OH, MUMMMBLER!

Too hungry, too slow to grow up. Dropping hints along the way! Anything is everything, regurgitated over and over. This is the made-up space of my mad ramblings. Find the other spaces of my other mad things among the links.

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The List Keeps Getting Longer and Longer

Look, a photo to distract you from the more important content after:

  It is an illustration of the symbolic widening of horizons. Also: bullshit. This is actually just a link dump, because it seems this place will not be as lively as the others I have come to accumulate. So here is a rundown of these other spaces as the links in the navigation cannot explain themselves:

The non-violent (metaphorically violent) shooting bit, a.k.a. film photography at GOPPLEGURG!

The regurgitate bit, a.k.a. what we find inspiring at UDIERESIS The proof of lack of discipline bit, a.k.a. ramblings/progress when in the U.K. at NOTHANY The it's-done-but-I-never-finished bit , a.k.a. the journey of my first very serious project at FLUXIPLES

The I'm-actually-functioning-working bit, a.k.a. my work at my WEBSITE or BEHANCE 

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Month-ly

Exactly a month ago, I wrapped up all my things into giant boxes, had a last pint (or two) and boarded the plane home. And as it is here at home, there has been no tangible difference. I have exactly the same goal, that is, to get things done, and really, very little has been done. At least in the sense of the things that need to be. 

It is undoubtedly challenging to drag oneself out of the pits of fatigue - to dig fingers into the dirt of the walls, like some kind of wrong-way-up grounding. And then there is the haze, as if while climbing I had to drop parts of myself to lighten the load, until there is only skin and air. 

In the absence of whatever was enveloped by the skin, I attempt to collect and to fill. 

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London, baby!

I'm moving here for awhile: keep posted, click the link! 

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Mr. Potts

Today was one heck of a Saturday. Went from workshop to opening to opening and yes, maybe I’m a little over-saturated but really, it’s not like we can ever get enough. So, to keep this bite-sized and handy, here is part one of my super Saturday!

***

I was never really into pottery. The only thing I knew about it was that it was like a butterfly: it started off from some ugly clay and turned into fragile, beautiful objects. But when I heard that Mr. Whittaker, Associate Professor in Ceramics and head of the Department of Fine Arts at Liverpool Hope University, was going to hold a workshop on ceramics, I thought that this could be a good chance to add to what little I know and maybe even find a new “love”. So off I went to UP with my trusty old cooking apron, excited to fulfill the promise of this new experience.

Mr. Whittaker, along with other local ceramicists, taught us the very basics of handling clay. Knowing we were all new to the medium, he first told us to just “feel” it and sort of play around so we can discover for ourselves what clay was like. We learned how to shape it and put it together to make little sculptures and how to “throw” it into bowls and other similar vessels. I felt that clay was a very forgiving medium; one can make mistakes and start over (except maybe when throwing) and so it was very fun and relaxing to work with. In a way I felt like a child again; I worried less and so enjoyed myself more. I also felt strangely reconnected, with what I’m not so sure. Clay is a very old medium and has shared in the human creative process for millennia — perhaps maybe in my little attempt I rekindle those age-old memories. Thanks a million for the opportunity to work with it under the guidance of Mr. Whittaker.

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Remember and Reinvent

More openings! Here’s one from last Saturday. This is becoming a dangerous habit!

Miracle Healing and Other Hopeful Things is a one-man show by Poklong Anading at mo_. which opened last Saturday. The entire space was turned into a landscape of found rags (basahan) from all over the city reconstructed into various pieces and deconstructed into scraps that carpeted the exhibition space. At one corner a video on loop showed photographs of individual rags collected and used for the show.

These rags were collected from the odds and ends of the city: in garbage cans, gutters, gas stations and alleys. With the use of these found objects, several things were brought to my attention: firstly, that these were primarily a kind of waste from the city: discarded, dirty debris that in itself was made up of refuse, that is, bits of fabric sewn together. However, these were not simply rags or trash but also seem to serve some aesthetic, even decorative purpose. With the variety of colors and patterns that can be achieved, the ‘humble’ beginning of scrap from which the rag originates allows it to move up towards function and even beyond it.

