SM Mall of Asia X Secret Fresh Gallery

Last Thursday, I got an email invite from SM MOA to check out their graffiti art exhibit in collaboration with Secret Fresh Gallery happening on May 9. The exhibit  featuring works of Christian Tamondong, Egg Fiasco and JJ Zamoranos was launched at the North Entertainment Mall and I had the chance to squiggle out of the office for a while (thanks to my awesome boss!) to take photos and talk to the organizers of the event. 

This exhibit is an effort by SM to showcase graffiti as an art form. They've started it in SM North EDSA Skywalk with Dee Jae Paeste, and it makes me so happy that they're doing it again with 3 of the most talented graffiti artists in the Philippines. I think it's a pretty awesome move from SM because they have the space and the resources to really show the works of these artists to mall goers. Graffiti has always had a bad rap with the average onlooker since it's almost always synonymous to vandalism, but to the artists, it's simply a form of self expression, defying limits and getting out of the comfort zone using the urban landscape. There is a thin line between vandalism and street art as anyone can get a can of spray paint, draw a few faces and a couple of cuss words and say it's self expression but you know good art when you see one, I guess, and hell I've seen them at work last Friday!

Egg Fiasco and his signature monkey biz

 

Christian Tamondong and what I assume is a bunny rabbit (but I don't want to jump into conclusions)

JJ Zamoranos and his cutie creature

Dear Ice Cream, Y U SO COOL?!

What a dork.

The exhibit also showed toy sculptures from the Secret Fresh gallery at the North Mall's ground floor pocket garden. These were carved from wood and painted with acrylic. The artists painted these themselves based on their own design. I met Angelo, a tattoo artist. He showed me his box boy tattoo by Christian Tamondong. He got it two years ago! 

With Dennis and Big Boy of Secret Fresh Gallery

 According to Big Boy of Secret Fresh, the preparation for the launch only took them two weeks. They've managed to bring the artists together and pull off the exhibit in that short amount of time. The two murals located on each side of the pocket garden was done by the three artists within 2 hours! It blows my mind. It takes me almost the whole day to paint on paper! Talking to Dennis and Big Boy, I could feel that there's so much enthusiasm and passion about street art and vinyl toy collecting. Secret Fresh believes in their artists regardless of background or credentials and provide opportunities for emerging ones to break into the scene. The whole scene though is all about community, collaboration, support and respect for each other's work.

There is something about street art that will always amaze and capture me. The scale of the paintings, the medium, the ideas behind the images being made; most importantly, it's the fact that it's never snooty or intimidating. I love that I can walk up to a painting, touch it one day and return to the same place and see a different painting on another. It's really a win-win situation. This partnership ensures that artists will have the space that they need to show their work,  SM MOA won't have to worry about boring white walls again. Hopefully, this collaboration between Secret Fresh and SM Mall of Asia is only the first of many. 

The Secret Fresh Art Exhibit runs until May 31, 2014
Artists:
Egg Fiasco
Christian Tamondong
JJ Zamoranos

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The Garden Exhibit at Sweet Ecstasy, Cubao X

Last June 22, art, music and tons of inspiration converged at Sweet Ecstasy in Cubao X for Coy Placido's The Garden exhibit. Despite the rainfall and traffic that Saturday night, people crowded the venue to view the artist's work. The exhibit showcases more than 30 artworks that include digital paintings, vector art and photo manipulations, created with the central theme of duality or in Coy's own words, "the inescapable condition of our nature within humanity and beyond the bounds of society to think in contrast or in twofold." 

Two floors of Sweet Ecstasy displayed Coy's work, and exhibit goers were also engaged in an origami challenge  to be included in the sea of paper cranes that served to support one of his more minimalist digital illustrations called "Sweets In Every Fold". I struggled to follow the instructions lined beside the staircase, but eventually managed to give my share of paper folding sweetness.

Aside from awesome art, the crowd was also treated with fantastic music from Abby Asistio, Session Road, KAZE, Pedicab, Top Junk, Peryodiko and Coffeebreak Island. It was an exhibit turned street party as the audience inched closer to the stage, ignoring the rain drops whilst singing, dancing and taking photos of the performers. 

