A P A C

December Show at West

West Gallery celebrates the Christmas season with "12 x 9," a newly annual exhibit.
"12 x 9" is a celebration of the diversity of the Philippine art scene, showing new works from over 140 artists.
All the pieces are created within the given dimensions, each acting as an exploration of space.
December 8 2010
West Gallery, 48 West Avenue Quezon City
http://westgallery.org/

Patay Tayo Jan

// SEVERO cd cover

SYNAPSE

http://www.myspace.com/lipservicemanila

Lip Service: Surging Like a Storm Over the Filipino Music Scene

It is the night before a so-called “super typhoon” in the heart of Metro Manila, and four musicians are willing to brave the impending heavy downpour to rehearse their original materials in their favorite music studio.

After a glance and nod, they start playing their first song. One of them produces a trail of ambient sounds with his guitar, signaling the calm before the storm. The drummer starts and stops a series of fills that sound like firecrackers popping inside a tin can. The bassist locks in with the beat, giving the rhythm an alarming presence within the room. The singer pitches a wild synth sound with his guitar, adding an eerily familiar 80’s feel to the mix. Then the band seemingly synchronizes its music with the crack of thunder and loud raindrops outside.

Meet Lip Service – four individuals with widely varying musical backgrounds merging as an entity, determined to inject a fresh vibe to the Filipino music scene. They banded together just  a year ago and now the band has quickly matured and started to rock out in radio stations and popular venues across the metro, earning respect and praise from bar-goers, radio listeners and fellow musicians.

The members come from diverse background that greatly contribute to the Lip Service sound. Singer Pats Co had his share of glam rock experience playing as the lead guitarist of Trigger Bliss and singing to the dance-punk beats of Karma Coma. Lead guitarist Robby Mananquil explored the six-stringed instrument playing in Karma Coma, new wave act Stereodeal and for a time also played for the indie pop group The Pin-Ups. Together, these two guitarists created a musical nucleus through the band Karma Coma, which they played in until they yearned to pursue their project with the resolve of finding band members with the same interests.

Eventually, thanks to communication through an online music forum, two members came along to help them in their musical search. Mike Ducusin had earned his hardcore cred playing bass for Hampaslupa and Witchtree Symbol, while Gep Macadaeg spent his teenage years with post-hardcore group Elevator Action and alternative band Five Feet Adjustment. Together, they started their musical journey by collectively paying homage to their heroes and combining the best of their musical influences, from alternative rock, indie-pop, new wave, punk, and grunge, into a new breed of music.

The songs of Lip Service attest to the rush brought about by the band’s rollercoaster dynamics and angular yet melodic riffs, like a shot of adrenalin straight to the heart. “Weekend Dreams” skips and jumps its way across syncopated patterns through melodic hooks that eventually lead to a wild chant-along bridge and a rock-out ending. “Chandeliers” seemingly commands listeners to formation with its staccato intro, only to break the cadence with dance-punk frenzy until the very end. Melancholy and memories of old romance kicks in through the melody and lyrics of breather track “Velvet Burn”, until the ambiance takes a 180-degree turn through the rumbling drums and feral guitars of “Celebrate”. The band then takes on a sinister theme as it dabbles into math rock territory with “Black Sheets”, which showcases the band as an intense and tight unit. “Patintero” synthesizes the two worlds of soulful guitar playing with drum-machine precision over the theme of juvenile fun, only to explode with bravado at the end. In between these songs, listeners are allowed to gasp for air as they marvel in the post-rock audio landscapes of “Heliopause” and “Two-Eyed Violet”.

Lip Service is now ready to set its mark in the Filipino music scene as they unleash their debut mini-album, Synapse. This self-produced album, set to be launched on November this year, documents the bands’ ability to fuse melody, rhythm, and harmony to become vessels of the band’s dreams, loves, and fears. After months of crafting and refining the songs that have grown and intensified in their collective consciousness, Lip Service is now ready to share its raw and driving music to the world through Synapse.

Want to catch the band live? You can check out the band’s gig schedule and activities through their MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/lipservicemanila, and through their Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/lipservicemanila.

Outside the studio, there was a flash, then a thunder. The band has ended their rehearsal when the eye of the storm has loomed over the city. The calm may have dominated the moment, but Lip Service, like the storm, will resonate once more with astounding power. Watch out for this intense force of nature known as Lip Service!

// Lip Service

//Best Album Cover by QLE3 Young Star (Philippine Star)http://www.philstar.com/youngstar/ysarticle.aspx?articleId=645939&publicationSubCategoryId=84

berliner-liste 2010

fair for contemporary art,
photography and art since 1960
/// october 7 - october 10

Sex and death, consumption and decay, sensuality and the macabre are prevalent themes infused in my work.  Hardcore pornographic pictures are transformed into profound images bearing with my distinct illustration style; the vivid lines, figures, and colors highlighting naked flesh and visible guts rather than masking the provocative imagery.  Polarity plays a crucial part in the effectiveness of this images—the obscene couplings with whimsical illustrations, morbid fascination and flippant curiosity—but on the other hand, i didn’t entirely go off tangent with pairing sex and death for this series of work. Snuff as pornography, intercourse as another form of death, sexual consumption as total possession; both are irreverent and verboten subjects that figure in my works, but I injects my own brand of artistry that makes us view these topics with fresh insight and an amused grin.

http://www.berliner-liste.org/

third of the third series

we are FFF...

