Filipino Artists (in no particular order) Part Voltes V

I met Manuel Ocampo and Romeo Lee the other day at d.a.g.c.. Cool guys.. No "art-snob" airs whatsoever. Romeo even made me take a picture of his mural for posterity. Earlier that day, I dropped by the CCP main gallery to check out the "Kulo" exhibit. Lots of nice work there, The big lola, the flaming guy, the guy sleeping with his dick hanging out, the pale guy, and more. You can see the post on my facebook. It was around ten in the morning so there weren't many people and it was great. the substitute curator for saturdays, Ate Supladita, wasn't very happy about me taking blog photos. She wasn't any help too, when i asked about what the CCP had planned to stop the vandalism (the poor Lindslee painting!). In fact, she wasn't any help at all. And when some high school students arrived and asked her about Mideo Cruz's installation, she brushed them aside with her proud ignorance. I felt I had to step in and the kids were eager listeners anyway. I explained what polytheism is, and told the kids to look at the installation and see if they could spot how polytheism was represented there. They also asked about the mickey mouse ears and clown nose on the poon, I asked them in return.. "what could mickey mouse symbolize that could be related to religious images?" Some said "TV" some said "Disneyland" and many agreed with the one who said "USA". Also they asked me if the hand was real and I said maybe it's silicon latex. (I hope..) Anyway, here we go..

41. Julie Lluch - She made a bust of my mom. No, it's not this one. Credit: Ateneo Gallery

42. Galo Ocampo- really epic looking scenes.. reminds me of that american painter who did storms, volcanoes, canyons etc. but i forgot his name.. i know his work was similar to Tavernier..  credit: Arcadja

43. Max Balatbat- the first painting I ever bought for the house was by Max.. The story: I've seen the paintings before, without knowing the Artist's name. It's like a visual version of LSS (last song syndrome). Lucky me, I chanced upon his solo exhibit in Megamall. Imagine this, big and small Max Balatbat paintings on exhibit, with installations of ladies underwear and "used" condoms supported by piped in "Romansa" music by James Ingram and other seksi singers. I realized the genius of this man there and I made it a point to have a piece for my house. Noli from Renaissance gallery didn't know the title, so I took a chance and wrote Max on Facebook to ask. What a champ, this guy.. he drafted a certificate of authenticity for my painting, and noted the title "Ilaya".. One of my favorite streets in Divisoria. End of story. Max continues to evolve, and happily, his work is well documented online, so you can really see how his style came to be and maybe where it's going. I can't wait for the next solo exhibit. Astig. .credit: Manilart

44. Mariano Ching- Beautiful, absurd. credit: presidents.tumblr

45. Gabby Barredo- This shoulda been an animated GIF, since most of his work is motorized to give a kinetic clockwork effect. credit: KulayDiwa

46. Poklong Anading- From Finale Art Gallery: "During the opening of Poklong Anading's "Light suffers if there is no place to fall from" at the Finale Art Gallery, the audience was confronted with an empty space save for a ribbon of neon light shaped like a mouse trap. While the viewers were crowding around the rather curious object, the artist surreptitiously took a photograph of them, their backs turned to the camera. All anonymous but bound by the same eagerness to make sense of the occurrence, the viewers didn't know days later that they, themselves, would be the subjects of a work in the exhibit they attended: a lifesize photograph that forever captures their gesture of looking inward." BIGAAAAT! credit: Finale

47. Charlie Co credit: clickthecity

48. Jose Tence Ruiz- Another of my favorite Artists.. This multimedia genius is a master at detail, structure and form, both in 2d and 3d. You've probably driven past his work, the large-scale "Ganap" on EDSA. The creatures seem very Haeckel-Influenced (see my background) and I love that..  Check out his gothic sorbetero and his Sagrada Familia-looking Oil Rig thing.. Genius. credit: AngelFloresJr.

49. Lydia Velasco- Another artist with a very interesting evolution in her work. Compared to the women in her earlier paintings, the most recent works feature women with even more slender, almost serpentine features. Mother dear gave me one from the nineties, I hope to acquire a current one to hang beside it.  credit: Artsentralasia

50. Nune Alvarado- Stone faced workers both men and women with arms like tree trunks, thick and veiny, probably from toiling in the fields. Unique and easy to spot among other works. credit: Metrogallery

Watch out for more!!

JH