Nov 10 2009
Funky-smelling perfumes! Crazed Pinoy performance artist! Filipino art at SAM!
From Saturday onwards, Singapore Art Museum will be going gaga over Pinoy art, with two exhibitions. Woot.
There’s Thrice Upon A Time: A Century of Story in the Art of the Philippines, which runs until Jan 31, and In the Eye of Modernity: Philippine Neo-Realist Masterworks, until March 14.
I just came from the media tour of both works, but they haven’t finished setting up four of the eight galleries for Thrice Upon A Time, so for the sake of fairness, I’ll have to postpone my “Score Card” blog entry until all the works are up.
Apparently, those are the ones that will have some of the “crazier” stuff that this RAT craves for.
But there are two contemporary installations I got to see: Alwin Reamillo’s installation of an actual piano, created from different leftover parts from various different pianos, as a homage to his piano-maker father. It was an idea that began from Reamillo’s stint at one of the previous Future of Imagination events in Singapore.
Then, there’s this one.
It’s an installation by a young artist named Christina Poblador comprising different bottles of “perfume”. Instead of a “sights and sounds” tour of the Philippines, this one’s an olfactory one. Individually-made bottles contain both pleasant and nasty smelling liquid stuff that’s meant to evoke whatever’s written on the witty labels.
Here’s one called Squalor (aka L’eau de Pasig).
Pasig, by the way, is the main river in Manila and was probably what the Singapore River was like three decades ago. As for how it smells, let’s just say they should call it “Eewww de Pasig.”
I won’t go through all the works but suffice it to say, it’s a veritable who’s who of the entire art history of the Philippines stretching all the way back to the 1800s.
Some historically important pieces include works by two Pinoy masters from the 19th century.
Here’s Juan Luna’s Spain and the Philippines.
Another from Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, The Christian Virgins Being Exposed to the Populace. That’s SAM curator Joyce Toh.
(They will be excluded from my coming “Score Card” experiment, lest my citizenship gets revoked. Hah.)
Unfortunately, there’s only one work by one of my favouritest Pinoy artists of all time, the late Onib Olmedo. And it’s not one of his better ones. But still. Here you go.
They’ve also got two 2D works from the infamous David Medalla, one of the more internationally-known Pinoy enfants terrible who’s now based in the UK and known for his performances and installations (like his “bubble machines” in the `60s). Kinda like the Filipino art scene’s Tang Dawu.
Off-hand, it looks like Joyce did a pretty good job with this impressive showcase. Although from the four galleries I saw, Thrice Upon A Time does seem to lean towards themes that are somewhat predictable (history, religion, politics).
But then again, it’s a survey and I haven’t seen the complete picture. Can’t wait to see the rest.
***
PS, there’s also an ongoing exhibition on Mexican art, which will feature some biggies like Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. More on this next time. (The Philippines, Mexico… is there a bigger theme here, like, er, Art from Former US Colonies?)
PPS, SAM will be closed on Friday and Saturday from 2pm onwards for private functions. Apparently for the benefit of the Filipino prez and Mexican first lady, and their entourage.
PPPS, the exhibitions at SAM are part of the 2009 Philippine Art Trek event, which also includes group and solo exhibitions of Filipino artists at the private galleries like Utterly Art (The Chinoy Connection, i.e. Chinese-Filipino), Valentine Willie Fine Art (Forever and ever and ever and ever), Sunjin Galleries (System Revisited by Clairelynn Uy), Artesan Gallery (Nessun Dorma by Lyra Garcellano), Galerie Joaquin (Celebration). They forgot to mention one other show by an artist I admire, Louie Cordero, which is at Osage Gallery as well.
