Renaissance Art Gallery's 11 th Anniversary celebrates with“Tinuod/Truth” by Bag-ong Hinan-aw set to open June 25

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One of the trendiest art galleries in Metro Manila, Renaissance Art Gallery boasts of having among the finest collections of established and upcoming Filipino contemporary artists. 

Among the events celebrating its eleventh anniversary this June, Renaissance Art Gallery is proud to present the grouped art exhibition “Tinuod/Truth,” featuring sixty-four masterpieces created by the artists and mentors of the Cebu-based art group Bag-ong Hinan-aw. 

Cebuano for “New Perspectives,” Bag-ong Hinan-aw is a group inspired and guided by the giants of Cebu’s academic realist tradition: the art philosophy of Martino Abellana, the Amorsolo of the South; and his two greatest apprentices, Sofronio Ylanan Mendoza (also known as Sym); and Romulo Galicano. 

Bag-ong Hinan-aw is composed of ten artists: Publio “Boy” Briones, Jr.; Buboy Cañete, Audie Estrellado, Ramon De Dios, Carlos Florida, Jonathan Galicano, Luther Galicano, Bernardo Hermoso, Facundo “Dodong” Tallo, and Jose “Pepe” Villadolid. 

Their works are suffused with the academic realism that came from National Artist Fernando Amorsolo, and bequeathed through the teachings of Abellana, Sym, and Galicano. 

Cebuano for “truth,” tinuod exemplifies their artistic values: to render the truth of nature through the honest and ethical work of painting, bringing the highest standards of craftsmanship and new visions to enthrall their audiences with unique concepts and newer ways of looking at art. 

“Tinuod/Truth” shall also feature guest works of Martino Abellana, Sym, and Romulo Galicano.

“Tinuod/Truth” will have its opening cocktails on June 25, 2014 – 6 p.m. at the ART CENTER, 4th Level, Bldg. A, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City. It runs until July 8, 2014. 

For further details of the exhibit, you may contact Renaissance Gallery the following ways:

By phone: 637-3101 

By e-mail: renaissanceart.ph@gmail.com

By Internet: www.renaissanceart.ph

Connect to Renaissance Gallery online through the following social media networks:

Facebook: facebook.com/renaissanceart.ph

Instagram: renaissanceartph

A certain faithfulness to depicting the world around them characterizes the work of the members of Bag-ong Hinan-aw. Cebuano for “New Perspectives,” the group has been enriched by the traditions of academic realism instilled into this emerging group of Cebuano painters by three generations of excellent master teachers: the seminal influence of Martino Abellana, the Amorsolo of the South; the fusion of modern thinking with faith in naturalism by Sofronio Ylanan Mendoza, or Sym; and the elevation of a successfully fused academic realism and abstraction by Romulo Galicano. 

Currently composed of ten artists, Bag-ong Hinan-aw has refined their already-excellent technical craft with ever-newer restatements of vision and technique that makes their respective bodies of works unique, and yet feels congruent to each other’s perspectives that form a consistent movement typifying the combination of concept, technique, and faithfulness to the perceived world. The group’s fidelity to the truths of both artmaking as a communion between artist and materials, and the absolute verity of natural depiction is what informs and enriches this exhibition. Tinuod is the Cebuano term for Truth, and it is through this meditation on the ability of art to present both the natural vision of the world, and the artistic truth of individual creativity, that best exemplifies the works of these ten artists of Bag-ong Hinan-aw. As a manifestation of Contemporary Philippine Art, Bag-ong Hinan-aw’s Tinuod aims to continue the legacy of past masters, and also to transform this tradition to suit today’s socio-cultural contexts and conditions of production. However, their fidelity as “sons of the South” continues to linger through their specialized subject matter, and ways of seeing.

(Boy Briones, Hello Kitty)

Capturing a scene infront of the Santo Niño Basilica, Boy showcases his academic realist credentials, while introducing his own modern element: the balloons that bring life out from weathered faces.

