Babes, comics, and Pinoy Shakespeare

The “ber” months roll along and our arts scene is in full ferment. If I were a retiree, I’d love nothing better than to just go around town daily to take in all the cornucopia of Pinoy creative talent. But I have to choose my spots, and mostly of course it has to begin with close relations and friends of oh-so-long-ago.

Last Tuesday at Finale Art File’s Upstairs Gallery, my niece Liv Romualdez Vinluan opened her latest masterful exhibit billed as “The Babes of Villa Termino,” right on the heels of her successful show, “Infanta, Armalite” at Richard Koh Fine Art in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

The last time I marveled at her large oil paintings was also at Finale, on Warehouse 17, La Fuerza Compound, 2241 Pasong Tamo (Chino Roces Avenue), Makati.

This time out, the Upstairs Gallery accommodates only three signature paintings of a new cycle in her characteristically conceptualized phases of increasingly admirable maturation, plus an installation that similarly reveals her cerebral and narrative bent. Liv is only in her 20s, and yet collectors are hot on her heels, snapping up her works as they’re barely mounted.

The installation is titled “Froth Delirium (A Trousseau for Triplets),” incorporating a century-old aparador, hand-sewn and machine-sewn undergarments, hand-sewn wedding dress, lace, cotton muslin, satin, artificial hair and mud!

Armida Francisco

I presume it puts an exclamation point to the gist of meaning she seeks to express through the three oil paintings done mostly in black-and-white, with but soft patches of muted blue or green lifting the canvases from sheer chiaroscuro.

Finale essays her impact thus on our ever-throbbing evolution by way of visual arts:

“Liv Vinluan develops the narrative of the absurd pulsing through a social and political context in (her latest exhibit which) recreates a fictive community where children are isolated from the outside world, trapped within the prison of ‘daydreaming and make-believe.’ With no possibility of escape, the inhabitants become gross version of themselves; proximity robs them of their dignity; and the foreboding sense of hopelessness assails their frail souls. The possibility of creating a new life is found in the image-shifting ability of clothes; the aparador is seen to contain possibilities of emancipation.”

That text springs from Liv’s own artist’s statement, which also tells us that what is revealed is “the agonizing wait for an absolution... and the slow, creeping, looming disasters of isolation.”

Intriguing, disturbing, haunting, Liv Vinluan’s unique imagery is rife with questions that appear to bear their own answers, except that we are still left to ponder on the essential truths, thus beauty, inherent in her pictorial scenarios.

Liv herself is a babe going places, with dizzying acceleration. And I don’t say that just ‘cuz she’s the daughter of my cousin Nestor, himself a first-rate artist. I owe it to objectivity more than bloodline. So I’ll say it again: this young lady is a terrific artist.

Last Wednesday, Oct. 13, another distinctive show opened at the Altromondo Arte Contemporaneo Gallery on the third floor of Greenbelt 5, billed as “Exuberant Expressions.” The title fits the display to a T, as in being as thunderous as the formidable names of the four artists represented.

A komiks frame by Aileen Cais

They are the so-called “modernists” Raul Isidro, Raul Lebajo, Prudencio Lamarroza and Tiny Nuyda. If they were a jazz quartet, they’d be of a nightly scintillating gig that’ll play to standing ovations with their complementary geniuses.

We quote: “Isidro’s abstracts play on the layering contrasts. Lebajo’s works pay homage to flora and fauna; Lamarroza depicts the mythological queen; and Nuyda presents a gentler interaction of shades.”

Besides that apt précis, let me say that I’ve been a fan of all four, although I’m only of nodding acquaintance with Lamarroza, and can wax nostalgic on the Ermita-Malate days of the ’70s when Tiny Nuyda began to teach us the joys of lepidoptera. Well, this butterfly catcher and collector still enthralls art lovers with the gentlest of interactions, with wings, forms and colors alike. 

In celebration of the UK-RP Week 2010, the British Alumni Association, in cooperation with The British School Manila and the Ateneo de Manila School of Humanities, presents “Shakespeare Turns Pinoy: A Lecture-Show” on Oct. 21, Thursday 7:30 p.m., at The British School Theater on 36th Street, University Park, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Scenes from selected Pinoy Shakespeare productions (Julius Caesar, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Richard III) will accompany the talk by Dr. Ricardo Abad, AdMU professor and theater arts director, with Ateneo alumni and students in theatre conducting the live performance.

Using the experience of Ateneo de Manila University, the presentation supported by San Miguel Corporation will show how for many years, such plays were staged in the Bard’s English and in the canonical style, but that since the 1970s, they were produced in Filipino translation with settings that have been relocated from their original European habitus and with forms drawn from local traditions.

Dr. Abad says: “The shift from Anglo Shakespeare to Pinoy Shakespeare reflected two related social events: first, the surge of anti-colonial sentiments in Philippine society, especially in the wake of martial rule during the 1970s, and second, the Filipinization of the Ateneo community that sought to bridge the widening gap between Ateneo’s elite culture and the Filipino masses.”

Dinner and lecture/show tickets are priced at P3,000, with dinner starting at 6 p.m. A lecture/show ticket is priced at only P750. Proceeds are for the Medical and Dental Outreach Program of the British Alumni Association. Please call Sarah Grecia at 543-2418 / 751-6052 / 0927-870166.

