THE MAGDALENE

ANG PANATA NG MAGDALENA
24" x 24"
acrylic on canvas
March 2009
(She will be part of an group exhibit entitled KRISTO for the Holy Week)

I.

“Ahihihi, ikaw koh-ya yung artist sa Jacinto no? (You’re that artist living in Jacinto?)” she giggled as she recognized me buying while I was buying at a vendor’s cart beside the church.

“Yeah,” I answered, turned my head towards her and took the plastic cup filled to the brim with gulaman and sago.

“Nako koh-ya, i-drowing mo naman ako, yung seksi kong katawan (you draw me and my sexy body),” she offered and traced with her hand her rather shapely hips.

I smiled while my eyes followed the way she traced the curve of her body. “You come here on Wednesday for novena?” I asked her.

“Oo naman koh-ya. Malay mo baka swertehin at bigyan ako ni Lord ng mayamang jowa. (Yeah. Who knows I might be lucky and God might give me a rich lover),” she said and gave out a giggle.

“By the way, aren’t you Ariel’s wife, the guy who sells fish?” I asked.

“Hay nako, matagal nang wala yung malansang lalaki na yun sa buhay ko no (that smelly guy is already long gone from my life),” she said and the smile was gone from her face.

She looked at her watch and abruptly told me, “Nako koh-ya, male-late na ako sa club. Pag nagpunta ka, hanapin mo ako at bigyan kita ng discount (I’d be late for the club. If you go there, look for me and I’ll give you a discount),” and gave me a small card with the club’s name and number. “I-drowing mo ako ha? (Draw me huh?)”

Then she turned around and walked away, her hips swaying wildly.


*gulaman at sago – a dark syrupy, vanilla flavored drink with jello.


II.

“Hey Brian! Saw you at the last pew. You come here every night?” I tapped him on the shoulder as he sat by the edge of the pond with the rippling fountain that has a statue of some female saint by the side of Baclaran church’s courtyard. I fished out a coin in my pocket and then I threw it into the murky shallow water. I thought I might win in the lotto that I never made a bet on, or perhaps Lady Luck would smile on me and I get a windfall of cold, hard cash the next day.

“Hey Kuya. Yeah. You know, novena night. How about you?” he looked up at me with a bit of a start. Gave me a weak smile and moved a little to his left. He gave me a bit more space to sit on that pond’s edge so I can avoid sitting on the wet part. I sat beside him, took out the bag of roasted peanuts in my shirt pocket and offered it to him. He opened his right palm and I poured some of the nuts.

A lot of people were walking by that night, pouring out of the church doors. Office ladies, men in slippers and backpacks, old women with their maids, ragged men and women with humped backs and rich women in their carefully coiffed hair… we watched them as they made a steady parade in front of us.

“Nice night eh? The moon’s full and the breeze… it’s just right,” I quipped while I was staring up at the dark sky with the bright cookie-cutter moon. I poured a few peanuts into my mouth and chewed, not even bothering to rub off the thin brown crust of each piece.

“Kuya… do you think He’ll forgive me?” Brian asked. I looked at him quizzically, wondering what his thoughts were. I saw in the bright moonlight his eyes that were beginning to glaze over as he stared at nowhere. Suddenly, I knew.

“HE always does. HE always will, and I guess HE already has,” I assured him.

A few more minutes passed. We sat there. I ran out of peanuts. The people, they just walked by, in and out of the church doors. And the water just kept pouring behind us from the fountain making its rhythmic rippling sound.

“I have to go now Kuya. I still have to go to the club tonight. You know. Big Night,” he said as he came out of his daze.

“Yeah, I’m heading off home too,” I said.

_________

A few days ago, he helped his girlfriend abort the fetus in her womb. They were both 21 years old then. She’s a co-ed in a nearby college and he works as a stripper in one of the several all-male clubs in the city.

Several times I have seen him go to the Wednesday night novena praying to the Lady in the altar. Wednesdays are also the Big Night in the club where he dances, where “competitions” are held with prize money for the best performer. This was the one of those nights we’ve sat down to talk. It was late 2003.

A CANVAS INVITATION

Our PACIFIC RIM PARK PROJECT is definitely a go… 25 students from China, South Korea, the United States, Russia, Mexico and of course the Philippines are converging in Manila on May 3 and head off to Palawan on May 5. We will launch the park in Puerto Princesa on Saturday, May 30. We don’t know what it will look like yet, but we’re going to have a blast finding out!



To celebrate the opening, we’re finally realizing our OUTDOOR BANNER PROJECT on March 30. Just to give you a refresher, as part of CANVAS’ Looking for Juan program, we are organizing a group exhibit and are asking artists to produce original works on the theme of “What It Means to Be Filipino.” But we will also use the images to produce large tarpaulin banners that will then be exhibited in a public park or space (definitely now in Puerto Princesa on May 30, and in UP to line the Academic Oval with the banners in June just in time for opening of classes and Independence Day), so that people can also walk, enjoy and reflect upon them in a non-intimidating and relaxed environment.

After the end of the outdoor exhibit, we will take the banners and bring them to TrasheBolsas, a livelihood project that provides advice and assistance to poor local communities to transform used tarps into unique, strong, durable bags that would then be sold for charity. We’ve identified Padyak, a UP Mountaineers-led organization that promotes cycling and environmentalism in UP, as our main beneficiary for this project.

As for the original works, those that are submitted early or in time will be showcased on May 12 at the CCP. So far, participating artists include Daniel Aligaen, Mark Arcamo, Ral Arogante, Anton Balao, Plet Bolipata, Malyn Bonayog, Elmer Borlongan, Michael Cacnio, Buen Calubayan, Jef Carnay, Marika Constantino, Dansoy Coquilla, Don Dalmacio, Kawayan de Guia, Kidlat de Guia, Crisanto De Leon, Maan De Loyola, Farley del Rosario, Anthony Fermin, Tina Fernandez, Karen Flores, Emmanuel Garibay, Sajid Imao, Agang Maganda, Josue Mangrobang, Lotsu Manes, Roel Obemio, Jay Pacena II, Anthony Palomo, Jucar Raquepo, Iggy Rodriguez, Kirby Roxas, Mark Salvatus, Rodel Tapaya, Daniel Tayona, Wesley Valenzuela and some 20-30 students from the UP College of Fine Arts.

But we’re still inviting, waiting to hear and accepting more works from other artists and writers (so we can present their words on the Filipino identity on some of the banners as well), and those other works will be exhibited in various other venues in June as well. We hope to have gathered at least 100 participants by then.

It's all very very exciting!

* Submitted works by Josue Mangrobang, Daniel Aligaen, Mark Arcamo and Anton Balao.
______

If you're an artist and interested in joining, send an email to info@canvas.ph or log on here.

JUDGEMENT DAY IN U.P.

When Gigo called me to sit-in for him as jury in another thesis presentation of college kids, I was quizzical at first. Until he told me that it will be at my old alma mater - the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines, I immediately harped "sure". I thought it won't be a bad idea to visit my college after I left it since graduation and see the things that have or haven't changed - from the kids roaming its corridors, the old teachers, Mang Danny and Mang Boy (two administration guys who are the most sought after when the school year begins) and those huge tables at the studio arts building where everyone seemed to have carved his name, a drawing or nailed additional appendages. (I was disappointed a bit for that table wasn't there anymore)

When I arrived that morning, I immediately took a picture of the building...

... and I got lost. Apparently, since the last time I've been there, they've closed the front lobby doors and the road in front of it led to the Animal Clinic in the back! Shoots, I had to retrace my steps and find the college "entrance" at the back.

The minute I walked into the college building a flood of memories swamped my mind. I remember when one of my female classmates ran from our classroom screaming and banged into me head-on. She was mortified by the site of a lamb (yes, there was a flock of sheep in U.P. back then) peering into the window. There was also the time we laughed our heads off when we saw Gold being followed by Gretchen who kept on sniffing the former's shoulder as she walked. Gretchen's not human, she's a horse from the animal clinic that would sometimes roam the grounds of the the college, the same horse that would gallop along the hallway interrupting every class that's unfortunately being held that day. Or those days when they have nude sketching sessions in the main auditorium for anatomy classes. If the subject is a naked female model, the whole room will be filled with wide-eyed, eager college kids holding their sketchpads. And if you through scan the crowd, there would be some faces there that aren't even from the college.

Ahh, old college memories...

I met Totet de Jesus who ushered me to the room where the thesis presentations were to be done....

... and I met the three other people in the jury - Augie, Beth Parrocha and Ms. de Jesus. It was an interesting bunch; an excellent illustrator, an award-winning writer of children's stories, an editor-at-large and a cute book designer (me, hehehehe...)

There were more than a dozen students who presented their thesis projects for PUBLICATIONS FOR CHILDREN, and I'm showing some of them here.
____

Velissa Cardenas was the last one to show us her works. A story book series about heroes from Filipino epics and myths. We all agreed that her work was professionally put together.
Her illustrations were at par with the works of some of the best book illustrators I've seen and she laid out her pages quite neatly.

There are some small technical adjustments with her layout but otherwise, with a little bit more training, I might see much better things from this girl soon.

Oh, and what amazes me, like in every thesis presentation during that day, is the amount of research these guys and girls have put into finding the right problem to solve. There's a dearth of good children's books about our own myths and legends, and Velissa just made an excellent series about it.Ray Sunga's MAD LABS tickled me pink. He created a crazy, wacky and mad reading supplement for science subjects with a funny bungling scientist as its main character.
It looked like a mish-mash from a Discovery channel program (The other guys in the jury said so... me, I am not sure), Lane Smith and some European illustrator's style... but otherwise, it was a brave book that shows science can be fun... and crazy.I wish I had this when I was a kid.

Ma. Christina Sismundo's project was quite simple and elegant. It's one of those things when you'd say "Now, how come I didn't think of that?" She made a simple and small book of traditional folk songs she aptly titled SABAY-SABAY TAYO (Let's do it together). It's small, cheaply-made and can be widely distributed in public elementary schools...... the verses and stanzas are written on each page accompanied by cute illustrations. The second half of the book, the lyric sheets are written and nicely designed.
And it has a companion CD. She meant her project to be developed as a series of music books of the different cultures and languages in this country. Elegant. Simply elegant solution.

Clio Tantoco's book had us in stitches. She wrote and designed a book tracing the etymology of names of different places in the city and in the country.It adds a humorous way of instructing how certain places got its name. She accompanied it with journal-like illustration that makes every turn of a page an adventure. Brilliant.Romir Sucaldito's highly-targeted publication of a comic-book format English instructional for Koreans called SPEAK SMART was quite applauded. With the Philippines experiencing a deluge of Korean students learning English from our schools, the instructional material he designed is an excellent study supplement for English both for teachers and students. We all loved it, plus the fact that the kid looks like the spitting image of a popular local comic TV celebrity - Bitoy.I also like how Regina Salazar made a superb improvement on the lowly Math book. I do agree that math for every school age kid is interesting. The child's interest level lowers if the math materials presented are in a dull and monotonous manner. Her proposition, use CREATIVE TYPOGRAPHY IN MATH, which is laudable and exciting. I just hope a project like this is fully developed in the school system.If I were an 11-year old today and I get a hold of Jemimah Basilio's book IBA SI KUYA (Big brother is Different) I would say it's a cool kid's book about being Emo. I could fully relate to this 21st century revision of the Punk movement since I grew up in the 80's. But then again, I am not a kid and I am looking at her work as an adult... and I'd say it's pretty cool and funky. Plus the fact that this girl created magnificent illustrations for her book. Augie Rivera has an interest in her work. I figure he sees her potential for one of his stories.

----

It was a pretty tiring day of judging the works of all of these students, but it was worth it. The majority of them were very jittery during their individual presentations. One even cried when she heard the applause from all of us and some of the people in the "audience" for her excellent work. She even admitted that she thought she'd be penalized for being late in setting up her presentation (We didn't know she was late. We were busy smoking cigarettes outside in the hallway in between presentations when she went huffing and puffing into the room.) Another student sang a ditty before she began hers. Doing so, she made the point of her presentation more clear. I figured it also relaxed her.

But in toto, it was an exciting day. You can sense it in the air but as Beth Parrocha said,"It's exciting doing these thesis presentations. I (we) remember mine when I was still a student here. But I don't think it's something I'd like to go back to."

Hmmm, neither do I.
____

Note: Turns out all of us in the jury are alumni of U.P. When all the invited jury panelists from the other judging rooms were ushered for lunch in the faculty hall, it was like a mini-reunion of alumni from different batches. I felt old. Hahahaha...