Publio “Boy” Briones, Jr. (b. 1949) focuses on the formal play of his otherwise traditional subjects, which are primarily exterior scenes of churches in Cebu City and Carcar, focusing on the dramatic contrast between the austere classicism of colonial architecture and the bright toy balloons lit by tropical sunlight. Through this contrast, Boy showcases both the deeply indebted tradition of academic realism, as well as the artistic innovation brought by Pop Art that updates his work, and makes it more relevant to today’s issues of globalization. Boy originally graduated with a BS and MBA from UP before learning how to paint during landscape sorties by fellow Cebuanos in the provinces. He subsequently took watercolor workshops and sketching classes at the National Academy of Design in New York (1987-1994). Boy was also mentored by Romulo Galicano starting from the 1980s.

(Boboy Cañete, Lady w/ CP)

A scene of domestic tranquility is riven with a moment of tension: is the lady reading through her lover’s cellphone, detecting illicit text messages? Her surreptitious glance seemingly indicates so.

Wilfredo “Boboy” Cañete (b. 1968) combines the tropical scenery of his urbanized hometown of Cordova, Cebu with the intimacy of contemporary domestic interiors, whose telltale bright lighting situates scenes of modern uncertainty, accelerated lifestyles, and the contemporary hassles of city life. For Boboy, tropical domestic life is both blissful and full of invigorating tensions, as constant life changes are recorded, commented upon, and rendered in the domestic vignettes that Pieter de Hooch and Vermeer would find familiar. Done with a combination of vigorous brushwork and attention to detail, Boboy’s contemporary domestic scenes are also a homage to Velasquez and Watteau. Boboy has been exhibiting professionally as an artist in Cebu and Manila since 1985. He was a finalist at the 1997 Metrobank Young Painter’s Annual in 1997 and 1999; and third prizewinner at the 1998 Metrobank Young Painter’s Annual. 

(Ramon De Dios, Bandera Spagnola)

Reflecting on Cebu’s Spanish heritage, Ramon captures the beach house scene in Oslob from a flowering garden. The title alludes to the lily in foreground, and the locale’s colonial past.

Ramon De Dios (b. 1956) is an architect who has found his true calling as a painter. Educated at the University of Southern Philippines, Ramon was involved in architectural heritage preservation (notably the rehabilitation of Malacañang Palace) before taking the leap in painting in 1998 through the guidance of Romulo Galicano. Ramon’s advocacy as a heritage preservationist perseveres in his paintings that combine aspects of Surrealism with narrative painting and still life. His rendition of Manila’s Carriedo Fountain is juxtaposed with the “real” story of a lost toy balloon flying off in the far distance; whereupon a vacation house in Oslob is foregrounded by a giant still life of a lily. Ramon has participated in grouped exhibitions since 2010, like the BPI Centennial Art Ehibition, the Sining Cebuano exhibition, and the recent “Artabang” exhibition for victims of Typhoon Yolanda.

(Audie Estrellado, Summertime)

The innocent joys of taking a communal bath at the seashore in summer animates Audie’s grouped portrait of children frolicking in the surf. Here, nature and delicate humanity are fused.

Audie Estrellada (b. 1957) uses the everyday life experiences and scenes of his hometown, the mystical island of Siquijor, as his personal testament to the singular importance of perceiving and contextualizing the social encounter between artist and human subject matter within a tropical paradise long associated with magic. A graduate of MSU, Audie has been a fixture of the Central Visayan and Northern Mindanao art scene since the early 1970s, when he first won on-the-spot painting contests in Marawi City and Tagbilaran City. Audie is a prizewinner at the 1983 Lazi Centennial Celebrations; 1986 Open-Air painting competition sponsored by the AAP Cagayan de Oro Chapter; and 2009 GSIS National Painting Competition. Audie is a member of various art groups, like VIVAA, Grupo Siquijudnon Visual Artists, and Kolor Sugbo. Audie was also awarded Outstanding Siquijudnon for Visual Arts in 1993.

