Kontra-Kontra (2-man show) at Sigwada Gallery

Sigwada Gallery’s initial salvo for 2009 opens on January 10 at 6pm and runs through January 31, 2009. Cocktails will be served as the exhibit closes at 6pm onwards.

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Kontra-Kontra

tad pagaduan
igé trinidad

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As antagonist's anthem dethrones the radiant sunrise of modern mornings, we caress a conscious violator to those who actively thrive on agitating stories, corrupting honor and punctuating imaginary scandals in everything, by which they would naturally expect themselves hailed upon as contemporary gods on their deliberate declaration of distaste and division among societies. Flaw-fetishes devoted in exposing errors for them to heroically put out.

Pseudo heroes, pseudo paradise
The land of empty angst: underneath our nuclear bomb.
-
However, since we’re crowned and shall always be crowned with self-perceptions, one might merely scoff and insist that such torments are crucial to crucify humanity onto rightful definition; that there is indeed an error somewhere in a system of supposed perfection.
In this case, the show itself, being the anti-torment testimonial that it is, is labeled the torment, fueled by the logic of a notion whereby firing a gun to the gunman who ought not to live, we ought not to live for we mutated into gunmen ourselves by taking the immediate sweetness and benefit of the bullet, the apparatus of notoriety that was opposed as implied. The hero therefore became the villain. Gandhi became Hitler, and most likely, vice versa.

Putting paradox for a face, the show devastates itself with societal armageddon, a conception misconceptualized by another conception; a showdown of ethical beliefs and ethical beliefs; Utopia versus Utopia.

Undressing the theme to a naked, simpler thought bubble, the meaning is simply given, protruding, candidly self-explanatory to naked ear; functional, waxed or deaf; Kontra-Kontra is contradiction against contradiction, against contradicting against, serving with hostile helloes a visual supper of erected middle-fingers for erected middle-fingers.

Finger-lickin' antagonisms,
the various shadows of salvation, the motivation
of the schism.

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Sigwada Gallery

Gallery hours (Monday-Sunday, 10am-6pm - beyond 6pm by appointment)

0917-8075659 • 743-5873

1921 Oroquieta St., cor. Tayuman, Sta. Cruz, Manila

year-end survey

Following Martin & Abbey :) Pampalipas-oras, pero napaisip ako nito ah. Share lang. Happy New Year!

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
lots! choice cuts: go up onstage at CCP's Little Theater with raketmates Sawsawan for the Production Design of Tanghalang Pilipino's EJ, contact artists for a project, go to Corregidor, blanked out while in Corregidor, take care of rats as pets, learned Filipino Sign Language, completed the Simbang Gabi, subjected friends to each other :)

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I never had any. Will I make one for 2009? Maybe.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
my sis-in-law!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
yes, a very good friend and classmate in UP, during a mountaineering accident. typhoon Frank.

5. What countries did you visit?
none, huhuhu.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
uhm. a sound master's thesis topic!

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Christmas Day. superb family, blessings, friends, and i received the bestest presents.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
finally having the guts to quit a (turbulent) long-term relationship that really wasn't good for me anymore.

9. What was your biggest failure?
being unable to continue with a research project.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
nothing bad. just bad coughs and colds that kept me up or woke me up at night.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
ohmy. hmm. my elephant iflops!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
my bff. no contest :) i am so proud of her!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
a good friend. i was hoping things would turn out okay (still) between us. i'm still hoping.

14. Where did most of your money go?
hmm. the first part of the year, mostly to food & travel. nights out with friends, cab rides. lomography. the latter part of the year, to myself, clothes and such. yey :)

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I got really excited about a particular Christmas present. :) though it was given days before christmas (and i usually end up opening stuff before xmas day), i held back until it was Time.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
can't think of a particular one. first song that comes to mind is Turn, Turn, Turn by the Byrds. i grew up a lot this year. also, The Start of Something by Voxtrot. tuwa at kulit lang. Funny Little Frog by Belle & Sebastian. i like frogs. (labo)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder? definitely happier.
richer or poorer? richer, thanks to a project.
thinner or fatter? ohmy. fatter. hahaha.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
focusing on finishing my master's. i keep saying "thesis na lang ang kulang" but i'm not doing anything about it.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
er, hmm. money-wise, unwise spending. wala pa akong ibang maisip.

20. How did you spend the holidays?
with friends and family. the best combination. ecstatically happy and fulfilled. despite the bumps along the way, it's been a great year for me.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
i fell out, fell in, fell out, and in again (i think). so that's a (probable) double yes, right?

22. How many one-night stands?
Zilch.

23. What were your favorite TV programs?
Californication (thanks to my classmate and friend RJ, his bday gift to me, hehehe), and Pushing Daisies (thanks to Mark na nagkwento) lang ang napanood ko on dvd eh. ganun ako kadalas nakapanood this year.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. I'm not much of a hater. :)

25. What were the best books you've read?
ohno. di ako masyadong nakabasa, but all of the books i managed to finish this year were all great: Sherds (okay not so great for this F. Sionil Jose), The Book of Numbers, Sexing The Cherry, The Walrus Was Paul, Varjak Paw, and The Outlaw Varjak Paw (thanks ige for lending me the dms)

26. What was your favorite film of this year?
Juno. AND Across the Universe. trippy! i liked it so much i put it on my xmas wishlist. thanks susa for getting me an original copy! :) isa pa pala yung Ms. Pettigrew Lives For A Day. katuwa. hehehe.

27. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
laid-back, tomboy artist slacker tambay, as always.

28 Whom did you miss?
hmm. lomomanila! i wasn't able to participate in the events/projects this year.

29. Who was the best new person you met?
young visual artists who became good friends, Deaf artists, martin's friends esp. abbey & obie, at ang tweebo ng oro!

30. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
if you know it's not for you, don't force it. trust your instincts but be wise in making decisions.

31. What was your greatest musical discovery?
(late ako eh at ibang genre ang pinakikinggan ko talaga) - Belle and Sebastian :)

32. What did you want and get?
i wanted my life (what made me, me) back. i got it. :)

33. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
my 24th was spent on a long walk around old Manila, and dinner by the bay. :)

34. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
guts.

35. What kept you sane?
my friends, old and new, whom i got to spend more time with this year.

36. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
John Lloyd forever.

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
i wonder if you realize you fascinate me so

tee hee hee.

masakit sa pisngi

ang sobrang pagngiti. pictures ng pinhole camera na natanggap ko noong pasko. saya, tuwa, galak, nakakamaliw na pasko paksiw! dabestest. salamat santa! :)

fish

tambling

so this is christmas

photos everywhere. but i won't be posting any, not right now. not that my christmas was unpleasant. on the contrary, 2008 christmas week was one of, if not the best i had. that is, until last night to this afternoon.

an itty bitty bit of information reached me last night. did it do enough damage to my hapee holidays? somewhat. not much. good thing someone had a better head, and let it pass. me, i'm not good at letting things pass. my friends know how hot-blooded i am, facing/forcing an issue or an asshole head-on, but the past few months i've been learning to control myself, and i realized it also feels good to keep a wise silence, to let things be, to walk away.

good thing my friends aren't like me. thanks for calming me down guys, you know who you are.

as for the details, rather not put 'em down here. let's just say i hope it doesn't happen again. if it does happen again, well, to hell with the miserable entity who'll cause it. this really is getting so tiring. (i could hear our friend writer-picture taker-wushu master glenn atanacio--->present saying at this point, "ano pare, upakan na natin?" hahaha. the cholo and the martin would most probably agree, isn't that how sweet the glenn is?)

okay, enough of the negative energy! here's something christmasy: lotsa thanks to susa for the dvd. i did act surprised! :) you have to come by the house sometime with martin for our pizza afternoon. there's domino's just across the subdivision. (and bibingka, and kfc, and lechon manok, and burger machine...)

i did say this was probably the best christmas ever. i'd like to say the phrase "months in the making" but that wouldn't ring true. some of the time perhaps. the first day of my christmas fell on an ordinary day in september. i wrote a wishlist then too. i've looked forward to a better christmas since october. a taste of christmas fell on a november thursday. since then i've been celebrating little christmases every week. santa gave me a special present a few days before christmas--i'm relieved that he thinks i've been more nice than naughty this year. (eh?)

santa's gift was the only 'early' present that i really disciplined myself not to open until christmas. after midnight mass, the moment we got home, i rushed to the package and immediately felt like a cat with a new toy: ecstatically wide-eyed with curiosity, with excitedly playful paws. it didn't register right away what it was when i first saw it. when the lights finally flicked on in my head, i became dizzy. i realized it was because i'd stopped breathing, and just stared.

and recalled some things. chuckled.
realized. oh, so that's why... i even grew bold enough to think "(blah blah blah blah) after all."

after that frozen moment i ate my sopas and hamon smiling like an idiot. i thanked santa. then i received a message from santa saying that he, too, liked the 'note' i gave him. i'm glad he did. it was the only way i could show him how i felt, without looking so much like a stalking, screaming fan. (eh? again)

["(because if you can't say it on christmas when can you eh?)"]

a better christmas. yep. last year it was painful when i had my hair cut. my neck which was supposed to hold my head in place as the hairdresser pulled at my hair was very, very uhm...'newly-massaged' by a human garrote the previous night. it was painful to even turn to the side. today, i had another session with the same hairdresser, but this time i didn't wince.

blabber blabber blabber. the day after christmas i fixed my things, sorted out trash, gave away some stuff, made some much-needed space for books and cameras (two "new" ones for christmas!). now i'm at my desk--i have a desk! wow. and i found objects. some of these made it to the trash. i'd like to think i've grown wiser this year and have carefully chosen the things i want to remember when i grow old. none of the foolish sentimentality that came with the (turbulent) past relationships (spanning the years 2000-2008, hahaha). come on. i had to throw away some stuff so i can start again. throw. no more looking for it; i've learned from it. discard. it has served its purpose. let('s) go.

