A new generation in the Philippine Art

Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
Invitation for the Swiss Press
Friday, January 11. – Monday, January 14.
A new generation in the Philippine Art
Güterbahnhof Zürich, Hohlstrasse 150, 8004 Zürich
Mention Philippine art immediately evokes reflections of tropical scenery: palms, beaches
and rainforests. While these tried and tested art subjects continue to be the staple in the local
art shops in Manila, a growing community of young and talented artists are dedicating
themselves to mastering the aesthetic and portraying the realities of Philippine life. These
artists are bold and intrepid, daring and fearless in how they interpret the nuances of
existence.
Minerva Mondejar presents some of the most talented artists of the Philippine art scene:
Mideo M. Cruz, Elmer Roslin, Jerson Samson and Rene Robles. These artists will be present
during the exhibition.
Mideo M. Cruz is a cross-disciplinary artist. He seeks to expand and explore art as a
communicative language to stimulate interaction and critical perspectives, equally competent
in using new media as well as street actions, resourcefully working collectively or individually.
Elmer Roslin and Jerson Samson are protégées of the venerable Filipino master Solano
Cruz, yet each artist has found his own niche, perfecting a style that has traces of European
and Filipino influences and flavours of their own personal technique and subject preferences.
Elmer Roslin paints the dark and moody world of Manila game halls. In his works, emotions
and atmosphere are perfectly captured with each figurative stroke. Jerson Samson
specializes in panoramic oversized villages and urban scenes, detailing each painting with a
touch of erotic, a subject matter strictly taboo in the predominantly Roman Catholic
Philippines.
Rene Robles is from “the older generation” and a true contrast to his younger colleagues. His
abstract art transforms very basic elements into beautiful achievements. Like many Filipinos,
Rene Robles stayed most of his time outside the country, mainly in the U.S.A, where he
developed his art integrating his own and other cultures.
Furthermore, we give a glimpse into selected works from young and promising artists. Some
surprises for the art-loving audience in this section are guaranteed.
All the artists have been successfully promoted in Southeast Asia. Swiss art connoisseurs
will be able to enjoy the works, which will be available for display and for sale.
During the Opening on Friday evening, a buffet with Philippine cuisine will give the flavour of
this colourful country. An offer you might have already encountered in tourist resorts on the
countless islands: Eat all you can!
I would be very pleased to welcome you on my first event in Zürich.
Minerva Mondejar
Contact:
Tel.: +41 (0) 76 577 0854 Email: [email protected]
1
Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
Der interessanteste Schüttelbecher Asiens
Von Michael Steiner
Als ich zum ersten Mal eine philippinische Galerie betrat, führte man mich in ein
Hinterzimmer, um mir „verbotene“ Bilder zu zeigen. Umso grösser die Enttäuschung, als ich
einige Akte und zweifelsohne blasphemisch geprägte Werke zu sehen bekam. Bilder also,
die bei uns in jeder Galerie im Schaufenster hängen.
Ein Werk hatte es mir trotzdem besonders angetan: Eine Motel-Szenerie mit Einblick in
Zimmer über Garageneinfahrten, deren Tore die Einsicht verwehren. Während die Autos und
deren Nummernschilder nicht sichtbar sind, gehts im Obergeschoss zu und her wie in einem
Freudenhaus. Augenscheinlich ein Bordell. Umso erstaunter war ich, als ich erfuhr, dass es
sich dabei um ein „Liebesmotel“ handle, die es sogar als Firmenkette gäbe, so ähnlich wie
McDonalds, verstreut über das ganze Land. In den Philippinen sei der Einfluss der
katholischen Kirche immer noch so stark, dass sich junge Liebende in solche Motels flüchten
müssen, um ihren Gefühlen nachzugehen. Auch die ältere Generation in Affären treffe sich
dort, denn Scheidung in unserem Sinne ist gesetzlich gar nicht möglich. Alimente für die
Früchte des Zusammenkommens gibt’s ebenso wenig wie eine nur annähernd
funktionierende Demokratie.
Mit diesen für uns Schweizer erschreckenden Informationen ausgestattet, war es mir dann
auch möglich zu verstehen, warum das Bild in Manila nicht öffentlich ausgestellt werden
kann. Natürlich kam ich nur ins Hinterzimmer, weil mir der Künstler im vorderen Teil der
Galerie schon ins Auge sprang. Meine Freundin Minerva war sich nämlich sicher einen Maler
entdeckt zu haben, der mir als Filmemacher speziell gefallen würde: Figurativ, opulent und
versehen mit vielen Rahmen, die die Gemälde auffächern wie eine Videowall. Ich war im
ersten Moment erschlagen von der Wucht und der Kraft der Farben. Auch wenn ich die
Bilder und deren Botschaft noch nicht verstand, eines war sofort klar: Da war einer wütend.
