BART GUINGONA CELEBRATES 25 YEARS

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SUPERPASYAL is a supporter of the Ayala Musem.

EXHIBIT: JOEY VELASCO

Joselito “Joey” Salvador Alvir Velasco is a young businessman and "heartist" who has endeared himself to many Filipinos through his numerous works - all heartwarming, moving and oftentimes coming across as a subtle rebuke of Philippine society. I took the liberty of taking photos of his paintings during this exhibit (no flash, mind you) to share to those who may not have the time - or the chance - to go out of their homes or offices. I hope that this feature contributes to the propagation of Joel Velasco's message of hope, deliverance and introspection so that we may all, one way or another, be agents of change or at the very least make a difference in the world we live in.

The exhibit was alloted a space along the passageway of Glorrietta 3 in Makati. A video, Sa Kambas ng Lipunan, was also being shown to a rather large group of passersby. I will update this blog soon to include the texts that accompanied each work. It's going to take some time though, so bear with me. :-)

Joe Velasco first came to the national consciousness with this painting entitled Hapag ng Pagasa (Oil on Canvas, 48" X 96") done in 2005 which portrays 12 children he has met on the streets of Metro Manila. A huge billboard of this work can be seen along Guadalupe, near the San Carlos Seminary.

Let there be peace of Earth (2007). A picture of contradiction. Note wall clock at 3 o'clock position.

Kalakbay (2007). As Joey was finishing this painting, two of his subjects - farmers - in this work were shot to death reflecting the long battle that Filipino farmers have to fight for the right to till their own land.

This is the work that really touched me, Hele (2008). It features three children afflicted by Down's Syndrome, a rather common affliction among children in the Philippines. I have had the chance to live with an adult with this condition and I have seen the love and attention his parents poured over him; their understanding was truly beyond measure. People with Down's may appear detached, but they really are very observant of their surroundings and are often quite intelligent.

In this corner of Hele are these words: "DEUS CARITAS EST, et, qui manet in caritate, in Deo manet, et Deus in eo" representing the second half of 1 John 4:16, "So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." - the opening lines of Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, released on Christmas of 2005.

Manunubos (2008) is a moving work featuring a family - or a Filipinized Holy Family for that matter - holding court in a garbage dump. There is that ethereal soft light that emanates for the main subjects separating them from the darkness and sadness of their surroundings. Note also the children bearing gifts (see details below).

A loaf of bread, which is sold and seen arranged one on top of each other in stalls and bakeries all over these islands during the Holiday season - a common feature on the Filipino Christmas or New Year table.

Two cans of 555 sardines being handed over by the boy.

The subject is a caddie on some golf course and when a community commissioned Velasco to paint them a Mary & Child Jesus scene, he used the girl caddie as his subject to represent Mary.

A rather different way of looking at the Agony in the Garden, this time in a decrepit corner with tired, old wheels and rusty galvanized iron.

Mga Munting Simon Sireneo (2008)

Come Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me (2007). A haunting image of Christ holding up a tattered Philippine flag, both a scathing and humbling take on how we have come so low in many aspects - in self respect, in human rights, and in upholding and supporting the culture of life in our country.

Paleta de Sangre (2008). A very interesting story accompanied this work. I think you must go to Velasco's exhibits and read it yourself.

That We May Live (2007). One of the most powerful images in this exhibit, That We May Live draws you the facial expressions of the children carrying Christ's dead body.

Read more about Joey Velasco here, here and here. Special thanks to B.C. for inviting me to this exhibit. You are truly heaven sent.

EXHIBIT: HIS ART, OUR HEART

Fruit pickers under the Mango Tree (1937)

2008 will see the coming together of the works of Fernando Amorsolo, the Philippines' first National Artist (c. 1975). Entitled His Art, Our Heart, different artworks according to genre will be exhibited in the following venues :

The Ayala Museum exhibition ‘Amorsolo’s Maidens Concealed and Revealed’ will be from Oct. 23 to March 8, 2009. It "will survey Amorsolo’s rendering of women as a means of following his career, and will draw attention to his maidens from the American period and his studies of nudes from the post-war years as a tribute to his brilliance. "

The GSIS Museum's ‘Rituals and Amorsolo’, from Oct. 2 to Dec. 20, “underlines how rituals reflect values, beliefs, and shared knowledge, how it brings about interactions among people, places and objects, how it expresses the core of social identity of communities, how it fortifies social structures and institutions, and perpetuates social values. Portrayals include baptisms, praying the Angelus, a family’s walk to Sunday mass.”

The Lopez Memorial Museum’s ‘Tell Tale: The Artist as Storyteller, Amorsolo as Co-Author’, from Sept. 24 to April 4, 2009, is illustrative of Amorsolo’s generation of artists, of how Amorsolo became subject to the workings of image-making industries central to the crafting of fictions — about what it was to be a citizen, to be learned/civilized, to be devout, to be Filipino in the transitional junctures of Spanish-American rule. Beyond looking at illustrations as potboilers, the exhibit hopes to look at how artists such as Amorsolo may have brought other layers of meaning upon texts primarily intended as didactic instruments.”