(Ber Hermoso, Tuna Weigh-In)

Detailing the rich, dramatic textural contrasts between slick fish bodies, sweaty muscled torsos, and the grimy port, Ber showcases his command of paint in this magisterial portrait of southern commerce.

Bernardo “Ber” Hermoso (b. 1952) is a self-taught artist who has developed a uniquely “northern Cebuano” version of Martino Abellana’s dictum of acute naturalist observation in art. Based in Danao City, Ber focuses on nature, and humanity’s presence within it, as a test of both artistry and the faithfulness of being at one with the natural world. Boys frolicking at shore, or a mother and child next to a famed waterfall, find cognizance with his superb rendition of fishermen landing tuna at General Santos City’s famed wharf. Ber has mounted ten solo exhibitions since 1976. He was grand prizewinner at the 1980 International Year of the Child Competition in Manila; 1981 gold medal awardee at the UNESCO Art Competition in Manila; 1997 Grand prizewinner, Andres Bonifacio Portrait Painting Contest; and 2012 Grand Prizewinner at the 1st PAGCOR Art Competition. 

(Carly Florido, Lutopan Landscape)

Known as a mining community in Toledo City, Lutopan retains its natural charms through Carly’s sensitive handling of foliage and rocky outcrops. A winding river softens man’s intrusion with sublimity.

Carlos “Carly” Florido (b. 1940) focuses on the domestic space of family, as well as landscape scenes of Cebu as starting points in investigating the effects of light on his human subjects. Carly, who returned to Cebu after residing in the United States, is a self-taught artist who has been guided by Romulo Galicano through specialized master classes. He looks at landscape and humanity as interdependent elements that speak of both reflection, as well as the vital moment when mind, body, and space interlock seamlessly. He has been a member of the group Kolor Sugbo since 1993, and has participated in group shows in New York, Washington D.C., and Germany, (1993-1994). He participated in the “Homage to the Masters” exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (2002), and “Ode to the Pasig River” exhibition at the Ayala Museum (2006). 

(Jonathan Galicano, Oslob Church After the Fire)

Jonathan renders the ruin of a famed southern Cebu church with documentary pathos and artistic verve. Its roofless, monochrome hulk contrasts with the colored belfry and sky, awaiting restorative redemption.

Jonathan Galicano (b. 1978) focuses on vistas of his father’s homeland (being born and raised in Manila), by combining traditional academic painting with conceptual elements—in this case a monochrome-mixed-with-color approach that is a homage to photography, as well as its translation into paint. Jonathan studied Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines Diliman, and has been guided by both Romulo Galicano and “Sym” Mendoza. A landscape artist who has mastered the mixed-monochrome/color technique, Jonathan captures both the poignancy of an upland farm, as well as that of a ruined church through this translation of photography into painted contrasts that bring out the contributions of young contemporary art. Jonathan has participated in numerous group shows here and abroad and received awards since 1990. He is also a member of Portrait Society of America and Ugnayang Pilipino Arts Foundation.

(Luther Galicano, Peace Valley)

The richness of tropical foliage, intermingled with city views, shows Luther’s superb handling of composition: the farmer and his cows are on one side, assuring dynamism and one’s roaming eye.

Luther M. Galicano II (b. 1961) takes as his artistic inspiration the sunlit outdoor scenes of flower gardens that remind us of the great Impressionists like Fantin-Latour and Monet, but decidedly depicting the tropical flora of Cebu. Luther took informal lessons in drawing and painting under Martino Abellana and Romulo Galicano, and is a frequent participant in the plein-aire sessions of Cebuano landscapists, from which he derives scenes of outdoor beauty and chromatic contrast in the various flower gardens, parks, and plant nurseries of this tourist island. Luther has participated in several group shows in Cebu City, Manila, New York, Washington D.C. and in Germany. He won First prize at the Cebu On-The-Spot Painting Competition sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism (1984); Third Prize, Cebu Art Association Art Competition (1995); and Second Prize, Kaalyado Ng Sining Art Competition (2011).

