NEWS 2012
MANILA CAMPAIGN 2012
Just like coming back from a battlefield, here is a recap of My MANILA CAMPAIGN (Feb – Aug 2012):
The Great Ghastly, at Art Informal Gallery, May 9 2012 (group show)
Great Ghastly in Art Informal convenes multiple voices addressing a variation of the single artistic format of Drawing. The artists are a group of angry, angsty (young-ish) men at the verge of a vacillant Eden – whose works contain a reverberation of suspended youth and a strong sense of Coming-of-Age, a strong sense of a coming of Something.
You can view my works at Art Informal here.
PUSO + DAGA, at West Gallery, May 17 2012 (SOLO show)
The exhibit featured a dozen enamel on canvas paintings of varying dimensions. The artist drew inspiration from Filipino culture including religious icons and product labels. Ernest further explored the materiality of enamel paint by pouring it directly on a stretched canvas laid flat. The spills and drips and textures created using this painting technique may seem arbitrary, but the way the artist “herds” the paint without using traditional paint brushes to conform to the images on canvas is nothing short of impressive.
All works and installation shots can be viewed at the West Gallery website here.
Check out the writeup about the show here.
You can view my recent enamel works here.
BEAT, at the Lopez Memorial Museum, May 19 2012 (2-person show with Nikki Luna)
The Lopez Memorial Museum continues its explorations of the intersections of the colonial and recent past alongside contemporary issues with its current exhibition called Beat. Curated by Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez and with artistic direction provided by Claro Ramirez Jr., Beat encourages the wordplay which comes with the summoning of dual meanings.
For more info about the exhibition click here.
To view my TV interview about BEAT click here.
To view one of the many blogs about the exhibition click here.
All Quiet on The Eastern Front, at Blanc Gallery Manila Peninsula, May 26 2012 (SOLO show)
Brooklyn-based Philippine artist Ernest Concepcion maintains his fascination for conflict-based imagery in his solo exhibit at Blanc Gallery. For this exhibit, Ernest chose enamel paint on canvas to replicate the material used on actual tanks and battle ships. The huge canvases show black and white renderings of war scenes. The lack of color emphasizes the starkness of destruction brought on by war, as can be gleaned by documentary images of World War II and other historical battles. He describes his paintings as “possible scenes from an unreleased war film by John Ford, with interventions by Max Ernst”.
You can view my recent black and white enamel paintings here.
VERSUS, at Secret Fresh Gallery, RONAC Art Center, July 21 2012 (collaboration with Victor Balanon)
More than being merely besting each other for territorial dominion and artistic prowess as like a kung fu showdown, this becomes a metaphorical platform for the dynamics of creative work, especially that of collaborations which is as much rooted in managing discordant differences yet begetting a more wholistic work. This collaboration is one of the most anticipated this year as both artists are highly regarded for their virtuosity in their chosen medium of ink and acrylic, and their bravura in wrapping walls with robust ingenuity and imaginative narrative content.
To view one of the many blogs about the exhibition click here.
You can view images of the work on my facebook page here.
My TV interview on ANC’s Shoptalk, May 2012:
Here’s a TV interview of my work at the Lopez Museum featured on ANC’s CITYSCAPE:
