I wasn’t planning on buying art when I set out for SMX last Sunday, but wowowee, seeing so much beautiful colors on canvas just couldn’t stop me from (literally) reaching for the paintings that jumped at me! Art gallery owners were friendly too, which was nice and encouraging, especially for an art newbie like me.
My philosophy? Good art is like wine. You like what you like.
My top picks:
Rovi Salegumba’s 4 works each depicting the seasons: spring, fall, winter, summer
Oil on canvas, 2010
I’m a yellow and sun girl, so was partial to the sun:
Would’ve been great to have the complete 4 but the red piece was taken by the time I got to the Tala Gallery booth!
Next was Carlo Ongchangco’s surreal balloon piece from the Village Art Gallery. One look, even from afar, and I knew it was a homage to Alice in Wonderland– when I saw the title up close, had a self-satisfied smirk on my face (very bad, I know)
“Follow Fish, Find Alice”, Acrylic on canvas, 2010, 36×48
Found this video through Carlos Celdran, who says it’s a “1960′s travelogue on The Philippines… from the ‘New Horizons’ series by Pan American Airways.”
The German narration made me zone out on some parts, but I especially loved the clip on sipa! I always wondered why we were taught that sipa was our national sport given that I never ever played it or saw anyone play it, but wow here’s proof that it was part of Pinoy everydays once upon a time.
Interesting to note that even after fifty years, we’re still using some of the same travel come ons (both subject matter and style) for Philippine tourism…
Last March 2010, I visited the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and was dumbfounded that such an atrocity happened, and happened in the 1970s. The Cambodians made sure none of it was left unremembered, and right in the center of its capital is a museum where visitors–and Cambodians themselves–can understand, even in passing, what went on in that place, while the rest of world went about its business.
Today I read about a memorial in Bosnia put up by Phillip Ruch, a German activist who is demanding accountability for the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995. “The Pillar of Shame” will be a mound of shoes–16,000 of them–each pair for a life lost in the ethnic cleansing that still haunts people to this day. Ruch says that the memorial serves as a “warning for all future U.N. employees never again just to stand by when genocide unfolds.”
We Filipinos should learn to be not so forgetful either. Do you think we’ll someday see a memorial for our murdered journalists, or the Ampatuan victims?
Maybe we don’t really forget, but we don’t remember either.
I remember singing this song over and over again when I was in first grade–my mom chose it as my piece for a singing contest in school…
I realize now that that was in 1987, a year after EDSA 1 (it puts me off the way we have to qualify which EDSA we mean now–the succeeding two were “not of the same spirit” and don’t belong with the first). Without pretense, in 1987, the spirit of Bayan Ko was alive in my mom, and was unknowingly passed on to me:
Ang bayan kong Pilipinas
Lupain ng ginto’t bulaklak
Pag-ibig na sa kanyang palad
Nag-alay ng ganda’t dilag
At sa kanyang yumi at ganda
Dayuhan ay nahalina
Bayan ko, binihag ka
Nasadlak sa dusa
CHORUS
Ibon mang may layang lumipad
Kulungin mo at umiiyak
Bayan pa kayang sakdal-dilag
Ang ‘di magnasang makaalpas
Pilipinas kong minumutya
Pugad ng luha at dalita
Aking adhika
Makita kang sakdal laya
I wonder how kids feel today, having lived through the inauguration of a new president who above all, promises to be good-hearted.
Confession: I had no idea who Blanco was, nor was I familiar with his works, before I went to Angono last week. The little that I knew of him was that he had a lot of talented children, and they painted as a family.
But wow oh wow, I was really floored when I visited his home in Angono! Tucked away in the middle of the Rizal province are paintings of a genius family– think Von Trapps for painting! Such an amazing, amazing place, full of love that is still palpable, to this day, even to the most ignorant of visitors.
The Blanco Family Museum displays the family’s most treasured works, ranging from those done by each family member as far back as 4 years of age until about the mid-twenties. All seven children are gifted painters, and Loring Blanco, their mother, joined in the painting party at age 48. Dad Pitok Blanco set up the museum to prevent the usual occurrence of artists’ families not having their works as keepsakes. None of the paintings on display are for sale.
Painted by their youngest, Peter Paul, at age 4:
Age 6:
A portrait of Peter Paul done by his older sister, Gay Blanco, at age 8:
A beautiful capture of a scene she must’ve seen often, using oil pastel on wood, age 7:
Already playing with lights and shadows at age 14:
A passion project of Jerry Acuzar of San Jose Builders fame, this is truly a gift to the Filipino people!
Way back in 2005, I already heard about a guy who bought old Filipino houses and transplanted them in a heritage town, and I remember that he got a lot of flack for taking these “treasures” out of their original context and arranging them in a place of his choosing, as if on a collector’s whim. I must admit though, that this is no whim, and we owe Mr. Acuzar a multitude of thanks and support for his vision.