The Metropolitan Museum’s ‘Philippine Staple: The Land, the Harvest, the Maestro’ will display a harvest field of rice-related pieces and outstanding landscapes.”

At the National Museum’s ‘Master Copy’ from Sept. 25 to Jan. 15, 2009, the drawings transfigure into portraits that imagine the national self and the imperialist other, the Filipino and the American, a President like Manuel Roxas or a Gov. Gen. like Francis Burton Harrison, an elegant American lady or a nameless Katipunan revolutionary immortalized in oil after their stint in sketches.”

The Jorge B. Vargas Museum’s ‘Amorsolo: His Contemporaries and Pictures of the War, Capturing Anxieties’, from Sept. 23 to Nov. 16, will feature the works of Amorsolo and his contemporaries spanning the Second World War (1941-1945) until the immediate postwar years (1946-1947), family and official portraits commissioned by Vargas, and genre paintings. Works by peers — Manansala, Saguil, Miranda and Castañeda — will also be showcased.

The Yuchengco Museum’s ‘Mukang Tsinoy’ will be from Oct. 1 to Jan. 17, 2009. They will exhibit paintings commissioned by Tsinoy families.

Do not miss this once-in-a-lifetime art event.

CCP DREAM THEATRE IS RENAMED TANGHALANG MANUEL CONDE

A special tribute to Manuel Conde, pioneer of Philippine independent filmmaking, will be held during the 2008 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and Competition on July 11-20 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The tribute will include the launching of the book, The Cinema of Manuel Conde, by Dr. Nicanor G. Tiongson during the opening of the exhibit on this maverick of the Filipino cinema and the first public screening after many decades of Conde’s films, especially the famous 'Genghis Khan', the first Filipino movie to be invited to participate in an international film festival, in this case the very prestigious Venice Film Festival of 1952.

Manuel Conde (1925-1985) was a director-writer-actor-producer who made 40 films from 1940 to 1963. He established his own film organization, MC Productions, because he wanted to do movies with an independent spirit that studio producers would not touch. The most important Conde films that embody the independent spirit that is celebrated by Cinemalaya today are his Juan Tamad films in which Conde successfully transformed the slapstick comedy into timely social satire.

Conde’s uncommon courage in satirizing social and political evils, his playful but insightful revitalization of genre movies, his unflagging and absolute dedication to artistry and, most of all, his passionate and absolute commitment to his truth, definitely qualify him to be called the “Father of Independent Filmmaking in the Philippines”.

Six Conde films will be shown during the 2008 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and Competition at the Tanghalang Manuel Conde (formerly CCP Dream Theater). These are Genghis Khan (1950), Ibong Adarna (1955), Verganza (1958), Señorito (1953), Cruz na Kawayan (1956) and El Robo (1957). The Conde films will be shown on July 17-19 with screenings set at 12:45 PM for Ibong Adarna, Cruz na Kawayan and Verganza and 3:30 PM for Señorito, El Robo and Genghis Khan.

Cinemalaya is presented by the Cinemalaya Foundation, Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Film Development Council of the Philippines and Econolink Investments Inc. Cinemalaya is an all-digital film competition aimed at discovering new Filipino filmmakers. Cinemalaya will be highlighted by the screening of world premieres, director’s cuts and the very best Filipino independent films on wide-ranging and controversial topics. Films from Cinemalaya 2005, 2006 and 2007 will also be shown. A major event of the Festival will be the Cinemalaya Independent Film Congress with the theme Spreading the News: Promoting, Distributing and Exhibiting Indie Films.

This year, Cinemalaya also will feature a new children’s section dedicated to children’s films and a retrospective of Manuel Conde films. For information, please call the CCP Marketing Department at 551-7930 or 832-1125 local 1800 to 1808 and the CCP Box Office at 832-3704 0r 832-1125 local 1409.

Source: Clickthecity.com

EXHIBITS: JUAN LUNA & JOSE SANTOS III

SUPERPASYAL is a supporter of the Ayala Musem. Click on the photos to enlarge.

EXHIBIT: PAULINA CONSTANCIA

It's been a long time! Welcome back, Ms. Constancia!

SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS

There is also an ongoing exhibit on works by Simon Dela Rosa Flores on loan from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.


Superpasyal is a supporter of The Ayala Museum.

CULTURE EXPRESS: CINEMALAYA 2007

The 3rd season of the much-awaited CINEMALAYA Film Festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines is back!!! Please visit http://www.cinemalaya.org/index.php for details on the competing films.

Let's support our new filmakers! Here are some sample posters.