INFLATION slowed to a five-month low in June — missing estimates — on softer food, utilities and transport price increases, giving the central bank room to continue keeping policy steady for now. Read the full story.
HE IS a muralist and she is an illustrator. He is drawn to geometric shapes and pastel colors while she is fond of women, cats, and muted hues. Kris Abrigo and Soleil Ignacio — lovers and lovers of urban art — create contrasting yet complementary artworks. And together, they have an ongoing month-long exhibit collection in partnership with Habitat Manila on view at Abensons, BGC.
Habitat Manila, a European furniture and accessories store, commissions local artists to create exhibits that enhance and harmonize with its home products. “Design is a lifestyle, and artistry and personal style is expressed most comfortably in our homes and most private spaces,” said Habitat director, Walter Lim, in a statement.
With this in mind, the two artists have created and imagined their studio love nest using Habitat furniture and accessories while also highlighting their own creations.
WHO ARE THEY?
Before becoming a full time creative illustrator, Ms. Ignacio, 27, was a designer and art director for a fashion magazine. Her work has appeared in Nylon magazine and some international young adult fiction books, among others. Because her background is fashion, beauty, and lifestyle, the subjects of her paintings are focused on fashionable women “in the everyday life… my works are nothing too deep [because] what you see is what you get.”
She said she is currently in love with cats and women with mysterious personas, often looking pensive and wearing a “RBF” (resting bitch face). “I like my subjects with a hint of feminism: I like them strong and feline-like,” she said.
While her boyfriend describes her artwork as “organic, gestural, and refined,” Mr. Abrigo’s own creations, on the other hand, are the opposite. His are linear, angular, and calculated.
The two artists, who are Fine Arts batch mates in University of the Philippines, Diliman, said there is no competition between them, but they share ideas and thoughts that will help them together as two different artists.
Mr. Abrigo’s works “have grids and work with a system,” he said, adding that he is obsessive-compulsive and his artworks are reflections of his frustrations with society, which he describes as “loose, no order, and without finesse,” from the way we disobey traffic rules to escalator etiquette.
Mr. Abrigo is the creator behind some of the Instagram-famous murals among the BGC building walls, which are often used as backgrounds for #OOTDs (outfit of the day). He has also done another commissioned mural in Hong Kong, painting the walls of the hip Ovolo Southside Hotel which used to be a warehouse along Wong Chuk Hang Road.
His other creations are found in restaurants like the Early Bird Breakfast Club.
According to Habitat marketing director, Mundi Ocampo, they discovered the two artists on Instagram. — Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman
WASHINGTON, DC — A soaring exhibit of stacked cardboard tubes shaped into three hive-like interconnected structures will make its debut on Thursday at a Washington, DC, museum as part of its annual interactive art installation series.
The Hive exhibit, designed by architect Jeanne Gang, will take over the Great Hall of the National Building Museum, standing more than 60 feet (18 meters) tall. It is open to the public through Sept. 4.
Its three domed chambers are made from 2,700 lightweight cardboard cylinders ranging from several inches to 10 feet (3 meters) in height, painted silver and magenta and stacked in an interlocking fashion.
Gang told Reuters that Hive is similar to the vaulted structures of cathedrals, designed to hold their own weight.
“We thought this is such a big space, we wanted to go high,” she said. “We wanted to make something that had some monumentality but at the same time, inside, a certain intimacy.”
Hive can be explored from the museum’s 4th floor balcony as well as on the ground level, where visitors can enter the dark, intimate interiors and interact with the work’s multiple acoustic elements such as chimes and small drums. — Reuters
THE RIGHTS of indigenous people to use their ancestral land and the issues of mining and its harmful effects on the natural environment are at the center of Mulat: Ang Hindi Sinukuan sa Arayat, a dance directed and choreographed by Justin Ray Diolazo. The ballet follows Liway and her spirit guardian, Maria Sinukuan, the divinity of Mt. Arayat, as they act to protect their community from the encroachment of mining companies. Written by Nicko de Guzman, with music by Paulo Estero, Mulat stars Angela Sison, Alyana Tolentino, Cheska Vasallo, Christian Cusi, Doori Chin, Gianina David, Inah Abrasaldo, Khylle Paulino, Kyle Confessor, Neil John Casagan, Ruthame Hurtado, Yella Carlos, and Zyra Verastique. Mulat is a production by the DLS-CSB Bachelor of Performing Arts in Dance program in collaboration with the Benilde Arts Management Program, the Office of Culture and Arts-Saint Benilde Romançon Dance Company, and spot.ph. Performances will be on July 28, 7 p.m., and on July 29, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., at the Black Box Theater, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts Campus, 950 Pablo Ocampo St., Malate, Manila. For inquiries and ticket reservation, call 0917-842-5013, 0917-665-6339, or visit the Mulat booth at the 9th floor hallway of the School of Design and Art Campus.