since

blogposts are historical documents, i'm making this wishlist public just for the sake of reference. that, on this particular day in this particular year, these are the things i thought would be nice to receive this particular christmas. and yeah, susa did say we've started on my wishlist some months ago (september if i remember correctly), and now, well, i've had more time to actually think. haha. plus i don't know where i put my notebook that contains the list (hint, hint).


so, for the sake of listing (i love lists), here goes my [attainable] material stuff wishlist (emphasis on 'attainable material'):

1. a lomo lc-a+ camera (wide angle baby! there are available 'colored' ones, and i'd like the orange or blue-green one. hehehe)


2. notebooks - without lines, or if lined, the not-so darkly-lined ones (i never fill 'em up and i change notebooks as the 'emotional need' arises)


3. writing materials (ballpoint, pencil, gel, markers...)


4. 35mm & 120mm film (color slides & negs, b&w)


5. a good all-weather jacket (doesn't have to be green; i have five green jackets already!)


6. a sturdy, long-lasting foldable umbrella (provided i don't lose it or leave it in the fx/bus/jeep)


7. music (we never stop learning)


8. additional memory for my laptop (so i can reinstall a cs3)


9. non-mainstream movies, / indie films, documentaries, tv specials, concerts


10. backpack (my five-year-old army green bobcat is starting to say goodbye)


11. loose white cotton shirts for fieldwork


12. earphones for the mp3 player (i always lose/yank to death my earphones)


13. an external hard drive (320 gig is great; it will last me 'til post-grad studies. hahaha)


14. a panasonic lumix wide-angle cam, preferably with a minimum 8 mp (uh, still thinking if this is attainable--i've read good reviews on the lx3 model; however price-wise, this is still a bit 'out')


15. an artwork (open interpretation)

and that's it. as for the non-material ones, there's always world peace and love, good health for all especially my family and friends, peace of mind, happy pets, insatiable curiosity and wonder (may we never fail to dream!) and thursdays.

i sound like the sixties.

no this isn't a wish. i just want to show that i'm getting better and better at making rally-style posters and placards. hahaha.

now it's starting to look a lot like Christmas

hell workweek's finally over! just a few stuff to finish before the year ends (liquidations, photo sorting, blah).

done half of my christmas shopping, thanks in part to the sunday lung center market, our weekly source of ilocos empanada and bulacan tinumis. i got myself an early christmas gift, a very lucky find--it has my name written all over it, and i just can't help but think it was sitting there for me to 'find' it. hahaha. destiny!

i'm too "bubbly" as of the moment to write anything longer than three paragaraphs (i enjoyed doing someone's christmas gift so much my hands are still itching for more). i can however put five photographs in this post. hahaha.

eliza the elliefant (she was the only one of her kind--a 'toy' speaker that connects to any mp3 player/ipod--in that stuffed toy pile; i was even doubting if her headphones/speakers worked. imagine my extreme happiness when they did!)

i didn't know what to name her, so i asked for help. eliza raw, kasi parang di tumatanda. and well, since she is a musical toy, i also remembered eliza doolittle, one of my favorite broadway musical characters (from "my fair lady"). so there, eliza the elliefant.

eliza the elliefant with mr. kite the iguana: sharing the music

she flops! (her tag reads: "iflops. share the tunes!") did a quick research and it turns out that they're called 'i flops Stereo Pets' and sold for almost ten dollars. lemme see. i got her for uh, four dollars? hahaha. merry christmas to me!

miel had a photoshoot yesterday for her birthday invitations. in this photo she looks like one of king mongkut's kids in the (yul brynner) production of "the king and i". her first birthday will be on january 6; the party would be (if i am not mistaken) on january 11. and of course, saving the best for last:

this photo is proof that miel takes after me.

because

Filipino Deaf Visual Art Group at Sigwada

In celebration of its 8th year, the Filipino Deaf Visual Art Group or FDVAG is proud to hold its painting exhibit titled “Natural Nudes” on December 8-18, 2008 at the Sigwada Gallery in Tayuman.

FDVAG is a group of Deaf artists established in November 2001 and affiliated with the Philippine Federation of the Deaf, a national Deaf people’s organization.

FDVAG has held annual exhibitions at the University of the Philippines Church of the Risen Lord since 2001. They have also exhibited at the Tomlinson Gallery, PhilFirst Building, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, SAMU’T SARI, and Pan Pacific Manila. Members’ works (greeting cards, etc.) have been sold in the Philippines and overseas to Japan, U.K., and the U.S. Most of their members have participated in the prestigious nationwide competitions of the DOW Chemical, Metrobank, Shell, Philip Morris, Faber-Castell, and AAP (Art Association of the Philippines), and garnered awards and recognition for their works.

The Natural Nudes exhibit is comprised of the works of the following FDVAG members:

Rommel L. Agravante
Amelito C. Regalado
Gil P. De Guzman, Jr.
Manuel V. Adonis

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The exhibit opens on December 8, 2008 at 6:00PM at the Sigwada Gallery, 1921 Oroquieta cor. Tayuman Sts., Sta. Cruz, Manila.