(Dong Tallo, Vanitas)

Art and reality intermingle and play against each other in this dense grouping of depicted paintings, sculpture, and props. Dong displays supreme handling of textures and colors in still life.

Facundo “Dong” Tallo Jr. (b. 1952) masters still life and the formal balance of objects set in space. Like Mulong Galicano and Sym, Dong studied under the maestro Martino Abellana from 1972 to 1978, and continued painting lessons with Romulo Galicano in 1979. In his still life arrangements, Dong shows a magisterial command of composition, as well as a sometimes-humorous look at the visual elements that makes still life an inner world worthy of extensive investigation, like characters coming to life in a miniature theatre. Segueing from mid-tone lighting to dramatic chiaroscuros and full daylight scenes, Dong gives a contemporary hyperrealistic feel to his still lifes and figure genre works. Dong Tallo has participated in numerous group shows since 1980. He is a member of Habagatang Art – Carcar, Kolor Sugbu- Cebu City, and Portrait Artist Society of the Philippines.

(Pepe Villadolid, Sunset With Rainbow)

Reflecting the complex hues of twilight, Pepe sympathetically renders his home island with a cosmopolitan relish. Beached fishing boats and the low tide mirrors sea, sky, and humanity as one.

Jose “Pepe” B. Villadolid (b. 1946) has made a lifetime commitment to depicting the richly-endowed and dramatically-lit seascapes of Cebu. Being born in Bantayan Island, Pepe learned earlier the rudiments of painting from his uncle. In 1988 he took up painting seriously and started joining outdoor painting with fellow Cebuano artists. In 1991 he met and befriended Romulo Galicano. As a seascapist, Pepe’s works can be comparable to the melodically-lit seascapes of Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, and is characterized by rich, Impressionistic colors, faithfully depicting the rich palette of aqua greens and blues of the tropical seas. He has recently gone back to Bantayan to depict its seascapes. Pepe has participated in numerous group exhibits since 1988. He won the Grand Prize for the Martino Abellana Painting Contest (1996), and Third Prize at the Badian Island Beach Resort Art Contest. 

(Romulo Galicano, Boating Party at Bagac)

Mulong’s masterful handling of academic realism, here showcasing a “fantasy setting” in Bataan, is contrasted by his equally magnificent combination of abstract vertical lines that gives credence to his contemporaneity. 

(Sym, The Three Cherries)

Alluding to the tiny fruits on upper right, Sym gives us a masterful rendition of Cubism via this tour de force of intersecting and parallel planes—a tabletop with sophistication.

The Monuments Men

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The Monuments Men, directed by and starring George Clooney, has done the production in Berlin, Germany. The action-thriller is written by Clooney & Grant Heslov, based on the book by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter.

The Monuments Men opens today in cinemas from 20th Century Fox distributed by Warner Bros.

The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners.

It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys - seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 - possibly hope to succeed.

But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind's greatest achievements.

From director George Clooney, the film stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett as Rose Valland, the one of the greatest and yet unknown heroines of World War II. After risking her life spying on the Nazis, day after day for four long years, Rose lived to fulfill her destiny: locating and returning tens of thousands of works of art stolen by the Nazis during their occupation of France.

The Monuments Men is based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history.

"The “Monuments Men”, were a group of approximately 345 men and women from thirteen nations who comprised the MFAA section during World War II. Many were museum directors, curators, art historians, artists, architects, and educators. Together they worked to protect monuments and other cultural treasures from the destruction of World War II. In the last year of the war, they tracked, located, and in the years that followed returned more than five million artistic and cultural items stolen by Hitler and the Nazis. Their role in preserving cultural treasures was without precedent." (http://www.monumentsmen.com/)

“Breton Houses” Exhibition of New Juvenal Sanso Works

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Sanso's “Breton Houses” Exhibition of New Juvenal Sanso Works runs from July 27 to August 3, 2012 at the  Powerplant.

The oeuvre in the current works of renowned painter and Modernist icon Juvenal Sanso can be seen as a new high point in the artist’s event filled life.