Set on a beachside property in Bagac, Bataan, Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar is a bigger Vigan (which, more than a heritage town, is actually a “street” of old Filipino houses)… or maybe in light of my recent trip to Old Manila, an Intramuros without the walls.
Beautiful. Where can you find such an architectural festival for Pinoy talent? (more…)
After a nice Pasig river ferry ride from Guadalupe last Saturday, we walked around Intramuros, one of the default must-stops for visitors to Manila.
Literally “within walls”, Intramuros was the creme de la creme of real estate in the Spanish times, where the richest and most powerful congregated and stayed.
The ferry docked at the Plaza Mexico station, where we were greeted by this monument in honor of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade.
Notice the Guardia Sibil in full get-up! All the Intramuros guards wear this period piece now… can I say hot (as in maiinit!!)?
This very spot was eerie for me– I dreamt it before, and was scared zombies would come out of the ruins and run after me!
I first visited the Marikina Shoe Expo (now called– and perhaps more aptly– the Cubao Expo) with my girl friends in 2005. Back then the area lived up to its name as a shoe depot–there were really just shoe shops everywhere! I remember telling friends that Marikina Shoe Expo was the place to get customized shoes done, even knee high boots in various leather colors!
Two Saturdays ago (March 27), I went back to Cubao Expo for Anton’s Photoblogging class, and was happy to just walk around this U-street in Cubao and be curious again.
Parking is still available inside, although I don’t remember it being so expensive (I paid P50 for a little over 3 hours of parking)!
There was a street tiangge on that day though, which took up most of the slots…
NOTE: This site got hacked last month and boo that my back-up didn’t include the latest 4 posts (lesson learned: back-up everyday!). I’m resurrecting this third of four posts (original publish date: January 2010) from loose emails and saved drafts.
Look at these ingenious jeepneys spotted in Leyte!
Got these pics in the email last January 2010 from Dorothy Llariza, who said they were passed along by an acquaintance from India. At first glance, friends and I were quick to dismiss these jeepneys as “surface green”–they use bamboo and other indigenous materials, but still have the same constitution as their CO2-guzzling cousin…. or so we thought.
An online search just now led me to the site of TOTI Eco, which as it turns out is another ingenious project by a local government official (and also the source of the pics doing the email circuit)!
Feeling the need for a low-cost, fuel-efficient, safe, and environmentally-friendly alternative mode of transportation (versus the accident-prone habal-habal, a motorbike usually overloaded with passengers), Tabontabon mayor Dr. Rustico Balderian created the Tabontabon Organic Transport Industry (TOTI) Eco cars, which proudly claim to be a revolution in transportation:
Important Points to Keep in Mind About a Bamboo Car vs. Vehicles of Steel
-Our bamboo cars run 100% on coco-biodiesel.
-90% made of bamboo.
-Bamboo is indigenous & renewable.
-Bamboo is stronger in tensile strength than steel.
-It takes 5 tons of ore to make 1 ton of steel plate.
-Consider the heat needed to process 5 tons of ore.
-Made by Tabontabon’s Out-of-School Youth
ECO 1
ECO1 can seat 20 people including the driver. It can run on ONE gallon of Biodiesel fuel for 8 hours. It can climb more than 20% grade. It is covered in banig the Filipino woven mat.
ECO 2
ECO2 is made of bamboo, seats 8 passengers, and has a stereo with sound system. It also runs on one gallon of biodiesel fuel for 8 hours.
Future Models
Other models in production include another vehicle made of bamboo…including the chassis.
Estimated cost of Eco1 amounts to P200,000. Not sure how this compares to the steel Sarao…
Other projects by Mayor Balderian include the production of shredders, boilers and bio-reactors for solid waste management (package cost is at P650,000) and livelihood projects that reuse plastic waste into slippers, bags and bricks.
Bamboo Bikes by Kawayan Tech (Oct 2009). Video below shows clips of the bamboo bike building workshop by Craig Calfee held in the Yap Farm, San Jose, Tarlac last July 6-11, 2009:
A friend forwarded these pics of Manila in its golden age before the war (source unknown)…including some I haven’t seen before…for some reason, nostalgia this time around was welcome, and came with a helping of hope.
My fave is the one of the Pasig boats showing the river as a busy marketplace…
…a close second is the tram with the sidewalk benches depicting onlookers sitting leisurely under the shade… doesn’t it make you want to be in that scene and watch the tram go by on a lazy Sunday, complete with the singing maya bird to keep you company?
Look at this Luneta Park in the 1900s–such a wide open space!
Others below, with captions as in the forwarded email:
Binondo early 1900s
Escolta 1884
Gate to Intramuros, late 1800s
Gateway to Fort Santiago. Notice the Freemasons symbol.
Gen. Otis 1898
Helping mom iron clothes.
Sampaloc, Manila.
San Sebastian Church and Hidalgo St.
Malacanang when it did not need a gate and a battalion of soldiers to guard it
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