Last Thursday, Oct. 14, “Komiks in Real 3D” opened at the Arts in the City in Bonifacio Global City, a gallery said to be run “by the lovely and feisty sisters Maan and Sandy Hontiveros.”

Ongoing till October’s end, the show features works by renowned sculptors and multi-media artists that include Junyee, Bobby Feleo, Ferdie Cacnio, Pete Jimenez, Seb Chua, and Paul Quianio.

Back-to-back with this display is another group exhibit, “Kakaiba ka, Kababaihan,” featuring women cartoonists led by Beth Chionglo, the eminent Nonoy Marcelo’s protégé and partner, together with Stef Bravo, Aileen Cais, Syeri Baet, Hazel Manzano, Mimi Romualdez, and Armida Francisco.

Enlivening the cocktails was the “Pintada” body komiks painting session, with comics artists using live bodies as their boards.

It was all a prelude to a bigger event: the Philippine International Cartoons, Comics, and Animation (PICCA) Festival to be held from Oct. 22-25 in three venues at SM City North — The Block, the Annex, and the Sky Garden — supplemented by activities at the UP Film Center and College of Fine Arts.

The PICCA Festival opens this Friday at SM’s The Block with “Slices of Life: A Tribute to Larry Alcala,” a group exhibit by the Samahang Kartunista ng Pilipinas (SKP), the organization of cartoonists from broadsheets, tabloids and comics magazines.

Also running will be several other exhibits: “Komiks Yaring Pinoy,” showing comics art in the country from Jose Rizal’s to the present; “Comics of the World” featuring selected works from Spain, Israel, Vietnam, Russia, and Indonesia; and a display of winning works in the animation competitions.

Several art contests will highlight the PICCA Fest. The first is the “Alfredo Alcala Awards” Comic Creation Competition, dedicated to the dean of comics illustrators, and open to PICCA festival members only. It is still open for entries; just go to www.piccafest.com for rules and entry forms.

Another involves the “Hugo Yonzon Awards,” an on-the-spot caricature drawing contest. “Caricathon” (caricature-marathon), open to students and professionals, will also be held at The Block on Oct. 22. 

“Animation Jam” will be a 24-hour animation creation contest involving different multi-media schools, to be held at College of St. Benilde, iAcademy, and CIIT. An animation contest for professionals entitled “Wang-Wang,” inspired by P-Noy’s symbolic gesture to wipe out abuses in Philippine society, is also on.

The PICCA Trade and Showcase will be held at the fourth floor of the SM City North Annex, where animation companies, gaming outfits, and comics publishers will show their wares. Media firms and PICCA participating schools will also display their products and capabilities. Booths that people may find very entertaining are those of animation producers Seventoon and Holy Cow. Others will showcase the creations of Alfredo Alcala, Francisco Coching, and Nestor Redondo — the triumvirate of the Golden Era of Philippine Comics. Veteran and indie comics makers will also be holding fort.

PICCS will also stage the “Oscars” of the comics sector, where recognition is given outstanding works and positive contribution to the growth of the craft and to the richness of Philippine culture. For 2010, the three awardees are Tony Velasquez, Clodualdo del Mundo and Esmeraldo Izon.

A whole day will be spent on talks on comics and animation at the UP College of Fine Arts, where films will be shown. Foreign guests from the USA, China, Japan, Canada, Singapore and Thailand will be speakers, together with Filipino creators. John Lent of Temple University, Pennsylvania USA will talk on cartooning in Southeast Asia while Liuyi Wang of Beijing will talk on “How the Chinese Government supports its Creative Industry.”

Books to be launched are Lansangan, a graphic memoir by Piya Constantino, published by Mango Comics, and SKP Color Folio, a compendium of graphic arts by cartoonists, published by Design Plus.

Organizers Boboy and Guia Yonzon state: “The PICCA Fest is part of our advocacy to make the country a major player in the creative content industry of the world. We believe that the Philippines has a deep reservoir (in visual arts, storytelling, music, etc) for this. Creative content will not only contribute to the bottom line of our economy, but it could also certainly help enrich our culture.”

PICCA Inc. was founded by the Yonzons together with their colleagues Mimbi Eloriaga, Marlyn Montano, Sherry Baet, Ariel Atienza, Gerry Alanguilan, and Gilbert Monsanto from the comics and animation sectors.

Boboy and Guia thank the following persons for extending their unqualified help: Maria Montelibano, Lynett Villariba, Millie Dizon, Joy Buensalido, Danny dela Cuesta, and Arch. Ed Padilla. Credit must also go to the presentors: Mango Comics, SM Malls, and the Quezon City government.

Sponsors include the PCGO; Panda Travel Service; Smart Communications; Derwent, Maped, Artline Art Supplies; Design Plus; URLED Inc., Mitsubishi Philippines, Cherifer Immunomax, Universal Robina Corporation, Partners: Samahang Kartunista ng Pilipinas, Seventoon, Holy Cow Animation, Creative Media Professionals Guild of Asia and the Pacific, Japan Foundation, Arts in the City, GSIS Museum, UP College of Fine Arts, UP Film Center, Ateneo University College of Fine Arts, Instituto Cervantes, Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions and Wacom, and Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista (who wants to completely “adopt” the PICCA next year). Well, our fellow Bedan “Bistek” can’t go wrong with that. Animo!