His latest exhibit,"Breton Houses" is a logical emotional progression in Sanso's creative journey which started from the darkness of his Black Periodpaintings, his strong expressionist paintings that arose from the trauma he experienced during the horrors of World War II. It was only starting in the 1960s and not after spending twenty-four of the most meaningful summers in his life (from 1960-1984) at the home of Yves le Dantec and Agnes Roualt in the Brittany seacoast that Sanso, tortured as he had been from the pain of war, learned to calm his soul. From that tranquil period, Sanso moved on to paint another phase in his artistic career, or the period that art historians refer to as the artist's joyous period. Just when the art community thought that Sanso had exhausted his inspiration, a little less than a decade ago, he presented a new series of works and introduced to the world his Moderno series.

Moderno meant a return to his strong modernist roots, In these works, most of them revisiting vistas and landscapes he had seen in the past or places he had traveled to, Sanso gives a refreshing and much vitalized visual interpretation using highly exaggerated colors and compositions. Always succeeding in being several steps ahead even of himself, Sanso never fails to surprise everyone. "Breton Houses" which starts on the 27th of July and runs until the 3rd of August 2012, will have an artist’s reception on the 31st of July, Tuesday, 6:30 P.M. at the Archaeology Wing, 2nd Floor of the Power Plant Mall. He brings his Moderno series to a much higher level, preparing works that, with their stark honesty, bordering almost on the spiritual. "Breton Houses" is presented by Galerie Joaquin, www.galeriejoaquin.com Tel:723-9418 or 723-9253.

The landscapes he creates and presents in "Breton Houses" are not to be viewed as specific paintings of particular houses in Brittany specially since Sanso is now painting mainly from his imagination and memory. "Breton Houses" are thus metaphors for the peace and tranquility he experienced during his stay on the northern coast of France. The landscapes he paints today are part of his search for the idyllic, a soothing balm for the restless and tired spirit not only of artists but of the human psyche. In "Breton Houses", Sanso paints the essence of calmness, painting what every man's dream of the perfect place should be. Sanso re-explores the meaning of warmth and comfort that those twenty-four summers have meant for him, creating works based more on those feelings than any actual location. Thus his new works conform to these emotions – of the idyllic place in one’s mind where one goes to relax – rather than a mere photocopy of an existing landscape. In this way, Sanso remains true to his expressionist ideals—relying on feeling and emotion to guide his steady, gifted hand. The landscapes on display show just how far the artist has come in his practice.

 While elements of his earlier works are certainly there – Breton architecture, the affinity towards the coast, the famous Sanso moon – the calm his newer paintings in this series invokes is reminiscent of his experiments in color that stems from the Moderno series. This makes the new entries of the Breton Houses series more nuanced and complex than Sanso’s earlier works. The search for the idyllic is ever present, but Sanso has injected his experiences since into this series. Paradoxically, the series that initiated his rebirth as an artist was itself reawakened.

A renowned painter, Juvenal Sanso is one of the best-known members of the Philippine Modernist movement. Having graduated from the College of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines, he is contemporaries with National Artists Victorio Edades, Vicente Manansala, Jose Joya, Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, and Napoleon Abueva (his batchmate in UP). His teachers were National Artists Fernando Amorsolo and Guillermo Tolentino.

A foremost master, Sanso has had a long and stellar career capped by a number of awards and recognition including a King’s Cross of Isabella knighthood from the King of Spain, membership into the Order of Chevalier from the French Government, and a Presidential Medal of Merit awardee from the Republic of the Philippines. His works are represented in the collections of some 40 museums in the world including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum d’ Arte Moderne in Paris, the Rosenwald National Gallery of Washington, and the cultural Center of the Philippines.

His collectors include the Rothschild Family, Nelson Rockefeller, Vincent Price, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jean Cocteau and many prominent, American, European and prominent Filipino families.

