ARCHIVING 142 FOR 2008

SLEEPWALKING by Yason Banal
January 30, 2009

Ringo Bunoan is an artist, curator, researcher and writer. A graduate of the UP College of Fine Arts, she works with installation, sculpture, photography and video, and has exhibited widely in Manila and abroad. She also taught at the UP CFA and has contributed her writings on art for various publications. From 1999-2004, she led the independent art space Big Sky Mind, which supported young artists through exhibitions, exchanges and residencies. Since 2007, she has been working for the Asia Art Archive in Hongkong. She is currently doing a special research on pioneering Filipino conceptual artist Roberto Chabet and is preparing for a solo exhibition at the Vargas Museum on February 2009. Entitled “Spectacle and Surveillance,” the exhibition revolves around her work with Chabet, memory, history, and the archival process.


SPECTACLE AND SURVEILLANCE: NOTES ON ARCHIVING

Archiving complements my practice as a visual artist since many of my works deal with the politics and psychology of remembrance and the desire for structure and order. The material that I gather, all those data and information, have become charged readymade objects, which reveal so much, however subtly, the underlying elements governing the art of today.

Selecting what to archive is a deliberate decision. We choose what we want to remember, what we believe are worth remembering. History is never impartial nor complete; it is almost always dependent on who is writing. For archivists, it is a challenge to fill the gaps and build upon what has already been recorded. More than anything, we aim to provide a record our time.
- Ringo Bunoan


LIST OF EXHIBITIONS IN 2008:

1. Bembol Dela Cruz Indelible, Finale.
2. Geraldine Javier Living Images, Leaden Lives, The Art Center.
3. Romeo Lee Romeo Lee and His Fans, Magnet.
4. Ringo Bunoan Little Deaths, MO_.
5. Ferdz Valencia The Ever Existing Nothing, Prose Gallery.
6. Ronaldo Ruiz Digital Intervention, The Drawing Room.
7. Argie Bandoy The Simple Beginnings of Chaos, Finale.
8. Andrei Salud Masarapmatulog / Garish Barish video exhibition, Cubicle.
9. Poklong Anading Fallen Map, Magnet.
10. Poklong Anading Untitled (Landmark). Magnet.
11. Gerry Leonardo Outdoor Installation, CCP.
12. Mariano Ching We Are Not Afraid Of You And We Will Beat Your Ass, West Gallery.
13. Francesca Enriquez, Finale.
14. Froilan Calayag Life is Like Candy, CCP.
15. Leeroy New Psychopompous, CCP.
16. 22nd Asian International Exhibition, Ayala Museum.
17. Al Cruz Picture, Painting, Theater, Movie, Window, Mirror, West Gallery.
18. Sic, West Gallery.
19. Jonathan Ching Nothing is Compulsory Except Happiness, West Gallery.
20. Rachel Rillo Manila, Silverlens.
21. Juan Alcazaren Gone to Seed, Finale.
22. No Title (Other Drawings), MO_.
23. MM Yu Black, Magnet.
24. Exhibit A: Conversations with Now, MCAD.
25. Tutok: Kargado, Ateneo Art Gallery.
26. Lena Cobangbang Overland, Finale.
27. Jayson Oliveria Truth Adjustment, Magnet.
28. Ringo Bunoan Pillow Talk, Silverlens.
29. FOEM, The Art Center.
30. Wire Tuazon Parables and Paradoxes, Finale.
31. Don Salubayba Images from my Floating Third World, The Drawing Room.
32. JJ Christine Villamarin Walang Kaparis, VOCAS.
33. Café By The Ruins 20th Year Anniversary.
34. Strain Extension, MO_.
35. Living on Loring, Galleria Duemila.
36. Pete Jimenez Simple Creatures, Magnet.
37. Romeo Lee Wild Things, Pablo
38. Manuel Ocampo & Argie Bandoy Problem with Styles, Green Papaya.
39. Agnes Arellano The Goddess Revisited, Crucible.
40. Gallery Selection, Finale.
41. Cris Villanueva Memorable Fiction, West Gallery.
42. Aba, The Art Center.
43. Elaine Roberto-Navas Garage Sale, Finale.
44. Steve Tirona Will Work 4 Food, Silverlens.
45. Public Art Installations at Bonifacio High Street.
46. Robert Langenegger Foul, Counted, Magnet.
47. Lindslee Figuring Abstraction, The Drawing Room.
48. Ranelle Dial Withering, West Gallery.
49. Them, West Gallery.
50. Gina Osterloh Shooting Blanks, Green Papaya.
51. Felix Bacolor The Sound of Aeroplanes, West Gallery.
52. MM Yu Odds and Ends, Finale.
53. Charlie Co Time + Space, Alliance Française.
54. Mariano Ching & Yasmin Sison Spinning Sugar, Magnet.
55. Shift, MO_.
56. Patawa, Metropolitan Museum.
57. Costantino Zicarelli It Was Always The Devil’s Turn, Because We Are Here Together and Forever, Until the Day The World Will Be On The Verge of Sorrow, Hiraya Gallery.
58. Under My Skin, Ateneo Art Gallery.
59. Room 307: Inkling, Gutfeel and Hunch, National Art Gallery.
60. Tutok, National Art Gallery.
61. Counter-Photography, National Museum of the Philippines.
62. Swarm In the Aperture, National Museum of the Philippines.
63. Kidlat De Guia Sleeping White Elephants, Galleria Duemila.
64. Leonardo Aguinaldo Connectivity, Galleria Duemila.
65. Katrina Bello Structure in Nature is a Strategy for Drawing, Magnet
66. Jonathan Olazo Tattoo and Catastrophe, The Drawing Room.
67. The Sum Of Its Parts, Lopez Museum.
68. Luwalhati, Art Informal.
69. Bencab Related Images, Silverlens.
70. Alwin Reamillo Nicanor Abelardo Grand Piano Project, Vargas Museum.
71. Geraldine Javier Sampaloc Cave Paintings, Podium.
72. Alvin Villaruel Vessels, West Gallery.
73. Lyra Garcellano Troubled Sleep, Finale.
74. Christina Dy Clothes They Stood Up In, Crucible.
75. Louie Cordero Absolute Horror, MO_.
76. Pure Hybrids / Normal Aberrations, White Box Studio.
77. Nona Garcia Planted Landscape, Podium.
78. Ateneo Art Awardees 2007 Return Exhibition, Ateneo Art Gallery.
79. 60 x 40, West Gallery.
80. Bernardo Pacquing Making Truth Forgettable, Finale.
81. Jucar Raquepo & Alvin Villaruel Hard-Edge and Blurred, Magnet.
82. Johann Espiritu Symmetry / Duality & Frankie Callaghan Stranger, Silverlens.
83. Transmissions: UP Artists and the 13 Artist Award, CCP.
84. Christina Dy Soaplands, CCP.
85. Jay Ticar First Time, The Drawing Room.
86. Yasmin Sison Turning Tides, Finale.
87. Where is Bong Mata?, West Gallery.
88. Mm Yu Rescind, West Gallery.
89. Roberto Chabet & Nilo Ilarde Collages, West Gallery.
90. Jose Tence Ruiz Kotillon, Art Informal.
91. Gristle Pays Homage To The Benevolent Sausage, Magnet
92. Rock Drilon Recent Works, Galleria Duemila.
93. 2008 Ateneo Art Awards, Shangri-la Plaza.
94. Robert Langenegger The Worst Painter Is The One That Paints, Finale.
95. Norberto Roldan Objects and Apparitions, MO_.
96. Wire Tuazon Talisman Bomb, Podium.
97. Louie Cordero & Mariano Ching Death Scream, Blanc.
98. 0%, Green Papaya.
99. Gerardo Tan Ellipses, Magnet.
100. Louie Cordero Pilgrimage to Semina Mountains, West Gallery.
101. Soler Stratus, Finale.
102. Nilo Ilarde What Do Objects Want? The Lives and Loves of Objects, MO_.
103. Juni Salvador Works From Down Under , Magnet.
104. Inaugural Show (Part 1), Finale.
105. Gerardo Tan Theatre of Disguise, Finale.
106. Poklong Anading Random Faults and Root Cause, Finale.
107. Oo: Selected Paintings and Projects by Maria Cruz 1996 – 2008, Ateneo Art Gallery.
108. Juan Alcazaren Test, Magnet.
109. Yuta: Earthworks by Julie Lluch, CCP.
110. Patty Eustaquio Death to the Major, Viva to the Minor, Slab.
111. Daphne Aguilar Pink Noise, Finale.
112. Ronald Ventura After The Lullabye, West Gallery.
113. Bembol Dela Cruz Asphyxia, West Gallery.
114. Bea Camacho Efface. Green Papaya.
115. Argie Bandoy Blind New Works, Mo_.
116. Plet Bolipata & Elmer Borlongan Blue Hour, CCP.
117. Wesley Valenzuela Transmutation, CCP.
118. Gaston Damag Wanted, Finale.
119. Ranelle Dial. A Circa Revisited, Magnet.
120. Marc Gaba Postcapitalism, Magnet.
121. Christina Quisumbing Domestic Bliss, Green Papaya.
122. Inaugural Show (Part 2), Finale.
123. Jayson Oliveria What Sort of Man Reads Playboy?, Finale.
124. Jose Tence Ruiz Derelict Penthouses, Galleria Duemila.
125. Junyee Siete Picados, Galleria Duemila.
126. Alwin ReamilloTutubing Bakal Helicopter Project, Museo Pambata.
127. Silverlens Foundation 2008 Grant Exhibition, Silverlens.
128. Julius Clar Assemblages, Slab 20 Square.
129. Inaugural Show (Part 3), Finale.
130. Keiye Miranda Silent Witness, Finale.
131. Keeping The Faith, Lopez Museum.
132. Roberto Chabet 1964 Drawings, West Gallery.
133. Alwin Reamillo Play By Ear, Galleria Duemila.
134. Bea Valdez Bedtime Stories, Slab.
135. Gary-Ross Pastrana New Collages, Slab 20 Square.
136. Juan Alcazaren & Bernardo Pacquing Etudes For More Than Two Hands, Mo_.
137. Marina Cruz Open House, The Drawing Room.
138. All I Want For Christmas, Manila Contemporary.
139. Trek Valdizno Urgent Paintings From San Rafael, Bulacan, Artis Corpus Gallery.
140. Lynyrd Paras Against My Black Hearted World, Blanc.
141. Map Ruminations, Apt 2805B.
142. TutoKKK, Blanc.

