…
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The calm on this side of the border belies the scene on the other side
In “The calm on this Side of the Border Belies the Scene on the Other Side,” brothers Jason and Joseph Tecson exhibit sculptures and oil paintings which mark a highlight in their individual careers. The paintings were started during Joseph’s stint as a resident artist at Whitespace Blackbox in Neuchatel, Switzerland while the sculptures are part of…
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Jigger Cruz Superstar
Jigger Cruz is among the country’s 30-something superstars but can he live up to the hype? Jigger Cruz, the latest darling of Philippine painting, owes his success to several factors. Foremost is his ability to carve a distinctive middle ground in contemporary painting, balancing conservative and avant-garde ambitions. His works, while appearing untamed and fresh,…
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The Shift of Desires
Review of ‘It’s about the end that keeps on coming’ by Jay Ticar at West Gallery It’s a distressing and shattered world, if you read into the paintings of Jay Ticar, but one that is not without hope or room for contemplation. In his paintings and drawings the Manila-born, Toronto-based artist unravels a surreal world of…
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Don Dalmacio and the manual of painting
Review of Don Dalmacio’s Condensed and Evaporated at BLANC I vividly remember going to the Cultural Center of the Philippines in July 2009 to see the works of the latest 13 Artists Awardees at that time. By now I have forgotten most of the works in that show but the paintings of Don Dalmacio are…
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Chocolate Ruins by Rodel Tapaya in ARNDT BERLIN
Rodel Tapaya’s main piece at ARNDT’s primary location in Berlin resists blatant interpretation. In his expansive painting, The Chocolate Ruins, the blend of thematically related images impresses a conflated disquiet and a sense of simultaneous ironies. Speaking in the reconstructed and often esoteric language of folklore¬ – myths and legends and their transfer in barbershop…
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Marina Cruz: Inside Out
Marina Cruz, Laced-top, 2012, mixed-media assemblage, 37 in x 55 in Immersed in the various conceptual layers offered by her mother’s collection of dresses, Marina Cruz conveys a series of related pictures as part of her process of representing the narratives weaved upon them, focusing on the discrepancies between visual and verbal references. Through her…
Geronimo Cristobal 