Exhibitions @ Pinto

(This show recently opened last May 7. If you wish to visit the gallery, please call us up at 6971015 or email us at pinto_art_gallery@yahoo.com. Thanks!)


Antipolo Arts Festival 2006 (AAFO6)
Pinto Art Gallery
May 7 - June 23
Curated by Riel Hilario and Jojo Ballo

The Antipolo Arts Festival 06 (AAF06) is a cultural and contemporary art event organized by the Pinto Art Gallery and takes place in the grounds and spaces of the Silangan Gardens in Antipolo City. The AAF06 is a re-organization of what has been an annual tradition of art events organized since 1990 by neurologist and art patron Dr. Joven Cuanang. Its previous name, The Antipolo Maytime Arts Festival, reflected themes of gathering and pilgrimage, the month being a traditional season of homage to the city’s patron Nuestra Senora Dela Paz y Buen Viaje.

The AAF expands the thrust of the event to feature not only exhibitions of art, but also performances, month-long activities of other art fields. It also seeks to open itself to a larger Asian context, with exchanges and exhibitions with artists from the region and elsewhere. AAF also hopes to provide a venue for Asian Art networks through future projects, art talks, residencies and cross-cultural workshops.


Exhibitions:

Gallery 1
Antipolo Young Artists

John Paul Antido, Antonio Ariola, Edrick Daniel, Dennis Fortozo, Guerrero Habulan, Michael Angelo Lampayan, Joven Mansit and Jaypee Samson

Gallery 2
Toushin Maruyama
Ceramics

Gallery Shop
Hadrian Mendoza
Pottery

Monk's Cottage and Gardens
Pablo Capati
Anagama-Fired Stoneware and Sculptures

The House
Anna Varona
Paintings in Oil

Studio Gallery
"Alas-Sais Ym Punto"
Installations by students from
the Philippine High School for the Arts
Bea Alcala, Janea Balquin, Janno Gonzales, Mariel Flores, Andrea Molina, and Jika Regala

Pool Area and Gardens (Opening Day)
Paper Art-to Wear Fashion Exhibition
by Twinkle Feraren in collaboration with:
Wataru Sakuma (Paper/Environmental Technologies)
Otto Retardo (Performance Painting)
Happy Feraren and Ida Del Mundo (Spoken Word)
Madz Abubakar (Sound Installations)
Carmen Reyes (Body Art)


About Pinto Art Gallery

Established in September 2001, Pinto Art Gallery was built by Dr. Joven Cuanang in Silangan Gardens (his Antipolo residence) to serve as a venue for exhibitions of contemporary Philippine art. The structure was designed by artist-in-residence Antonio Leano (one of the founding members of the artist group Salingpusa which broke ground in the Philippine art Scene in the 1990s), who also designed parts of the Gardens and grounds. The Gallery’s thrust is connoted by its name (Pinto or "doorway"), as a threshold and space open of all forms of Philippine contemporary art. The Gallery spaces include not only the exhibitions building but also some structures of the Gardens including the Studio Gallery (which houses the studios of artists-in-residence), the Monk’s Cottage, The Chapel, The Grounds (for open air, installation works or sculptures), and The House. Pinto Art Gallery has three central spaces: Gallery 1, Gallery 2 and the Gallery Shop. Besides exhibitions, Pinto also offers residency for local and foreign artists. Some of its spaces can be rented for small one-day workshops, development seminars and as site for creative projects.

Big Sky

"BOXED"
Still showing at Big Sky Mind
until June 3

Some 70+ artists of different persuasions came together to show their works in a 10" x 10" format. Gelo Suarez opened the show with his dada food throwing performance (it's weird how some people will not fight back even if food is already being thrown at their faces hehe. As for myself, i was standing behind the performer so nakaligtas.) Hope you can catch it. =)

Leonardo Now

Leonardo


The name of Leonardo Da Vinci is on everyone’s lips these days. And it makes me wonder how deep and how wide his thinking must have been to continue to impact our world today, 500 years after the Renaissance.

Notwithstanding the success of Dan Brown’s book, Leonardo has influenced every major field, from artistic production to aviation, to education to business consultancy (see Michael Gelb’s How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci), and now, entertainment and popular culture.

The enigmatic Leonardo could draw like an angel. More so, he could paint like an angel from the highest choir of heaven. His mirror-written notebooks spanned the breadth of his intellectual interest, from anatomy to botany to military strategy to art, architecture, aerodynamics and mysticism. (Bill Gates bought one page for millions of dollars.) Leonardo was constantly experimenting, and had only a handful of completed works. Yet, in all of artistic history, these are some of the most priceless. It is the man and the mind behind the works that are right now in the public eye.

Leonardo was born at a time when Italy, as we now know it, did not exist. Venice, Rome, Florence, and Naples fought for supremacy and survival, with each state led by a family of nobles who controlled and protected politicians, armies, cardinals, artists and thinkers. Added to this was the real and constant threat of an invasion from Spain and France. Most artists of his time survived (and flourished) under the care of a patron. At one time, one of Leonardo’s patrons were the Borgias (the ruling family of Pope Alexander), most notably Cesare Borgia (commander of the Pope’s army) who used one of Leonardo’s military inventions (a war tower) in battle.

It was a chaotic and creative time, when man took his destiny in his own hands, and the renaissance poets, artists and thinkers drew inspiration from the civilization of Ancient Greece, most notably from the works of Plato. Here began the concept of the artistic genius, born with the gift and curse of divine creation, and exemplified in the triumvirate of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo.


Now

500 years later, are we in a similar Renaissance? Certainly, if the specials over at National Geographic are any indication, we are witnessing an explosion of religious information. 2000 year-old documents are resurfacing to challenge our long and deeply-held beliefs. It’s not much different I think, from finding out that the world isn’t flat, and that the planets do not revolve around the earth. (Hard to imagine that this was what we thought 500 years ago.)

In five years, any new information and technology we currently have will be obsolete. As a species, we are constantly evolving, discarding old patterns and ways for new ones. Here and now, this is happening, a process that began when early man devised new tools for himself to help him hunt more effectively. Consequently, he also found the time to think and reflect and become better. He has been at it ever since.

In Leonardo’s paintings, particularly those about John the Baptist, there is an image of a man pointing upward towards the sky. The popular image of John the Baptist is that of harbinger, messenger. It is eerily similar to the Buddhist koan of “pointing one’s finger toward the moon.” The finger merely points towards essence, towards truth. The Buddha reminded us to look beyond the finger, to look beyond the message and experience the truth of the moon.

Since the beginning of Christianity, we have been looking through the lens of religion. Now, we have the opportunity to experience the Spirit firsthand, without intermediary. Technology, history and new discoveries have all led us to this point.

Are we ready?



© Jojo Ballo 2006