URGENT: PAINTING

SLEEPWALKING by Yason Banal
December 26, Friday

Trek Valdizno’s body of work is the only one of its kind that can account for, if need be, a genre of lyrical non-objectivism in the history of modern art in the Philippines. As a student at the U.P. College of Fine Arts, he was executing drawings with remarkable ease, in astounding number and at an incredible pace that was best expressed though an academic exercise called “a hundred drawings.”

Presented in at least one solo show and three group exhibitions annually in the past seventeen years, the local art scene has become familiar with Valdizno’s imagery. Perhaps familiar enough that opponents have lost initial hostility towards his chosen visual language. But have his drawings really become palatable to a larger public quick to dismiss abstraction as mindless scribbling if not non-indigenous?

Valdizno is above all a master draftsman in a novel way. With his brush he is able to draw paint. This may be a way to begin appreciating his abstraction. In his work only paint exists and we are witness to what it can literally do. In spite of myriad interpretations aroused by his sumptuous vocabulary of forms and figures, what is essential in the artist’s laboring is the transfer of terrestrial vibrations to his matter.

For his 25th solo exhibit at the Artis Corpus Gallery, Valdizno’s stimulus comes from making images out of “cotton like buttons”. The preamble to this new body of work in contrast to the complexity of what the artist achieves cannot be any simpler or more banal, making it appear that he is quick to grab any motif if only to prod and probe his materials.

Much more than a materialist, he does not merely attribute adjectives to paint. Paint must skid, slide, fatten, thin, glisten, fly, chatter, quiver, tumble, soften, harden, laugh and cry. Valdizno’s acts of drawing become a vehicle to infuse paint with verbs that make it live and breathe as if human.

More innocently than idealistically, Valdizno allows his gestures to do everything to pigment creating a picture more delicious than candy. He waits patiently to the last minute for a crucial starting point that will allow him to draw for hours and days on end, spewing works by the hundreds, unapologetic of his abstractions done over and over again. And from his hometown of San Rafael, Bulacan he will deliver his paintings even though wet. It is the only thing he can imagine doing, very urgently.

Sandra Palomar
Antipolo City
18 November 2008


***


URGENT DISCUSSIONS with Trek Valdizno on his recent paintings. Excerpts from conversations of Sandra Palomar with Gaston Damag via Yahoo Messenger, Enrico Manlapaz and Trek Valdizno via text messaging.

November 3, 8:50pm

TREK VALDIZNO (TV): D rain paralyzd ol my activities today. I cnt paint outside. stil lukin 4 som inspirations 2 paint new tings or new ideas.

November 5, 11:25pm

TV: Didnt touch brushes or paints today. Unloading som ideas bt im stil empty inside. Its hard how n wen 2 start painting.

November 7, 10:59am

TV: Startin point nlang hnhntay ko. Ready n ang ground n my paints. I nid mor stres nd som emotional disturbance 2 push myself to paint.

SANDRA PALOMAR (SP): hindi makaumpisa sa pagpinta si trek. wala pa daw siyang 'inspiration' kahit na ready ang kanyang mga canvas. i told him his abstractions are landscapes. he seemed okay with titling the show 'bulakan'. i am thinking of making a video-catalogue.

November 9, 3:40pm

TR: Rainy sunday! Wla n naman ako mgagawa.

November 11, 9:23am

TR: tried quittin smokin today pero lalo akong naiistress

GASTON DAMAG (GD): i like the idea that you are going to do a video catalogue, the title is really good, pagod na tayo sa mga maka euro philosophe na titles. Bulakan is terre à terre. i also like the idea of landscape, landscape is so complex a subject that it is abstract, landscape is an idea of space (P. Cezanne).

