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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Art Stalking: Molly Hatch Furniture and Ceramic Paintings

So if you're one of the 5 people who read this blog (hi sisters, Jim and Mom!), you've probably read a recent entry about my brand spanking new apartment to be turned over to me within this month. I'm due for final unit viewing next week, before I receive the keys, so I'm absolutely excited about this milestone and the process of buying furniture, decoration and finally moving in. I've been Pinteresting for HOURS for ideas, and I've been going gaga over my awesome discoveries in the cloud.

Today, I discovered ceramicist, printmaker and painter, Molly Hatch and I absolutely covet her work for my apartment!

Just looking at it makes me soooooo happy! It's not even mine! 

These chairs were hand painted based on historical prints for *drumroll please* The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Anthropologie! Can you imagine being in collaboration with THE MET and ANTHROPOLOGIE? Geezus, this lady has mad skills.

Apart from designing and working with furniture, Molly is also known for painting on ceramics. Photos above are the the installations that she made at her solo exhibition last year during London Design Week. I absolutely love the idea of using plates as canvas. And and her use of space is very clever. The ceramics can be used for display as an one unit on the wall, or individually for, well, serving food. But of course, these pieces are not for sale (as if I can afford them), but it's pretty cool that she makes art that's both decorative and practical.

Less colorful, but still equally awesome works from her exhibit Reverie at the Philadelphia Art Alliance in 2013. She is very influenced with history and a lot of her paintings are reminiscent of those 18th century drawings from Europe.

Check out more of her work at her official website and her process at her blog

Photo credit: www.mollyhatch.com

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Designer Feature: Oh Hello Dy!

It's funny how I chance upon so many awesome stuff on the blogosphere and end up connecting and reconnecting with people. I was ogling all the pretty and neat stuff from Katha Magazine's first issue when my interest was piqued by this article about a designer who spread good vibes through her work. Her name is Diana Jacinto, a designer from Manila working in Singapore. At first glance, readers will be immediately uplifted by her use of typography and colors, and her way of putting design elements together are absolutely something I'm jealous of. So I checked out her blog and loooooved her typographic pep talks and friendly reminders. The messages are really simple. While some these messages are nothing new, it's nice to be reminded--with nice fonts to boot. 

I am usually a quiet blog reader. I hardly leave comments on the blogs that I visit, but I that day I was feeling so positive so I wanted to give a shout out to the designer on this particular blog entry. 

All photos from ohhellody

And what do you know! She replied to my comment via email in which she reminded me that we actually met in person before! And what blew me away is the fact that SHE KNOWS MY BAND! She was really such a darling, telling me that she loved my band's music. Here I was, gushing at her work, only to be told that she loves mine as well. Mutual fan girling, anyone?

Anyway, aside from showcasing her design chops, her blog has tons of great content to keep anybody inspired. From curating things that she likes from all over the cloud to providing color inspirations or even just sharing photographs from her lomography collection, Oh Hello Dy blog is filled with amazing designs, inspiration and overall awesomeness. 

Check out her blog here (as if I haven't linked her enough no?)

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Artist Life Peg: Joni Mitchell

I mentioned Joni Mitchell in my last entry when I used her lyrics for my most recent drawing. Jim and I were talking about her the other day and I shared to him something that I read before about Joni considering herself primarily a painter, and being a musician was secondary and was just brought about by circumstance. Jim was curious and asked what sort of art she made, all I could remember was her self portraits for her albums. She actually studied art in Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary before she became the highly acclaimed folk singer songwriter that she is today. 

While Joni (oo first name basis kami) is more known for her heartfelt lyrics and musical genius, her art deserves equal recognition. I'd like to share this video from a recent CBC interview about her artistic process and her attitude towards creating art and music. She has mastered both languages, but explains that the process for each is quite different--music requires more logic and analysis to her, while painting, as she puts it, is meditative. She candidly speaks about her hatred for fame and attention, but at the same time is grateful for the tributes given in her honor because of the incredible work and influence that she has contributed to the music industry. She is very frank about topics being discussed in the interview and this has led to much controversy.  At age 70, perhaps this is the least of her concerns, and mentions that she is used to being misunderstood. Personally, I really don't give a rat's ass on what people think of her because she is one of the most talented people out there. Having achieved so much in her life, she still shows signs of unwavering passion towards art and creating and it manifests in the way she talks about her art and her music. 

Watch her interview here:

Check out her other works at her Official Website

PhotoCredit: American Gallery Wordpress || www.CBC.ca

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Psychedelic Sightings: SM North Skywalk Murals

It's the last day of October! 2 months to go and it's 2000-fureakin-14 already!

On my way to work this morning, I was contemplating on the little triumphs and failures of the past year. I think the little victories outweigh the setbacks, so I'm really really thankful. There are a lot of things that I still need to work on, but the pursuit for growth is still pretty much on track. Travel, work, cupcake business and creativity take the biggest portion of the achievement pie this year, while running and the band's album/EP has taken a back seat. Ah, so much to do and so much to learn still! I can't wait to reach new milestones this coming year.

Anyway, before you guys go out and proceed with your trick or treating, let me share a bunch of photos from an impromptu trip earlier this week to the North--as in SM North. Haha. I was walking along the skywalk when I chanced upon this awesome set of murals.

I was trying to figure out who the artist is, because I've seen the same style in one of the walls in Bonifacio High Street. Sadly, my world class stalking and google searching skills didn't serve me well this time, so I'll leave it up to you to check it out for yourself and admire the work.

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Art Stalking: Sara Blake of ZSO

These past couple of months have been quite unproductive for my creative sparks. I've been busy with work, so I needed to put on my I.T. hat and get lost in the world of logic and algorithms and business requirements and such. When I'm not working, I check out the usual blogs, then from one click to another, I chance upon really inspiring finds. I was checking out the Skillshare directory this past week, and I've been strategizing what courses to take first when I came across Sara Blake's class "Create Full Color Digital Illustration from A Handmade Drawing"

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Art Stalking: Lisa Congdon

I learned about Lisa Congdon via Maria Popova's wonderful site called www.brainpickings.org. It's one of my most frequently visited sites since I started dipping my toes into the corporate world in order to give my mind at least ounce of creative inspiration and stimulation while taking a break from I.T. work.

She has a very spontaneous and quirky characteristic about her work that reminds me of Maira Kalman. Her hand lettering is playful, informal and absolutely unique. She is also self taught and her illustrations range from portraits to patters and random objects and it blows my mind that she didn't start drawing or painting until she was in her early 30's!

Here are a few of my favorite paintings and artworks by Lisa Congdon courtesy of her blog.



Maya Angelou, Frida Kahlo and Anaïs Nin portraits which are part of her Reconstructionists Project with Maria Popova. Check out new posts at her blog every Monday!

While her portraits are realistic and traditional in nature, I adore her playful take on using digital media.






Awesome repeat patterns that were hand drawn, scanned then digitally colored. Aren't they awesome?!

She has a very positive voice in her blog aptly titled "Today is going to be awesome." The moment you visit her site, it's just full of inspiration and love for pretty things and the actual illustration/drawing process. I also admire her dedication and her ability to stick with yearlong projects that require her to post photos of collections and make hand lettered quotes every day or paint portraits every week.

I also found out that she is getting married this coming Saturday! Congratulations Lisa! :)

Note: All photos posted in this entry are by Lisa Congdon.

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Art Stalking: Gayle Kabaker and Krisatomic

I'm welcoming May with tons of inspiration from a couple of watercolor and gouache artists! These fashion illustrations are uber chic! I love the way they do their washes and how cleverly they draw their subjects.

Here are my favorite watercolor illustrations from Gayle Kabaker (photos courtesy of www.gkabaker.com)

She has a loose way of playing with paint which I absolutely love. The way some colors bleed after a wet on wet application is always so fascinating for me. I find so much mystery and flair in these women's faces, it makes me wonder what they are thinking. There's a certain element of sophistication and elegance about about them, don't you think?

Kristina also known as Kris Atomic is a fashion illustrator and photographer from Brighton. She has been a subject of a previous blog entry, but that was way back in 2009. 4 years later, I still  admire how her blog and her style has evolved and how she manages to make adorable and quirky yet very fashion forward illustrations. Her super fresh and fun take on color and composition is so inspiring and I love that she has a very recognizable and signature way of drawing her subjects.  All photos courtesy of www.krisatomic.com

I was once into drawing human figures and subjects, when I was doing my Flickr 365 Drawings Project in 2008, but eventually got into drawing more nature-inspired subjects this year. I think it's high time to practice drawing faces and figures again!

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Inspiration With Wrapping Paper

During my visit at The Met, I was looking for a souvenir that would remind me of my trip to one of the most renowned art museums in the world. I wanted something that will inspire me to draw and be more creative. If only I had endless amount of moolah, I would've bought a bunch more stuff, but decided to pick my books wisely. I've always been a fan of Gustav Klimt, so I picked a book called Gustav Klimt: Painter of Women. His art nouveau paintings just never fail to astound me. I was already content with my pick when I stumbled upon a shelf of wrapping paper books. After much ado, I picked it up and said to myself, I will probably never find something like this in Manila. I'm oh so glad I got it, coz it was filled with the loveliest watercolor flower patterns, and it got me inspired to practice watercolor again.

This goes for about 9 dollars each. Not bad, right?

It's amazing to think that this is made using watercolor! The shading is absolutely fantastic, and the lines are so clean and crisp.

The cynic in me would think that this is photo manipulated. It's possible, right?

Light foreground on dark background. I love it.

Looking at the patterns made me take out my Strathmore notebook and just draw petals, leaves and branches. I still need practice with underpainting, but I think it turned out well. What do you think?

I'm looking for further inspiration on how to make good use of the pretty wrapping paper. Perhaps Holly Becker can help me out. I have Modge Podge stashed from my trip to Michael's, so I'm excited to make good use of it too!

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