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The Garden: A Digital Art Exhibit by Coy Placido

Poster by Coy Placido

Music and art really go hand in hand in most cases and with Coy, it's no different. He's the guitarist extraordinaire of the bands Session Road and Top Junk and is the founder and creator of the graphic design company, Folding8. He's also a photographer-slash-lomographer, writer and traveler and The Garden is just a peek into the clockwork of his creative mind. 

Looking forward to seeing his digital art works, illustrations and photomanipulations this coming month at Sweet Ecstasy, Cubao Expo! My band KAZE will be playing music at the exhibit! 

Do check out more of his works at Folding8 and coy-placido.tumblr.com

UPDATED [5/7/2013]: The exhibit will be postponed to a later date which will be announced on Coy's website. :)

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Bucket List: The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Even before my flight was confirmed for New York, I was already dreaming of this day. A lot of people would say that when you travel, you shouldn't just be stuck in the confined walls of the buildings and museums, but explore the unknown corners of the place. I'm guilty of this, because whenever I travel to a major city, I make it a point to check the museums and the art galleries. In my long list of things to do in New York, visting the MoMa came in first, but it was actually the last major thing that I did before I went back to Manila. Visiting The MoMa and seeing the artworks in person is close to being able to listen to a Beatles Record in Abbey Road Studios. Perhaps I'm exaggerating but that's exactly how I felt. I was on fan girl mode, to be honest.

Weeeeeee!! Kinikilig agad, entrance pa lang!

The Museum of Modern Art, built in 1929 founded by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Mary Quinn Sullivan, Lillie P. Bliss, is considered to be one of the most important art institutions that develop and collect modernist art. Aside from contemporary paintings, drawings and sculpture, it also houses different works of design, architecture, photography, film and other media. It was originally located at 57th corner 5th Avenue in Manhattan's Heckscher Building until 1939 when they relocated to 53rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenue building which was donated by John D. Rockefeller Jr.. The first loan exhibition was held in November 1929 with works by Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gaughin, Paul Cezanne and Georges Seurat. The museum underwent renovations and expansions over the years, but still continues to consistently grow and develop to be able to show contemporary art works from all over the world.

I arrived there in the afternoon around 3:30 PM on a Friday, and was lucky enough to get free tickets. The original ticket price is 25 dollars and unlike the pricing system at The Met which was 19 dollars suggested (but you can give a dollar if you're feeling stingy), ticket prices at The MoMa was fixed.  Perhaps the art gods were smiling upon me that day, because apparently, they have this promo called Target Friday Nights held between 4:00-8:00 pm where you can get in for free. I had to painstakingly go through an anaconda line and wait for 30 minutes to get tickets, but it was still worth my patience considering that I was about to see works by the rockstars of the modern art world. I was of course excited to see paintings and studies by Klimt (my current and perhaps all time favorite), Van Gogh, Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Warhol, Cezanne, Gaughin, Lichtenstein and featured for early spring, Edvard Munch's The Scream, but I also got to view works of other artists such as Freida Kahlo, Fernand Leger and Jackson Pollock . I finally was able to go inside at around 4 and devised my viewing strategy. Top to bottom was the plan, so that if I run out of time, I can take photos and ogle at the art works while going down. I also thought about the galleries that I could skip--conceptual art, and the strange abstract art weren't really my cup of tea.

Here are my MoMa highlights:

Pop Art love! The famous Campbell Soup Cans by Andy Warhol, all 32 varieties of the soup completed in 1962. This was displayed at the entrance of the Painting and Sculpture Gallery I on the 5th floor. A LOT of people were having their pictures taken (including me). When I was looking at photos online, I initially thought that this is a single artwork on a single canvas, but they were actually 32 individually framed canvas displayed side by side as you would see in a grocery store. 

Silkscreened portrait of Gold Marilyn Monroe, done in 1962, the same year Marilyn committed suicide. The gold background is actually bigger than it looks in this photo.

Starstruck moment with Gustav Klimt's Hope II, painted 1907-1908. This artwork contained gold and platinum and it shimmered! This poor photo doesn't do it justice. I was in front of it for like 15 minutes just admiring the colors and lines. I was especially fascinated at how the painter did the faces of the women at the bottom and the position of their delicate hands.

Paul Cezanne's (above) and Henry Matisse's (below) still life paintings. I don't know why, but I am a huge fan of impressionism. I would've wanted to see Auguste Renoir's paintings, but I wasn't able to come across one.