Zugleich aber auch leidenschaftlich verliebt in die Kultur und die Menschen seiner
Umgebung.
Als wir Jerson Samson dann trafen, lernten wir einen jungen Maler kennen, dessen Vater
noch Jäger war und dessen Familie erst seit einer Generation in einer städtischen
Umgebung aufwuchs. So erstaunte es mich auch nicht, dass viel seiner Kritik subtil versteckt
in den Bildern zu finden ist und er den Begriff „gesellschaftliche Revolution“ nie in den Mund
nehmen würde.
Nach der Entmachtung von Ferdinand Marcos sind Samson und die im Güterbahnhof
anzutreffenden Künstler Vertreter der ersten Generation, die unter dem Begriff „Demokratie“
aufwuchsen. Mit dem Ideal der freien Meinungsäusserung vor Augen, gelernt durch eine der
modernsten Verfassungen der Welt, fiel diese Generation nach dem Schulabschluss in eine
Welt voller Korruption und traditionellen Regeln.
Die Kunst ist traditionellerweise ein guter Indikator für gesellschaftliche Veränderung. Wenn
sie zudem auch als solche interessiert und neue Wege geht, wie das Mideo M. Cruz mit
seinen Performances macht, kann eine solche Kunst befreiend sein. Wir aus der reichen
Schweiz sagen immer, dass die Demokratisierung halt so seine Zeit brauche. Leider hilft
dieses Rotweingerede den in der „Demokratisierungsphase“ lebenden Menschen nicht viel.
Einige der im Güterbahnhof ausgestellten Künstler versuchen durch ihre Kunst, ihren
Glauben an den versprochenen Traum nicht zu verlieren. Als ich Mideo M. Cruz fragte, was
er denn unter Begriff „Demokratie“ verstehe, antwortete er nach langem Überlegen:
„Democracy is something“. Treffender konnte er sein Land und seine Generation nicht
beschreiben. In seinen Performances attackiert er unablässig die alten Zöpfe, die
geschichtlich betrachtet gar nicht philippinischen Ursprungs sind.
2
Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
Da suchen junge Menschen durch die Kunst ihre Identität und tasten die Grenzen der
Gesellschaft ab. Und das sind wichtige Schritte in der „Demokratisierung“. Deshalb
unterstütze ich diese Künstler, weil ihre Anliegen auch die meinen sind, für die ich
glücklicherweise nicht zu kämpfen brauchte. Diese Künstler aber exponieren sich im eigenen
Land, jede moralische Unterstützung aus dem Ausland verleiht ihren Anliegen mehr Gewicht.
Nehmen sie einen Augenschein davon, lassen sie sich entführen von Kräften, die nicht Abu
Saief oder NPA heissen. Wenn das alles zu kopflastig und von mir aus auch naiv war, kann
ich Ihnen versichern, dass sich der Ausflug zum Güterbahnhof auch rein kulinarisch lohnt.
Die philippinische Küche ist wie das Land ein Mix verschiedenster Kulturen. So durchmischt
in den Topf geworfen, stehen dem Gaumen neuartige Erfahrungen bevor. Schlucken sie’s
runter oder lassen sie es sich auf der Zunge zergehen.
Mit freundlichen Grüssen
Michael Steiner
3
Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
Mideo M. Cruz
More of the artist’s works can be seen during the exhibition.
The Banquet
paintings, installation, action,
ambient sound: stefan russow' para-noise-terminal di-oden-wald
Mideo M. Cruz is an active cross-disciplinary artist based in Manila. His work shows
strong allegorical images of the social order. Presently, he is preoccupied with the
international artists' network “new world disorder” and has frequently been invited for
his ingenious actions around the globe. He is actively involved with tutok Karapatan,
an artists’ initiative that focuses on the rampant extra judicial killings in the
Philippines. Around 850 activists have been killed in six years since the beginning of
the Arroyo Regime. He is a recipient of three most prestigious awards for young
artists in the Philippines: the 2003 Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists
Award, the 2003 Sungdu-an Grant and the 2006 Ateneo Art Award.