CORO SAN BENILDO, a Filipino choir group, won three prizes in the recently concluded 46th Florilège Vocal de Tours, the highly anticipated annual choral competition in France which sees regular participation of large and small musical ensembles from all over the world. Coro, the resident choral group of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB), shared 3rd place with Azusa Pacific University Chamber Singers from Los Angeles, California in the Renaissance Category, and ranked 3rd in the International Mixed Vocal Ensemble. No 1st prizes were handed out in these events. The Filipino team likewise received the Prix de Public, the People’s Choice Award, which is presented to the audience’s most-admired group. Rome’s Coro Musicanova garnered the contest’s Grand Prix de la Ville de Tours Champion’s honor, earning the right to compete in next year’s European Grand Prix for Choral Singing, which is considered to be the Olympics for choirs. Led by its choirmaster Lorenzo C. Gealogo, Coro San Benildo has also won in entirely different tournaments, such the 70th Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod held in Wales, where it was hailed champion in the Youth Choir competition, second in the Adult Folk category, and was a finalist in the culminating Choir of the World Event.
THE international traveling exhibition Manga Hokusai Manga: Approaching the Master’s Compendium from the Perspective of Contemporary Comics is on view until July 28 at the Ateneo Art Gallery (AAG). The exhibition introduces the similarities and differences between modern Japanese manga, which now enjoys global popularity, and Katsushika Hokusai’s manga. The education program in line with this exhibition includes lectures, workshops and animated film screenings. AAG will also be screening animated films by Makoto Shinkai from the collection of The Japan Foundation, Manila. Voices of a Distant Star (2002) and The Garden of Words (2013) will be shown on all Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays until July 26, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The AAG is at the Rizal Library Special Collections Bldg., Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Ave., Loyola Heights, Quezon City.
THE Goethe-Institut Philippinen and Yuchengco Museum present a special collection of timeless black-and-white photographs by German photographer and Berghain club doorman Sven Marquardt. Entitled Future’s Past, the exhibit examines the humanity of Berlin locals. Marquardt’s dark and industrial images spans 30 years of photography. The exhibition is also an extensive documentation of the German Democratic Republic’s subcultures at the time. The exhibit is on view until Aug. 11. The Yuchengco Museum is at the RCBC Plaza, corner Ayala and Senator Gil J. Puyat Aves., Makati City.
1335MABINI presents Cumulus Blimp: A Transnational Platform of Discourse, a series of exhibitions and residencies that aims to induce diverse perspectives on the agenda of cultural engagement. From June 2017 to March 2018, the gallery will host seven exhibitions involving 15 artists from the Philippines Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Austria, America, and Israel. The current exhibit features works by Rinne Abrugena and Iabadiou Piko and is ongoing until July 25. In this exhibition, Abrugena and Piko explore the possibility of interconnectedness of human experience regardless of country of origin through their paintings. The series of works create a link to the familiar and the intimate, to private musings and man’s affinity to the universal. Their distinct styles provide the viewer a multidimensional vantage point but at the same time form a comprehensive portrait of human nature and self-realization. The gallery is located at 1335 A. Mabini St., Ermita, Manila.
HYPNOTIC SYNTHESIS, an exhibit of works by Art Tavera, Gail Vicente, Wipo, and Eva Yu is ongoing until July 22 at the Artery Art Space. Their paintings explore states of process and transmutation using line, gesture, pattern, and color, as new approaches to painterly abstraction in depicting psychological conditions into physiological form. Artery Art Space is a contemporary art gallery plus a store and a snack bar providing progressive art. It is located at 102 P. Tuazon Blvd., Cubao, Quezon City.
ONGOING until July 31 at Mo_Space, this exhibition revisits Roberto Chabet’s historical plywood installation, Waves, which was last presented in the survey show Art in the CCP: 1970 — 1975 at the Main Gallery of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1975. It provides a glimpse into one of the earliest manifestations of Chabet’s aporetic use of everyday objects, turning it into both material and metaphor for the vagrancies of contemporary life. Waves is part of MO_Space X, a series of shows that celebrates the gallery’s 10 years of activities since its opening in 2007. MO_Space is at the 3rd level, MOs Design, B2 Bonifacio High Street, 9th Ave., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City.