Fernand Leger's Les Trois Musiciens (The Three Musicians) which was probably the only Leger work that really caught my attention since his early works were mostly Cubist-derived but I was more drawn to more realistic renditions of his work. Obviously the musical theme contributed to pique my interest, but the contrast of the dark suits against the yellow background was also very striking. This was actually located at the far end of the lobby of the 4th floor and not within a specific gallery, but I had to take a closer look. This also reminded me of Jim. Yihee. 

Oh Monet Monet, Monet, your water lilies are beautiful! One has to really step back to appreciate his work. Thank you girl with a red bonnet for making my photo more interesting by passing right by me. 

Edvard Munch and his paintings of anxiety and melancholy. The photo on the left is actually just a print, but the original painting was also displayed at the Museum. People crowded around The Scream and there was actually a museum personnel that made sure that people didn't touch or go too near the famous painting. 

Paintings of Mr. Cubism himself, Pablo Picasso.  

Van Gogh's Starry Night -- I had to squeeze my way into the crowd to get a photo thus the angled shot haha.

Amidst the crowd and all the frenzy, I decided to take a break and capture photos of the garden named after Lillie P. Bliss who is one of the founders of the museum. Since it was already spring, people were able to tolerate the weather and get out to breathe some fresh air. I sat on the stairs and read a little excerpts from my souvenir which contained 350 works displayed in the museum. During my trip in the U.S., I had a real penchant for buying books, and this wasn't an exception. 

I wish I could post all the photos that I took and share them all here! It was such a remarkable experience to be seeing all the works of these renowned artists up close. Photos do not do them justice, so it's best to visit and check the works for yourself.

The Museum of Modern Art is located at 11 West 53rd Street between 5th and 6th Ave, New York City.

Check out the collection here and the museum hours here. 

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Botong Francisco at The Ayala Museum

Last week before going to the DFA in Megamall for my passport renewal, Jim and I went to Ayala Museum to check out Carlos "Botong" Francisco's "A Nation Imagined" Exhibit. The last time I went to Ayala Museum, their Third Floor Gallery was closed, so I contented myself with the Diorama Experience and the Crossroads of Civilizations gallery on the second and fourth floors respectively. It was Jim's first time to go to Ayala Museum so he enthusiastically visited all the galleries starting at the top floor.

Botong's Pista sa Nayon, image from  thegridcrosser

The stunning Crossroad to Civilizations Collection showcased archaeological artifacts from pre-colonial times. It's a 3 part exhibition of textiles, ceramics and gold pieces that made us want to go back in time and see how our ancestors wore and used these items before the Spanish arrived. I especially enjoyed looking at the treasures from the Gold of Ancestors Exhibition which displayed more than 1000 pieces of excavated gold from several parts of the country such as Surigao and Butuan from the 10th to 13th Centuries. It gives the audience a clue of how Filipinos expressed social prestige, spirituality and aesthetic preferences and it makes one wonder (and generally accept) how humans have this innate desire to create and express no matter what the culture or era we live in.

The highlight of our visit was the showcase of National Artist Botong Francisco's artworks.  The exhibit was a collection of 40 artworks including large scale paintings and sketches and studies that were never before displayed in public. His works usually depicted Filipino folk traditions like Pista sa Nayon, Harana and Bayanihan sa Bukid  and important historical events such as the famous Martyrdom of Rizal, First Mass at Limasawa and Blood Compact. You're probably familiar with his more famous murals in Intramuros, National Museum and UST but it was surreal to be seeing his sketches and studies up-close. It somehow shows you a glimpse of the artist's creative process and allow you to connect the dots on how the he was able to conceptualize the image from his head down to a small scale study, then to a larger scale painting. While the massive oil paintings were spectacular, I was more enamored by his smaller watercolor artworks. The precise lines and the technique of his washes is nothing I have ever seen! Mukhang vector art sa sobrang linis! I was really itching to take photos, but as an obedient spectator, I kept myself from using my Lumix inside the premises and respect the rules of the museum. Here's a photo from outside instead.

Nakaka OC lang yung second "O", tagilid!

The Botong Francisco's A Nation Imagined Exhibit runs until March 31 at the Ayala Museum, located at Makati Avenue corner Dela Rosa St, Makati City.
Entrance fee: 225 Php

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