LATITUDES.
ENCOUNTERS WITH THE PHILIPPINES
at www.primomarellagallery.com

In Her Elizabeth

A collection of Kooky Tuason's poems

2010

Siren's Hall

Visual arts and Music have always had a particular link. What with all the music one needs to listen to while making art, to the reference artists have been making in their art works from Mondrian's Boogie Woogie Broadway to Bencabs rockstar portraits to all the art bands that have cropped up from art schools to all the noise and fury sound art makes. Siren's Hall came up as a way to tie up music and art together not as cover art to a bands album but as a separate project that talks about music in a visual way whether it be a visual artist collaborating with a musician, or musicians using visual art to convey music , or visual artists using sound and music to make their projects. The people invited to the show are usually involved in the arts. It is a celebration of the ongoing love the visual art has for music and a way to engage in experimentation and play.

Participating artistsAllan Balisi, Bru Sim, Dexter Fernandez, Dina Gadia, Enteng Viray, Erick Encinares, Eugene Jarque, Gani Simpliciano, Gary Ross Pastrana, Kanamura Hitoshi, Kat Medina, Louie Cordero, Lena Cobangbang, Lyle Buencamino, Lourd de Veyra, Mariano Ching, Mark Salvatus, Marcus Nada, Mike Munoz, MM Yu, Masi Solano, Manuel Alvero, Nice Buenaventura, Poklong Anading, Pow Martinez, Romeo Lee, Raena Abella, Radioactive Sago Project, Sam Kiyoumarsi, Sleepyheads, Tim Brown, Vic Balanon

Organized by Mariano Ching
http://www.mo-space.net/

vintage poster series

please remember me

  

ante-nuptial

conversation of naivete

die die may darling

 a dog of plunder

her artificial friends

son of rashieda

come on pablo come on

blissfully hell

-+*

There can be no way that people can be broken down into modest portrayals for Dexter Fernandez. Instead he provides a certain kind of abundance to them. It is true that they are straightforward and flat at first, having being shot with a camera's automatic setting, fixed at a certain equilibrium (a 0, a center, lacking excess and nothing short of a “without -”). In fact, it is at this platform that they are made backgrounds – these photographs – of themselves. These assemblage portraits, as gestures of familiarity, are of Dexter's friends and family – some directly and exactly associated while a number stand as incognito subjects filling in for the continents of Dexter's world/s.

As basic universal symbols as “-”, “+” and “” are, they contain a list of what they might signify. Primarily used in mathematical equations, these symbols are selected by Dexter to layers of personality and narratives attached to his portraits. As much as the “-” sign would connote a negative quality, it can also point to the process of “subtracting” a persona – this happening in events of contradiction or when they are disproved, criticized or judged badly. This “-” sign is applied by Dexter through symbols or texts that are obviously perverse or loaded with humorous vitriol. On the other hand, “+” can point to the brighter, hopeful elements in a portrait. Likewise, it relates to the constructive “additions” Dexter attaches to these people. An “” may encompass both former signs as a footnote – that beyond deductions and additions there is still relevant data on the side, giving the context of these symbols and people themselves and in turn creates the “bigger picture.”

Dexter shows signs as process to shaping our perspective on people. From the immediacy in the shots of these people, he proceeds to etch, stitch and fit together cut outs on the photographs in a likewise fashion as he breathes visual, symbolic life into the unseen layers of their persona. An example that these symbols represent an extraneous perspective that is self-conscious is that most tend to hover in the background and around, and not stringently embedded into characters.

Certainly people cannot be encapsulated into slight representations as Dexter proves in -+*. Therefore, what makes us his portraits verging on various media of picture-making can only show the complexity of the people in close proximity to his physical space and affections as well as the certain issues of faith, socio-politics, personal progress and individual transgression they, or Dexter himself, encounter.

Le Fool. A fellow non-believer, this chum of Dex likewise calls to mind the so-called folly of revering religious icons and other practices of a formidable faith institution. Using the icon of Doraemon, he states his opinion on icons as a form of idolatry who share no difference to the reverence attributed to Doraemon. DILLIGAF stands for “Do I look like I give a fuck.”

The Maiden. The characters translate as “She's wearing a nice dress.” This work questions our perception of beauty, and the dress that the figure wears are flab and the tattoos (which, in turn are collected symbols of physical attractiveness, self-assurance and innocence).

The Warrior. In his sitting stance, the character of this work is already establishing himself as one of might. Other indications of his warrior nature is of the helmet and the Shiva multiple arms. Despite this, demons and other dark figures lurk, making known the adversaries the warrior needs to get over. His tattoo indicates his unpretentiousness – animal being of no other agenda than fulfill instincts.

The High Priestess. Situated in a sanctum, the character is undressed in every state of being, thus allowing the release of neutral to hopeful elements. Symbols of purity and harmony mark her body as she settles in a comfort zone where she needs not to hide anything.