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is known for its comprehensive collection of paintings from the provinces. These artworks intimate the peculiarities in various part of the country, and the tendencies that prevail in the places where the artists hail and practice. In the effort to give recognition to these artists, the Metropolitan Museum of Manila is holding an exhibition titled Distinct Refinements: Painting from the Provinces featuring selected artworks from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas collection, complemented with paintings from the MET Collection, the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center — University of the Philippines Collection and private collectors. The exhibition highlights the idiosyncratic character of each work that reflects much of the place where it originated. Despite the lack of formal academic training, the featured artists thrived in the field and gained accomplishments through their works. The roster of painters in the exhibit includes Pedro Ardeña from Capiz who exhibited in the St. Louis Universal Exposition in 1904, Pedro Salazar of Batangas, Tomas Diores of Cebu, and Pedro Respall of Iloilo, among others. In conjunction with the exhibit, the MET relaunches its CineMET Program with a showcase of award-winning short films featured in Cinema Rehiyon, a project organized by the Cinema Committee of the National Commission for Culture and Arts. The CineMET x Cinema Rehiyon Program coincides with the centenary of Philippine cinema celebrated this year. Distinct Refinements: Painting from the Provinces is on view at the MET Tall Galleries until Oct. 28. The Metropolitan Museum of Manila is located at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex, Roxas Blvd., Manila.
By Susan Claire Agbayani
RECENTLY, Filipinos — artists or not — have weighed in on sculptor Ferdinand Cacnio’s bronze outdoor installation of a floating Barbie Doll-like lady in a supine position — arms outstretched — supported only by her hair. The sculpture is perched just outside the theater of University of the Philippines Diliman, and is visible to early morning joggers at the academic oval.
After Mr. Cacnio posted a picture of the finished cantilevered sculpture — called UPlift — on Facebook, a gallery owner who happens to be a frequent visitor to Europe pointed out its similarity to Elisabet Stienstra’s sculpture Virgins of Apeldoorn.
All hell broke loose online, with Mr. Cacnio on the receiving end of the sort of vitriol usually reserved for unfortunate souls who make political comments and are trolled by supporters of the other camp.
Mr. Cacnio responded — also on social media, “Before today, I had never seen nor heard of Ms. Stienstra or her work. Hindi ko s’ya kilala (I don’t know her). We’ve never been to Netherlands. I was not inspired by her, I did not model my work after hers. I am not guilty of plagiarizing or copying her work…”
Since the controversy blew up two weeks ago, the sculpture has become a favored backdrop for selfies.
CACNIO’S SUPPORTERS
Mr. Cacnio seems to have attracted as many supporters as detractors, although the support of some also comes with questions on how the sculpture found its way onto the campus.
In a Facebook post, artist Imelda Cajipe-Endaya noted that, “Re: plagiarism, I would give him the benefit of the doubt; there are many artistic efforts in gravity-defying portrayal of human beings.”
“It is the role of artists to make sense of the world and find meaning in ordinary and common things,” explained artist and art conservator June Dalisay during an interview in her home in UP Campus. “The (works) of Cacnio are well-done, well-made decorative pieces. (UPlift) is an engineering feat. But who made the proposal? Who approved it? UP should have studied the proposal; at dumaan sa committee (It should have passed through a committee).”
Ms. Cajipe-Endaya agrees with Ms. Dalisay on that point, and added another layer of complication, “There is need to clarify whether UPlift is officially meant to be a female counterpart of the Oblation. Articles cite that it developed from a call of UP during its past centennial celebration for art to publish in an expensive coffee table book of drawings of nude women. In that landmark occasion, why did the UP at all choose nudes as subject, and not a more fitting theme — whether nude or clothed — like women in their strengths, as partners with men and other genders, in nation-building?”
According to the university’s Facebook page, UPlift “was designed to embody the university motto ‘Aspiring for Honor and Excellence.’”
Some clarification of the statue’s provenance comes from the Gancayco Law office — Mr. Cacnio is a client — which stated on its Web page (www.gancaycolaw.ph) that, “The UPlift is a project of the UP Class of 1985 Council which started in the year 2010 — the year of the batch’s Silver Jubilee. (It) is a large version of Cacnio’s 2007 Levitation nudes. The UPlift used GBA senior partner, Atty. Dorothea Balasbas-Gancayco as the statue’s face model.”