Press Reviews:
Mideo's Message
Contrasts play an important part in the performance-installation of Mideo Cruz:
antiseptic white against bloody red, asperity against chaos, bourgeois authority
against squalid effusion, human against animal, one against many. These striking
contradictions make for a powerful performance governed by rhythms and a driving
audio score. The performance-installation centres around a person - acted out by
Cruz - dressed in a white formal suit and wearing a white mask with pig's snout. He
sits at a table set for one and faces a mountainous pile of raw meat and bones, a
bloody mess. The porcine greed transforms him into a repulsive beast, as he digs
into the victuals, while many people come in to watch along the walls of the room. In
4
Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
the performance at CCP, the raw flesh is replaced by a mountain of bones and
animal debris, which likewise engages his greed. On the wall above is a plaster
model of the Last Supper.
The work gives a striking performance of the unbridled greed of the wealthy, which
grab the lion's share of the world's resources in wasteful consumption. The pillage of
the natural world occurs daily for the profit and satisfaction of the few. Violence to
humans is also central to this rapacity, as knives seem to guard the wasteful frenzy.
-Alice Guillermo
Mideo Cruz has several segments to his project, the most prominent of which is
Anghel de la Guardia, a 9 and a half foot ethereal figure that is part angel, part icon
and part doorkeeper to a hallucinatory yet gated wonderland. He seems to ask: Is
Disneyland the virtual surrogate for Paradise Fading? He converts an in-house
phone station into a dense collage of connectivity with the complex political
landscape with its deities, lords and coerced idolatries in Politeismo 3. And his
nearly cute but also subversive viriña named Altar nudges us pixie like not to forget
how the nexus between materialism and proof of faith might, on occasion, reify into
conceit and fetish. -Jose Tence Ruiz
Blood, body parts, sex, violence, blasphemy! What's not to love?
The art of Mideo Cruz is quite a heady mix for the uninitiated: so many symbols,
meanings within meanings, one can easily get lost amid the traffic, and that's exactly
what draws me to this piece. It's a Frankesteinian appeal as Pinoy (Filipino) as halohalo (local delicacy, mixed preserve sweets, milk and crushed ice) and jeepneys
(vehicle adopted from World War 2 vintage jeep). Everything that fascinates me is
here: religious imagery, pop iconography, found items, Divisoria (wholesale/retail
marketplace with varieties of goods) chic!
It's irreverent but serious, a little naughty, a little scary. Most of all, it tells me stories
with different endings. - Norman Crisologo
Mideo Cruz constructs Superpower, a figure fashioned out of odds and ends that is
also clearly a reference to robots depicted in cartoons as "saviors of the universe".
Cruz delivers a jab not only at the economic influx of imported items (such as the
cheap plastic toys used as components of the piece), but also the importation of
mentalities and frameworks that the foreign machine facilitates. -Lisa Ito
Notions of self as nation are currently besieged, their inner gut work sucked out by a
voracious globalist zeitgeist funded by large late capital. To cite a potential
contribution to one's national culture would have to be determinedly conceited on
mine or Mideo's part, but, if one might be able to determine such a lofty yet
necessarily foundational category, then one would have to support those who have
been consistent, bold and willing to sustain its thankless uphill climb, for all that
takes. Mideo Cruz has so far shown himself to be equal to this. The nationalist
project of Social Realism in the Philippines, which began in 1975, has found, after the
co-opted faltering of Salingpusa and untimely implosion of Sanggawa, an appropriate
bridge into the 21st century's vast, bewildering and fractured terrain in Mideo Cruz
and his collective, the new world disorder. - Jose Tence Ruiz
5
Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
Elmer Roslin
More of the artist’s works can be seen during the exhibition.
"Lukay" 2007, 59.84 x 72 in / 152 x 182.88 cm, Acrylic / Oil on Canvas
Elmer Roslin's recent oeuvre consists of large and medium scale oil paintings
capturing an intimate affinity with his subject, the complexity and sharpness of his
observational skills, his proficient handling of medium and eloquent technique
alongside forceful ideological and conceptual visions recurring in the realm of his
creative mind.
In years of prolific artistic output, after he bagged the Grand Prize in the Oil Painting
Category of the Metrobank Young Painter's Annual National Painting Competition
Year 2000, Roslin's art has matured into an early apotheosis worthy of critical
acclaim. His show entitled “TAuMBAYAN” – a tagalog word play literally and
metaphorically concocting ‘tao' (human), ‘tambay' (bystander), ‘tambayan' (a place
for hanging-out) and ‘bayan' (town/country) to signify an inherent relativity between
the four concepts. The conceptual proximity linked with the socio-cultural interactions
between ‘tao', “tambay', ‘tambayan' and ‘bayan' becomes his underlying theoretical
framework for the distinctive interplay of elements, ideas and forms in his works. The
tambayan, like the chancy games of nine-ball, terembe, mah-jong or videogames,
with its therapeutic powers to shut down reality, provides a common social venue for
the throngs of the apathetic, bored, hopeless, and unemployed a temporarily
elevated existence secluded by optimism and depression, by tranquil escapism and
an intoxicated melancholy.