Mag-Iloy: A Masterpice from painter Nune Alvarado

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Iconic Negrenese social realist painter Nunelucio Alvarado (1950) is regarded as one of the most prominent contemporary artists in the Philippines. He has won numerous international critic acclaim for his powerful works that mostly portrayed the life and struggles of Negros Occidental’s the working class.

Alvarado’s art is a panorama of Philippine life that ranges from the decorative aspects of Negros life such as the colorful fruits and vegetables found in the market; or the simple family life that utilizes the bright prints and patterns under the Visayan sun; and on the darker side, the evils of environmental, social and cultural degradation of which he is known for as a social realist.
 

Recognized for his unique and distinct style of bright-eyed squat and squared figures that employ strong vivid colors and dark lines, Alvarado frequently applies powerful psycho-sexual symbols with a touch of the surreal as he depicts the plight of sugarcane workers, fishermen and traders found in his native Negros Occidental.

 While the artist portrays the pain of the working class, he also does not miss the strong family bond that exists amidst the struggles and sacrifices of daily life. Along these lines, the artist has worked on numerous Mother and Child canvasses such as “Mag-Iloy”, 2011, a 60cm X 45.5cm oil on canvas. Here we find a son locked in the embrace of his winged mother, either alluding to the son’s desperate cling to the spirit of a dead mother or the mother is portrayed as angelic in her selfless love. The work is a warm picture of comfort and protection in typical Alvarado style.

In 1992 he was among the Thirteen Artist awardees of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and twice a recipient of the Philippine Art Awards (Philip Morris Art Awards). In 2004 he was honored with the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan sa Larangan ng Pintura Award by the CCP.

Alvarado has had over 50 solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions both here and abroad including the prestigious Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, the Queensland Art Gallery and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, USA. His works are also part of the collection of the Singapore Art Museum.

FOR SALE

Title: Mag-iloy 

Date: 2011

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: H60cm X W45.5cm

Price: PHP80,000

Visit his website at: 

http://www.nunelucioalvarado.com/ 

http://nunelucioalvarado.multiply.com/

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Sandra Seifert Poses for Sultry New Earth Ad for PETA

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With Earth's oceans and continents and the message "Save the Planet: Go Vegetarian"painted on her body, top model Sandra Seifert will pose for a stunning new ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia.


The ad, which will be shot by top photographer Ken Go, with bodypainting by Don Delubio, makeup by Magic by Anju Dargani, and hair styling by Nina's Touch, will explain how animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of climate change and a major contributor to resource depletion, pollution, and world hunger.

"Meat production has a devastating impact on the environment," says Sandra. "With so many alternatives to meat available, it's easier than ever to enjoy great food while saving animals and the planet. Going vegetarian is the best thing we can do to save the planet this Earth Day!"

Besides causing the daily suffering of billions of animals who are raised to be killed for food, the meat industry ravages the Earth. The United Nations recently stated that a global shift toward a vegan diet is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change. Livestock gas is the source of more than a third of all global human-attributed methane emissions—as a greenhouse gas, methane is 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

In addition, feeding, transporting, and slaughtering farmed animals and packaging, transporting, and storing their flesh waste enormous amounts of energy.

In the Philippines, nearly 800 million cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals are killed for their flesh every year. They are dehorned and debeaked and have their teeth, tails, and testicles cut off—all without being given any painkillers. They are crammed into crowded, filthy enclosures and denied everything that is natural and important to them. At the slaughterhouse, animals are routinely hung upside down, have their throats cut, are skinned alive, or are scalded to death while they're still conscious.

For more information, please visit PETAAsiaPacific.com.

Desire, Ennui, Anxiety: Marcel Antonio at Yuchengco Museum, Feb 6 to 25,2012

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In July of 2010, the poet V.I.S. de Veyra posted a blog essay on the art of Marcel Antonio titled “Blue Funk’d Stories: The Expanding Art of Marcel Antonio” (read at http://partycrashingangle.blogspot.com/2010/07/blue-funked-silent-stories-expanding_26.html) and coined the phrase-tag Blue Funk Erotica for Antonio’s art. 