THE PREAMBULE

TV: Finally, jaz fnishd two paintings. I made two paintings made of button like oil paints. I love d idea of making image out of 'big buttons'. Cotton like buttons. i love it. Now i cn paint non stop, by creatin button shaped paints. im happy now.

November 12, 5:36pm

TV: 9 paintngs fnishd today. 6am n ako n2log. Grabe. Nkkapagod. Un 9paintngs ay recycled, gnamit ko to warm up.

TV: Last nyt ako ngkafever. Over fatigue cguro. im orderin d boys 2 paint d bakground pra mbilis. I got 30+ canvas 2 fnish.

SP: Can u tell me ur idea forur last series of pntgs with the birds?

TV: my idea is abt flight, landing, leap, jump, etc.

THE CONFLICT

November 19, 10:37pm

TV: If i paint all d space of a 4x4 canvas wd button like paints in oil i wil consume 100 big tubes each 229 pesos totaling 22,229 pesos for a single painting! If i do dat 4 my exhbition, b4 d year ends im d poorest artist in d philippines.

TV: D cost of oil paint limits my ambition...d expenses, d efforts, d urgency, of this so called art im abt 2 make is frustratng.

November 20, 4:25pm

SP: masaya si trek sa outcome ng trabaho niya but he still has to finish some 20+ canvasses. gusto niyang gumawa ng malalaki pero yung effect na nais niyang makamit ay magastos sa paint.

GD: his butter paintings ay parang icing na nga, kung thicker pa dun paano matutuyo mga canvas nya e malapit na ang show?

SP: yun ang exciting sa trabaho ni trek. he doesn't run against time for "ideas",
but for the capabilities of his material, paint.

Mabibilang mo ngayon ang mga pintor na hamon ang kanilang materyales, hindi idea; na masasabi mong totohanang pintor dahil problema nila ang pintura at hindi kahulugan

4:25pm

TR: My assistants r ol bc paintin my bakground. We fnishd 7 pntgs 2day bt nid my personal touches tmrow. Ang hrap magpaint ng dmo p alam ang exact colors at exact picture.

November 22, 9:10pm

ENRICO MANLAPAZ (EM): Sandra and trek, perhaps you can discuss this phenomenon...that some of the thick buttons have travelled about half an inch overnight after i took photos of paintings and left them upright.

EM: Perhaps map pins on the canvas under the paint buttons, can help so they dont slide down.

November 24, 8:53am

SP: Good morning. Txtd trek about the paintings and he said not to worry. The paint is breathing.

EM: You mean they have a life of their own? As in process art?

SP : You can put it that way.

7:13pm

TV: Im now painting a giant prayin mantis holding a rosary

SP: That mantis sounds like a good piece

TV: I also made a human figure nd flowers, mukang siluly glass ang dating, kaya excitd ako. 3dimensional n yta lhat ng paintings. Sculptd oils n yta kc. Paints lang medium ko pero sculpture n yta ang process. Actuali ang mantis ay pang future show sana along wd ideas of painting other insects. Pero ginawa ko na rin. Ayoko na mag isip pa. Dna ako na aastonish s 'abstraction' ko yta. Kaya im entertainin other ideas.

November 28, 9:30am

TV: Finally, mttapos n ang prayin mantis.

TV: Cant find a picture of two ducks copulating but I tink dats d best pictur for my ‘eden’ painting

November 30, 7:22pm

THE CLIMAX

TV: Im fnishin d two copulating ducks.

December 2, 10:16am

TV: Gudmorning’ d paintings r ol done. Im so exhausted.

THE DENOUEMENT

TV: Im bgnin 2 dislike non objectiv painting, hndi n ako na aastonish. kya may mga humanfigure n ang smal canvas ko, like my two acrobats.

SP: Question: paki-describe mo uli yung idea mo sa mga ginawa mo sa animal cases ng national museum?

TR: Actualy ngkuha lng ako ng pics at inarange ko mga positions nla. On d spot exhbit un. Hndi kc ako mkakuha ng slot dat time, so i said 2 myself dt day, i nid 2 show it today' voila! 1day show lang. Fascinatd lng ako s mga birds tlaga. I remembr one xmas wen i was a kid, we vsitd my lolo, i found out my hornbil bird cla nhuli at nmatay after a while. Tpos gnawa nlang stuf at dnisplay s sala. Astonishd ako dat visit.

THE ANTICLIMAX

December 6, 8:32am

TV: My painting abt ducks laid eggs, blame d cold weather hir. Actualy, i made two 3D eggs frm oil paints, imagine dat.

TV: Im planin 2 paint a caterpillar crossin a branch. Un lang. Jaz 2 c n observ d patience of a caterpillar crosin a long branch.

THE END