His artistic development is one that is not anchored merely on germinating technical
and stylistic mastery, for his art emanates from ideas, issues and experiences that
6
Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
enrapture him as a human being. In his numerous visual exercises of the ‘tambayan'
theme, the images reveal an incessant passion with the ephemerality of earthly
existence in the transitory snapshot quality of his compositions, the dynamic
interchange of light and shadow, and the captured stillness of ironically fleeting
moments. Meanwhile, his efficient articulation of drawing encapsulates a wide visual
lexicon of intimate, albeit public human spaces and physical body rhetoric, with lines
and brushstrokes so highly crisp, novel and confident yet graceful and flowing.
Roslin's paintings are never without a slightest allusion of tongue-in-cheek humour,
embodying the flux and flow of rapidly modifying lifestyles, culture and fashion. He
ingeniously uses space to incorporate details that effectively captures not only his
temperament and idiosyncrasies but also his whimsical interpretation of
contemporary Filipino existence: cigarettes, cell phones, posters, playing cards,
jewelry, bottles of beer, calendars, anime characters, etc. – mundane minutiae and
images of pop culture that he chose to monumentalize and valorize in his quest for
meaning and ironies present in such public spaces created for leisure time.
He consciously engages his viewers in an active and animated dialogue with his
works. By utilizing compositional devices such as arms or legs cropped by the lower
margin, he signifies the presence of the viewer's gaze within the painting's pictorial
field. He places a premium on the idea that a painting moves beyond the illusionistic
aesthetic of being a window to another world. For him, the operative presence of the
viewer's gaze completes the sum and substance of the work. In his native hometown
in Antipolo, Elmer is a direct participant of the representation that he sees through.
He is constantly engaged with the banal reality of his images: jampacked billiard
halls, crowded computer arcades, and the visual culture of his immediate social
environment. And this makes his art all the more incisive and substantial.
Roslin's works become transmogrified into a looking glass where one ultimately sees
and recognizes oneself. In his works, he shares with his viewers an authentic
experience of a world filtered through the eyes of a pervasive spectator. His vision is
an honest poetic sight trapping in solitary confinement realities deep and profound.
He painted images of the masses molded in quiet exaltation. And this imposing
stillness commands meditation and contemplation in the minds and hearts of those
who are to encounter them in the future.
THE PERVASIVE SPECTATOR
by Sherwin Coronado
7
Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
Jerson Samson
More of the artist’s works can be seen during the exhibition.
“The Motel”, 2007, 72 x 108 in / 182.88 x 274.32 cm, Oil on Canvas
Jerson Samson was lucky to be situated in Antipolo, specifically at the Juan
Sumulong Elementary and High school. Here, children were early exposed to art,
thanks to art instructors like Solano Cruz, who became a mentor. When he grew up,
Jerson was so good at this medium that he was invited to assist other talented young
artists slightly older than he was, such as Ferdinand Montemayor and Gemo Tapales
of the Antipolo art group Salingpusa (meaning understudy) whenever they had large
commissions to do. Jerson would become one of the pillars of the junior group that
Salingpusa birthed, Kuting (meaning kitten), Jerson went on to finish a Bachelor of
Fine Arts degree at University of the Philippines, graduating there as a painting major
in 1998.
Jerson specializes in detailed renditions of people at community activities such as
moving house. He also paints crowds fleeing from a neighbourhood fire, or families
inside crowded tenements - making public the private lives that go on behind the
closed doors.
Favouring warm shades of yellow and orange; by 1997 his figures acquired alizarinred outlines for emphasis.
From the time he was nine up to the age of fourteen, Jerson has kept winning all of
seven first prizes in art, mostly at on-the-spot competitions in Manila. He has 33 other
awards to his name.
8
Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
At 20, Jerson's works were already getting into the finals of major national contests
such as the Shell competition and the Metrobank Foundation National competition.
His works were selected as Jurors Choice at the Art Association of the Philippines
Annual of 1997.
With the money he got as one of five Philippine winners at the Asian Art Awards,
Jerson finished building the family's four-door apartment.
9
Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
Rene Robles
More of the artist’s works can be seen during the exhibition.
