Dennis Garcia’s songs on canvas

Translating Hotdog into canvas should be fairly easy to do. It can be just like the cover of the iconic Unang Kagat album released by the Filipino band that named itself Hotdog in 1974. Take an elongated bread bun, put a hotdog sausage inside, then decorate with catsup and mustard. Ta da! And you have a Hotdog painting with inspiration derived from Andy Warhol’s take on making art out of simple everyday things.

Judging from the way the mind of Hotdog founder Dennis Garcia works though, putting a hotdog in oil on canvas, will not be so easy or that predictable. That sandwich will be turned upside down, right side out, or chopped up in pieces, devoured inside a stomach or any which way he feels. Just as he upended Filipino music over 40 years ago by mixing English and Tagalog in a song and, horrors!, setting words like tagyawat sa ilong into music with the Manila Sound pioneer Pers Lab, Dennis is now out to change the rules in the Philippine art scene.

I do not know how painting got into his system but these past few years have seen Dennis creating pictures with oil or acrylic on canvas. The initial attempts were of a variety of subjects. They were actually anything that entered his mind. Because he never took lessons and only had his experience with advertising and personal taste to bank on, his efforts were mostly crude or funny or at worst, strange. But he soon got the hang of the paintbrush and a style that is very much his own emerged. Still crude at times, funny or strange, Dennis has now decided to reveal to everybody what he has accomplished in his new incarnation as a painter.

 Check out what the invitation to his first major one-man show says: Songs On Canvas, The Songs of Dennis Garcia translated into paintings by Dennis himself. Savor the unique experience from June 7 to 18 at the Ricco Renzo Art Gallery which is located at Suite 206, LRI Design Plaza at N. Garcia St. formerly Reposo, Bel-Air 2, Makati City.  Added bonus for first-day attendees, nothing but the best food and drinks from Korea Garden Restaurant for the opening cocktails on June 7 at 6 p.m.

You read that right, the subject of the paintings are songs that Dennis wrote for Hotdog and other artists over the years. He describes them as “…the songs I wrote, translated into playful paintings.” He is showing 25 of his works and from the few that I have seen, he has created revelatory art to smile about. The paintings are clear renderings like a face with its tongue out wearing a checked school uniform for Behhh! Buti Nga. It can also pack quite a message like the adored housewife with a paper crown holding a toilet bowl plunger for a scepter for Ikaw Ang Miss Universe Ng Buhay Ko.

 I am sure that like me you are now also wondering what Dennis painted to depict those Hotdog classic tunes like Pers Lab, Manila, Bongga Ka Day, Annie Batungbakal, Bitin Sa Iyo, Panaginip, B.A.D.A.F. Forever, O Lumapit Ka, Ikaw Pa Rin, Sa Isip Ko, Langit Na Naman, Amoy Pinipig, Pusong Mamon, Sana Maganda Ako, Pangmatagalan and others. Find out the results at the Songs On Canvas exhibit.  Then you can take home the one or ones you like. Dennis promises that the prices are all affordable.

Come and explore a digital music playground. This is for everybody who loves music and who wants to find out how their favorite tunes can play out in this digital age. Ayala Malls and Billboard Philippines have teamed up to put together Playsound, The Billboard Philippines Music Trip. This is an interactive exhibit where you can test your music knowledge, play music trivia, brain games or jump around in the moving photo booth called SpinShot and lots of other stuff. You can even win prizes and watch live performances by well-known artists.

Playsound opened last May 20 at Glorietta in Makati but you can still catch this fun and most productive event during mall hours at the Alabang Town Center on May 27 and 28.