Category Archive for: kultura

kultura

Cherie Gil, world class

<…> as with many women, Callas also just wanted love. And this apparently, was her failing. Seeing her teach this master class though, is a testament as well to her spirit. She was stereotype, yes, she was diva, as expected. But too, she’s a woman who knows not to rest on her laurels, and instead actually wants to share it. That soft spot is what’s startlingly overwhelming about her persona.

Cherie portrays Marie

One realizes two things in watching Master Class. First, that the struggles of woman, image and otherwise, public figure or private, are the same in many ways, and that as you empathize with Callas’ story, you realize how sisterhood lives, beyond death, across races, despite differences. Second, that you do not know a world class Filipino performance until you watch Cherie Gil do this play.

read all of it here!

kultura

hits and misses in ManilArt2010

note: a version of this was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Arts and Books section, 20 September 2010.

After last year it was difficult not to look forward to ManilArt 2010. Last year meant drinks and music, a whole lot of camaraderie, a certain high to having such a huge event for Philippine art happen. This year, while the art was there in fantastic display, there seemed to be an amount of distance between art and people. Maybe there just wasn’t a lot of rock ‘n’ roll.

The distance of Manila Art

This year Manila Art was celebrated at the Mall of Asia, making it literally inaccessible. This year too, it went all out in creating a fancy opening night, which meant making it an ultra-formal affair, a nice dress and heels not good enough. The set-up of a red carpet and a ManilArt backdrop by the entrance of the conference hall is telling of who it is that Manila Art wanted to cater to. Obviously this is reason enough for many other people to stay away.

As there were many reasons to leave earlier than expected. One of which was the fact that food and drinks ran out (and yes, plates and utensils did too!), a far cry from last year’s Chef Laudico. And even if they didn’t run out, there weren’t a lot of trays going around, and staying within the gallery booths meant not getting any food at all. The food was fantastic mind you, but very few of us got to much of it. Oh and the heat! Between hunger and the failure of air conditioning, it was enough reason to leave. (more…)

kultura

senior moments, notwithstanding

Granted, I had paid for really good tickets, treating my mom to what I thought she would find enjoyable, as a matter of friendship (with Tita Mitch), as a matter of wit and humor, the kind that we both know is few and far between as far as contemporary Pinoy comedy is concerned. So on that tiny stage of Music Museum, on their Manila run (they’ve been touring the country, apparently), the Juicy Cat Dolls strutted their stuff. And there was a lot of good that was expected, some bad that was unexpected, plenty of laughter in between, all in all good enough. This ain’t a rave, but it’s still hopeful.

After all Mitch Valdes, Nanette Inventor and Pilita Corrales go onstage ready to make us laugh. They begin with an original song about being a Juicy Cat Doll, competing with the youngerand sexier women of this world, and putting their foot down: we are more intelligent, and that has to count for something. And boy, do they show us how!

the rest is here, via GMA News online.

kultura

saved by salvatus! notes on the ateneo art awards 2010

a version of this was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Arts and Books Section, August 23 2010.

Because Mark Salvatus and his work inspired by the Quezon Provincial Jail would be the most logical choice for the Ateneo Art Award 2010, to this critic who has seen most these artists’ exhibits when they came out in galleries and museums across the metro, and who does insist on relevance and resistance, and its possibilities in art.

Of the 12 short-listed artists with works in exhibition at the Shangri-la Plaza Mall’s Grand Atrium, Salvatus’ installation “Secret Garden” and painting “Do or Die” were the most outright political, speaking of the lives we’d rather forget about, the silence that is as noisy as our screams. The jail ain’t a pretty place, especially in the Philippines. The ugly ain’t the usual set of works that we see the Ateneo Art Awards (AAA) liking, and let’s not even begin about the political.

The argument would be of course, that everything is political. And looking at the manner in which this AAA exhibit exists can only be telling. In the context of this high-end mall, with mostly foreign shops, the second floor lobby filled with contemporary (and young) Pinoy art just seemed so out of place. Or maybe it was perfect. (more…)

kultura

ruben de jesus and the simple life

a version of this is in the Arts and Books Section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 9 2010.

From afar, the first thing you notice about Ruben de Jesus’ works is its colors. Reds, blues and blacks are rendered in various and unexpected hues that play around with light and shadow and emphasis. Up close, each of the pen and ink works is a story in itself, at the same time that all together they could be bound into one children’s storybook. Simpleng Buhay, Simpleng Kulay (The Alcove, Filipinas Heritage Library, Makati Avenue) seems simple enough in theory, but in reality it speaks of a complexity that’s in the artwork, and more importantly is beyond it.

The choice of the simple

Last year, de Jesus mentioned the idea of paintings on the simple life to Filipinas Heritage, and while they were excited about it, de Jesus needed to be given much space and time to do it. Sometimes it wasn’t clear how much of the work was being done, or even how many artworks there were going to be. But a year after, there are 12 framed artworks all in all, six in blue and black and six in red and black, each one working with a particular moment in rural life that might be deemed simple, if not forgotten, maybe a reminiscence, by current standards of city life and development. (more…)