BUY ART DURING HARD TIMES

PEONIES
18" x 40",
pen and ink on paper,
2006

"So, how long have you been buying art?" I asked Kerwin while walking to his office at the end of the hall.

"I've been buying these since I was in college," he replied as he ushered me through the door. "I'd save up my allowance and go through the galleries and check out the paintings. There's one particular artist whose work I really saved up for. His painting was the very first one I got. The orange one we passed."

"You mean the one hanging at your office lobby? THAT'S your first artwork? Man, his works cost an arm and a leg now, and you SAVED UP for it when you were in college? "

"Yup, and I worked hard for it, getting some odd jobs here and there. Besides, his works were still dirt cheap back then. Instead of hanging out, drinking beer and watching movies, I saved a bit and now I have THAT on my wall... and a host of other things too."

"You sure have a fortune here."

(Kerwin's a good friend who's built from scratch his own factory and business and is its C.E.O. An avid collector of modern art, he's also built a sizable and rather expensive collection that I would sometimes oggle during those few times I've hung around his office. Aside from his business, he's shrewdly made a good investment in these works of art.)

________________

Don’t stash cash under the bed, buy art
By Jake Ramirez
Philippine Daily Inquirer

WHEN the market is down, buy. This is the maxim of those who have lots of cash. And if the late Yves Saint Laurent’s art collection auction is any indication, the record-high prices set by the designer and his partner Pierre Berge’s 733-piece art collection is really the sign of the times. On the first night alone of the three-day sale of what Christie’s dubbed as “Sale Of The Century,” it brought already $262 million, as if recession never existed. Piet Mondrian’s canvass composition dubbed avec blue, rouge and jaune et noir, which inspired YSL to create his iconic Mondrian dress, fetched $27,191,525, and on top of it, his art collection also included a Degas, Matisse, Cezanne, Manet, Gauguin and Picasso, among others. If people collected YSL’s designs, the designer collected arts in a very shopaholic way.

Once, I received a P20,000 cash gift from a former employer, and I did not know what I ate that day, but when I headed to the mall, I did not buy shoes nor bags. Instead, I bought two pieces of Juvenal Sanso from Gallerie Joaquin. I am sure those Sanso of mine do not cost P20,000 now, since art appreciates. And given a choice between an Hermes Birkin in crocodile-skin or an H.R. Ocampo canvass painting, I would choose the latter without batting an eyelash. Artworks are investment pieces just like designer bags, but unlike designer bags that you tend to use and abuse, you care for your art collections, even getting insurance just in case it gets stolen or, heaven forbid, a fire hits your place of dwelling.

For the past three years, Trickie Lopa, Liza Periquet and Yael Buencamino have been organizing Art In The Park, a bi-annual event where one can buy artworks starting at P20,000 or below. And as its tagline says, it brings affordable art out of the galleries and under the sun since Art In The Park is being held in Jaime Velasquez-Salcedo Park, next door to Salcedo Weekend Market. It was first held to coincide with the second-year anniversary of the weekend community market. The weekend market has become popular, and so has the Art In The Park. Last year, the group introduced Art After Dark, an evening exhibit under the stars. This year, art enthusiasts trooped again to shop for art pieces. The options were varied and prices were affordable; even art students from FEATI and FEU sold their artworks for a song. I was impressed with Jomike Tejido’s artworks, he used banig (native mats) instead of canvass for his paintings, which is very Filipino. Another young artist, Mia Herbosa, caught my attention. She is the great grand daughter of painters Alfonso Ongpin and national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. Her still lifes are quite realistic and mute, with vivid colors of orchids rising from dark backgrounds.

Printmakers’ Association of the Philippines did a seminar on printmaking. Made mostly from metal or acrylic plates passing through a presser, prints sometime sell as much as actual paintings. Five signed prints were raffled off among the attendees. Art In The Park ended by two p.m. and everyone took this as their siesta break for Art After Dark, which started by five p.m. Bea Camacho’s ice carving, “Remember,” was the focal point and was very popular among kids who couldn’t help but touch the letter. White sphere lamps made by Bespoke gave the trees dotting the park a much-needed oomph, and the art connoisseurs snapped pieces with prices higher than P20,000 from Avellana Art Gallery and other galleries.

In this time of recession, art is a safe way to bet and speculate. Rather than hide one’s cash under the mattress, invest in excellent artworks.