amiel roldan blog

05 15 2009 Last night was also a hectic one... I had an interview at Fort Bonifacio until 6 pm and had to rush to Cultural Center of the Philippines and to Art Informal Gallery in San Juan after to attend their openings... I could not imagine that the interview lasted the whole day... It did... Sigh... I would be starting on June 4 for training. The job interview turned out fine till the end of the final interview. I want two more behind me so I could pick the best one. I probably would go tomorrow for another one. Going back to the events. The evening was a bit surreal... The show at CCP was well attended but the pieces were haphazardly strewn around. I guess the artists were angsty.. Ha ha ha ha... I could not appreciate the pieces well though...nor could I breathe in the space. Looking at the details in the photos I could see some works were good. So much for organizing an all female group show. We all did have a good time though. I wanted to follow up on some of the artists that I

05 10 2009 Had a blast with the opening at Finale last May 9. They had three good exhibitions on view and I appreciate the time and effort that the artists gave ... The artists Wire Tuazon, Keiye Miranda and Lena Cobangbang bring a new level of appreciation to contemporary art.. The pieces all worked well for the three solo shows in Finale. It was a very good space to work in and they had taken advantage of it to the hilt... Warehouses would be more practical for a lot of artists and galleries as they offer the best space to work with, store large pieces for consignment and/or exhibit shows. I had been waiting for the structures for years to be available and used efficiently for these purposes as it gives a better chance for better shows. It is also economical in the long run. I admire the tenacity of galleries and artists to change with the times... Kudos! There is more to expect with the years to come. I can't wait for the newer exhibits and concepts. The auctions had opened a ve

05 05-06 2009 Went around to some spaces again and talked with some more people... "Babylon Zoo" exhibit at the blanc gallery in Makati is a two man group painting show. CJ Tanedo and Tyago Almacio were the artists. I had a hard time reconciling were I saw similar images of skulls and morphing human with animal features but the more current and familiar one would be Neil Gaiman. Charlie Co and Kitty Taniguchi in the Philippine context also comes to mind. I observed that flashbacks of these strong images tend to remind us of the funny man or the elephant man of the times... Emphasizing freakyness and absurdities have been with a few Filipino painters. Darkening auras and atmospheric dramas subtly reconfirms the skill. Well, we can't blame them. We have the penchant for Ang Pulubi, Dogeaters, Zuma or Dyesebel in that order in our culture. I think we could add some more to the list though for a few more years. It rained hard that night but I had company and didn't was

05 04 2009 It is hard to write about anything else today... With clear iconic images still very fresh to mind. Who would want to write about anything else... But the days have been eventful and so many things are happening. It is history in the making. I just want to write about my thoughts during these eventual times. I visited Project Space Pilipinas last May 2 and found a good crowd. We had a long discussion and it was great fun just listening too. The space offers artists a studio and a venue for works. Peng Zamora's residency just ended and his large works were up. I found them good and contemporary. The space brought me a glimpse of finding your center. The exhibit hinted at the premise. PSP hopefully would encourage artists to make better works and better discussions. Let us support a good thing. It was a rude awakening that some of the people you also knew have fallen under different situations. Some have not been successful and fallen into sticky situations and even outrig