Ms. Gancayco also released a statement — “Integrity of Sculptor Ferdinand Cacnio & UPlift” — on June 29 (available on her Facebook) page explaining that she is an officer of the council of the UP Class of 1985 (as well as the UP Law Class of 1985). “The officers of the Council had several meetings on what project we wanted to undertake as a batch,” she wrote, and that they decided, “to donate a large version of Cacnio’s 2007 Levitation nudes…” This project and a study of Cacnio’s sculpture were presented at the 2010 UP Homecoming.
The search for the perfect spot and sponsors for the seven-foot statue took seven years.
In a phone interview — Mr. Cacnio and his family are in the US on a long-planned vacation — the artist said that the original plan was to have the statue face the Bahay ng Alumni, but the Washington Sycip Garden of Native Trees was already in that spot. A spot across the Carillon was also suggested, but it couldn’t be done “kasi hindi pwedeng brass on brass (you cannot have brass on brass),” Mr. Cacnio explained.
COPYRIGHTS
In her post, Ms. Gancayco noted that Mr. Cacnio is a graduate of Civil Engineering, and is a dancer. Just like so many of Cacnio’s works, UPlift, “is all about balancing and defying gravity… the sculpture rests on just a single point, and yet magically remains suspended on air.”
As for the allegation that the artist “copied” or “plagiarized” the work of Ms. Stientra, she pointed out that “The fact that such a huge body does not fall to the ground has left people in awe and wonder. Yes, they are both reclining, but how they were constructed and designed structurally are very different.”
She quoted her classmate and fellow lawyer Bong Somera: “Under the law on copyright, there can be no copyright on the idea of a woman levitating with her dropped hair as in the post. There is no copyright in an idea. The work is still an original..”
A lawyer and educator on Intellectual Property Law herself, Ms. Gancayco further clarified, “An idea cannot be the subject of a copyright. Elisabet’s, Andrew Devries’ (2009) and Ferdie’s works are all about a floating man or woman… Just like the idea of a mother and child, or the idea of trees, as [a] theme for paintings, no artist can say that the idea is hers or his. If we allow an idea to be claimed by particular artists, then thousands upon thousands of artists all over the world will be guilty of plagiarism or copying. Creativity will be stunted.”
WOMAN AS OBJECT
Sought for comment, UP Vice-President for Public Affairs Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. issued this statement, “Any debate or discussion about public art is good for the arts, whether people like the artwork or not. It puts art in the public consciousness, and makes us think about what art is and what it should do. I don’t know the artist personally, but I’ve read his statement and have also read testimonials to his good character, so it might be best to take him at his word.
“The work was donated and received in good faith. We can act on the accusations of plagiarism only if a formal complaint is filed. But matters of artistic judgment and intellectual provenance are probably best resolved by the artists themselves, or by a court of law, or ultimately by the court of public opinion. Incidentally there have been many statues of naked men with arms outstretched from ancient times, but that never seems to have been an issue with the Oblation.
“From what I’ve heard and read, what seems to be drawing fire here isn’t so much the issue of possible plagiarism but the politics of female representation. Again, however we feel individually about the work, it’s good that these issues are being publicly debated.”
Cacnio’s daughter Bianca, a UP student, defended her father against his detractors, saying on Facebook: “(My dad) chose to have her suspended in air, to symbolize enlightenment. She’s levitating, and uplifted. She’s rising towards the heavens, to honor and excellence, naked as we all are, in the eyes of God.
“Her hair… rooted to the ground, to our country, symbolizing our roots as well,” she wrote.
Artist and art conservator June Dalisay pointed out to this writer that, “UP is the center of progressive thinking. Women have contributed much to UP, long before martial law. The time has come to present women in a different light. So many brothers and fathers are being killed. Who takes on the responsibility of taking care of families? Women carry half the weight of the world!”
Yet, describing the statue she said: “It’s as if a woman’s waiting for a customer. The supine position can never be a position of dignity. It is a submissive pose. You have no strength (as opposed to the crouching position). You are open to attacks. Try it! Even if you study martial arts… At the end of the day, women lie down from sheer exhaustion… Can’t a woman be honored through a statue in upright position?”
So, in addition to the other issues, there is the concern of the imaging of woman as an object.
As Ms. Cajipe-Endaya said: “If Cacnio’s work 10 years in the making for a public institution is indeed official, it should have been reviewed and approved by an academic, critical body, and if woman is a theme, the university should have consulted its Center for Women Studies. Otherwise Cacnio’s work can be displayed as temporary exhibition like there have been many around the campus. The university, in putting up permanent public art, must be truly principled and responsible in exemplifying the ideals and principles that it teaches.”