"Studio", 2006, 60 x 36 in. / 152.4 x 91.4 cm., Acrylic on Canvas
Rene Robles pursues his art with challenge and passion, transforming even the most
ordinary subject into modern, exciting creations that stimulate the mind. He is
admired for his consummate talent and imagination. His new assertions at which
penetrated various juried shows with awards and critical acclaim, is also the basis of
the advance art training he has developed for professional artists-techniques and
innovations approach to painting, it has spun off as a new art movement - quite
ahead of its time - representing a more developed aesthetic, a bold style and strong,
unique composition. The underlying principle is that "art that has power asserts,
transforms and transcends". It is an expression of maturity and independence. The
artist challenges the viewer with both simple and complex images rendered from
difficult unusual angles to reveal a spectrum of possibilities.
10
Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
A new generation in the Philippine Art
A Review by The Art Newspaper
Filipino art is about being urban, not Asian
Southeast Asia’s most active art scene is difficult to navigate with venues
scattered around Manila
Gina Fairley | Issue 182
The Philippines is a country of contrasts. It is shackled by religion and government
corruption, its mega-city Manila squeezed between shanty towns and skyscrapers.
Historically, this clash has produced art with oppositional tendencies which caught the
eye of international curators in the 1980s and early 90s.In recent years though, the
Philippines has slipped off the art world's radar, viewed as less "Asian" than its
neighbours.
This oversight is partly due to over-zealous travel warnings, but even more to the
physical impenetrability of Manila's art scene, which is something of a labyrinth
traversing the city, from Pasay's galleries to Makati's private museums, the art shops
in Mandaluyong's mega-mall to the artist-run spaces around the university belt of
Cubao and Quezon City-not to mention the 7,000 islands.
How does one get around the obstacle of geography to discover what is new in
Filipino art? Perhaps the most accurate barometer of current trends is provided by the
country's many competitions and awards: the Cultural Center of the Philippines'
(CCP) triennial Thirteen Artists Award, the Art Association Annual Competition and
the Ateneo Art Award, now in its fourth edition and given to the best solo exhibition
by a Filipino artist under 35.
Last year's winners for the latter prize were: Maya Muñoz's psychological portraits in
"Closer" at Hiraya Gallery in Manila; the compelling performance/installation
Banquet by Mideo M. Cruz at the CCP; and Poklong Anading's "Anonymity" at
Finale gallery in Makati City, combining high and low technology in a comment on
Filipino identity. Filipino art is about being urban, not Asian.
The current art scene has evolved out of a succession of alternative spaces opened in
the 1990s and run by artists educated in the post-Marcos era at the University of the
Philippines and on large doses of Art in America. These include venues such as Third
Space Art Laboratory, Water and Big Sky Mind.
Now, a second generation of galleries have joined together over the last three years to
form a group of venues loosely referred to as Cubao X, fusing graphic design, indie
music and art.
With the closure in February of the key space Future Prospects, due to a major rent
increase, these artist-run spaces have started to decentralise. Some say the scene has
burnt-out. Another interpretation is that, as property developers swallow up
alternative areas like Cubao, art centres are becoming more polished, globally focused
ventures. In 2002, Ramon Lerma took over as director and chief curator of the Ateneo
Art Gallery and organised the benchmark exhibition "Whitewash".
11
Pressemappe - A new generation in the Philippine Art – 11. bis 14. Januar 2008
That same year, the independent artist-run space Green Papaya Art Project moved to a
new venue in Quezon City and redefined itself as a savvy, professional art centre
encouraging collaboration across all fields of the arts, with an in-house graphic design
studio and an artist residency and exchange programme. Norberto Roldan of Green
Papaya explains: "We are interested in how we can work as partners with the few
professionally run galleries to create a new kind of arts management in this
country."Who are those commercial partners? The serious contenders are Hiraya,
Galleria Duemila in Pasay City, West Gallery in Quezon City, the Drawing Room and
Finale both in Makati. They have survived despite a stifling local economy reliant on
a small group of collectors and designers working with developers.
For these galleries to grow, international exposure is vital. Fortunately, the
commercial sector is starting to expand: Galleria Duemila recently moved to a
custom-built space; the Drawing Room has broadened its activities in the Region,
opening a branch in Singapore and attending regional fairs; and galleries Finale and
West continue to collaborate with Roberto Chabet, an artist and educator who has
been influential in developing conceptual art in the Philippines, curating salon-style
surveys of young artists. Other Asian cities are also taking notice. Singapore's Taksu
and Hong Kong's Osage galleries held shows in 2005 focusing on contemporary
Filipino art, "Emerging Fires" and "Metropolitan Mapping" respectively, which could
be viewed as an update on Valentine Willie Fine Arts' (Malaysia) landmark show in
2000, "Faith & the City".
12