It’s been another art-filled week for me as I tried to zoom between galleries in the midst of crazy Christmas traffic, but well, it’s been quite rewarding, too. Who would want to be in Helsinki’s art scene when we have this? Even French graffiti artists Mist and Tilt chose to do their holiday shows here. Their Thrilla Manila opened in Secret Fresh last Sunday, and the works are gonna stay on the walls until January 3.
I caught up with the artists as they were setting up the day before, and I found out that Tilt, STATUS’s second issue cover artist, used to be with another STATUS cover girl, Fafi! Mist, on the other hand, was an idol for Tilt, and now, they’re working together. Here are photos from the show featuring not only framed work (variations of the Philippine flag, some cartoon characters, etc.) but also an ice cream cart! Prints are on sale here.
Remember last week when I was attending Carina Santos’s first solo? Her brother, Luis had one, too. And days later, he pulled off another one! That’s his Exposition at Manila Contemporary last Saturday. If on the previous solo, he had skull painting on small tablets of wood, this one had the bones on humongous slabs. Deceptively simple, his skeletal meditations are impressively detailed. In this series, he also adds animal skulls to the pictures–the one above being “Skull (fox, right lateral),” many viewers’ favorite. These works are on show until January 8.
When you cross the road and walk through some obscure alley harboring casino machines, you’ll find Department of Avant Garde Cliches which now showcases the work of another French artist, Hervé Di Rosa. The show came to my attention as GMA News tweeted about his work including our very own Jollibee, the bug appearing to be chased by other strange creatures. Di Rosa, contemporaries with Basquiat and Haring, happens to be friends with the gallery owner, also renowned artist, Manuel Ocampo (hence the reference, I think). Show’s up until January 28.
On the other side of the globe, in Vermont Studio Center, our very own Dex Fernandez, who I previously interviewed and shot for STATUS, collaborated with Chicano artists Alex Rubio and Vincent Valdez to produce this mural rendered in time-lapse above. It’s a very interesting case of observing improvisation and also the similar aesthetics among artists coming from Spanish-influenced contexts.
This last one’s may be fashion, but a very artful one at that–Gold Dot not only released a Holiday collection but also this editorial, Automaton, featuring the gorgeous Ria Bolivar. New house designer Karl Leuterio told me how he was inspired by “Transformers, machines, and metal” in creating this collection hence the complementing backdrop. One will also see hints of Mugler in the clothes. Check out the entire set, and most importantly, brace yourself for the shoes. -NANSAN
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