De Veyra described Blue Funk Erotica as 

1) unsmiling faces-derived figurative drama (primarily portraiture, then), 

2) replete of appropriations or art-historical quotes, 

3) suggestive (but only suggestive) of a narrative, 

4) quasi-rebellious towards rigid allusions and painting titles’ guidance, 

5) unpainterly expressionist, 6) of an in-a-trance mood as against a happy one, and 

7) conscriptive of the painting viewer as peeper. 

“This erotica should stay around and keep us entranced,” the poet-critic wrote, “being not so much one that tickles the groin as a kind that promotes the understanding that every face, gesture, object, color, and shape is a secret sex object and clandestine true story waiting to be told.” But also debunking a previous simplistic tag on Antonio’s art as “narrative expressionist,” de Veyra wrote: “In Antonio’s case, his blue funkism's ‘de-expression’, or ‘dis-expression’ and narrative confusion through the mannerisms of narrative imagery and titling, seems to be a produce of a Russian Formalist narrative bent to ‘defamiliarize’ images and shapes towards a higher enigma. Thus his refusal to ‘express’.”

The above mentioned blog started a dialogue between Antonio’s art as well as intent (of unintent) and de Veyra’s reading, culminating in a late-2011 collection titled “Desire, Ennui, Anxiety” which shall be shown this coming Feb 6 to 25 at the Yuchengco Museum.

This title for Antonio’s new series does not so much signal a change in his art’s direction as clarify where de Veyra’s reading is right and where it needs to be tweaked. For instance, while de Veyra opts for a Barthesian “variety of narrative possibilities,” Antonio’s pragmatic knowledge of his audience allows/welcomes two basic approaches to his art.

The one approach favours rigid symbolist readings, especially as Antonio is himself attracted to the “monumental” (Antonio’s term) figure common among utopian-art compositions (of Wagnerian glorifications, classical idealism, Nazi art, Stalinist totalitarian art, socialist realism, etc.) as well as in advertising art or the idealizations of soft porn.

But, for the other approach, Antonio acknowledges that de Veyra is right about his—Antonio’s—own efforts to frustrate, so to speak, all symbolist and narrative approaches, via experimentations with juxtapositions/relations and eclectic allusions. These experimentations, appropriations, and art-history quotes result in a dehumanized atmosphere, involving such stuff as machine esthetics and the usual facial expressions of ennui and boredom, all moving towards Antonio’s intended postmodernist multiplicity of meanings. But the final result on each single canvas is an invite to a pseudo-narrative half-aware of this pseudo-ness, welcoming while parodying the various cultural and moral significations possible to professional and popular semiotics.

In this sense, Antonio’s art would be self-described as anxious about the unknown, desirous of knowledge as a matter of course but likewise celebrating the ennui of knowledge’s elusivity, even the charm of that ennui itself alone. Ennui as both springboard and object of desire, then, visually fulfilled or illustrated on an Antonio-esque drama field.

A final stamp to this anti-narrative effort to “recover the sensation of life” (Victor Shklovsky) is the artist’s devotion to the coloration of Diego Velázquez or Chagall as well as the latent abstract geometrics beneath all his pseudo-narrative stagings.

We would like to invite people or media to witnesses the Marcel Antonio art work this coming Feb 6 2012 6pm for the opening for lunching on cocktail.V.I.S. de Veyra joins Antonio in this exhibit with fourteen new poems printed in the exhibition catalogue.

For more information about the show, contact the 

Yuchengco Museum, 

2/F RCBC Plaza, cor. Ayala and Sen. Gil J. Puyat Aves.

Makati City, Philippines 1200

or 

Galleria Quattrocento

3rd Floor Glorietta 4 Art Space

Glorietta 4, Ayala Center

Barangay San Lorenzo

Makati City 

Telephone: [632] 818-5939 // [632] 519-7221;

Mobile #: 0917-8911322;

Email: galleria.quattrocento@gmail.com

Website: http://philpaintings.com/)