In the same way, Anading uses these ‘leftovers’ and creates something distinctly beautiful. The entire exhibition begins to look like an entirely different, but familiar, scene.  From the discards emerges impressions of life and movement, sprouting from equally discarded truck tires and paint cans. Looking at it this way and more so in the context of the Philippines today, I find again both hope and healing.

Miracle Healing and Other Hopeful Things runs from 9 July to 7 August 2011 at mo_., 3rd Level, Mos Design Building, Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Visit http://www.mo-space.net for more details.

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Hate Me or Hate Me Not

Here’s the continuation to that super Saturday from previous posts. After hanging around the show at Duemila, we went off to the next (and last) opening for the night. Then off to hot pot noodles!

  Hate Mail at Manila Contemporary is the second installment of a series of shows that began with Love Letters and will end with Confessions of A Sinner later this year. The participating artists include Ronald Caringal, Jose Legaspi, Robert Langenegger, Romeo Lee, and MM Yu, to name a few. The entire gallery space was filled with an assortment of works that reflected exactly the title: various forms of hate and in different degrees. Some were large-scale paintings; others were photographs, jeepney signs and even a table covered with writing.

To be affronted with so many displays of hate was initially a bit uncomfortable. It is not everyday that we see this emotion “in action” or some evidence of it. But what I found strange was that after the first few works, this discomfort started to disappear; in the sense that I “got used to it” and became desensitized. What is it about people that we can feel something and soon grow numb to it? In this way I was reminded of the human capacity to do, for example, atrocious things and to continue as we grow accustomed to it. “The oppressor, the oppressed and how the spectators allow it to happen” were my thoughts as I went through the gallery. Interestingly, however humorous and sometimes simple the works were, they clearly reflected a reality that we were blind to but knew too well.

Good thing there was food and beer to keep my spirits up after brooding on these ideas!

Hate Mail runs from 2 July to 14 August 2011 at Manila Contemporary, Whitespace 2314, Chino Roces Avenue Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati. Visit http://manilacontemporary.com for more details.

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Different Kinds

This is part two of the my very long (but fun) Saturday. After the Pottery Workshop with Alan Whittaker, I went off to see an opening.

rays on the shutter is a group show at Galleria Duemila by Maria Cruz (Berlin), Elizabeth Newman (Melbourne) and Gerardo Tan, three painters that are each established in their practice of conceptual art. The “paintings” shown were of different character: Cruz’s work presented various strokes of color that converged at certain points on the canvas, Newman used everyday domestic materials such as cloth, while Tan based his work on collages made from images, words and textures.

In spite of the diverse backgrounds of the artists, which I always thought would figure prominently in their work, the show felt cohesive; I felt that their work was questioning something and reflecting a reality. Knowing that their background is in painting, I can venture to say that the show begs the question of what painting is. The answer that arises from that is wholly dependent on the observer, who draws her conclusions from the reality of her own culture and history. Such kind of thinking, I feel, makes one acutely aware of the individuality of a person in the context of a world that is quickly becoming “international” and blended. It also brings to focus the nature of paintings, particularly in their material. Textured fabric, paint on canvas and the reference to the layers formed in collage; all these challenge popular and traditional notions of what a painting is and indicate the background of the artist who created it by referencing what materials were accessible.

Aside from this interpretation, I felt that the show also came together in the visual characteristics like color, shape and form. The palette was quite vibrant and the works and materials shared contrasting relationships like Newman’s work, which appeared to be made up of “geometric” shapes but were made of “organic” materials like fabric. Over-all I enjoyed the show and the experience of the opening itself (the food, wine and seeing some family friends).

rays on the shutter runs from 2 to 30 July 2011 at Galleria Duemila, 210 Loring Street 1300 Pasay. Visit http://www.galleriaduemila.com for more details.

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matter

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Goody!

It’s a first!

After years of hiding in a ditch, I finally got around to getting some sun.

Cheers!

moog