It seems that whenever I sit down to write a press release for an important art exhibition, my text has a way of morphing into a larger backstory. It just goes to show how big a space in my life art and artists occupy.
I’m happy to announce to one and all that, indeed, there is life after a sordid betrayal. It has been a year, almost to the day, since the cabal of French/Swiss members of the Board of Directors of the Alliance Française de Manille (AFM) mounted a coup d’etat to oust me and fellow board member Sevrine Miailhe in order to reinstall its chosen president, the better to facilitate its takeover of the P9.5-million fund which I had raised and was reserved for the Philippine Artist Residency Program (PARP).
Resorting to mass recruitment of new members for their proxies, they voted us out so that they could appropriate the fund for a building expansion (see PDI Lifestyle, July 9, 2012).
Since then, AFM has not spared any effort in trying to make the public believe the fund would be maintained and the program continued.
The PARP competition was indeed launched, but a woeful handful of five applicants submitted their dossiers, in contrast to 45 and 30 in the two previous years.
Not surprising, in view of the disappointment with the behavior of the AFM management expressed by all the artists save one, who canceled their scheduled exhibitions at AFM, as well as the subsequent resignation from the board of all the remaining Filipino members.
Now no one knows what’s become of the PARP fund, and to what extent it has been depleted by the building-expansion expenses, as nothing but a profound silence has been heard from AFM in answer to the charges I had made in the above mentioned PDI article against certain members of its board and its incumbent director.
Other sins
As if it had not committed enough injustice, AFM dismissed last March its long-serving gallery assistant, whom I had trained in gallery management and who had closely worked under my supervision.
AFM used the pretext that his position had become redundant since a decision had been made to focus on the school/language center. Probably closer to the truth is that he was fired because he was too closely identified with me, and because, under the present dispensation, no credible artist would be likely to exhibit in the AFM Gallery.
More recently, someone brought to my attention that AFM had posted on its FB page year-old photos of me and my friends, with the caption “Photos of My Friends at Alliance Française.”
One set of photos shows me with five women artists: Marivic Rufino, Susan Fetalvero Roces, Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Lenore Lim and Charito Bitanga at a lunch meeting held at AFM early in 2012, to prepare their “Apassionata” exhibition, which they immediately canceled upon learning of the coup d’etat against me, and which will now be held in September at Altro Mondo Gallery.
The other set shows me with my poet friends Krip Yuson, Marne Kilates and Marivic Rufino at the resoundingly successful March 2012 “Printemps des Poetes,” participated in by 25 of the best Filipino poets and attended by an audience of 150 poetry lovers. This, in stark contrast to the March 2013 event billed as a “competition,” which National Artist F. Sionil José described in his column as “banal” and “trite,” and the readings as “bloodless.”
How much more misleading can AFM get, if it has to resort to such so as to make the public believe I and my friends still frequent their premises? Does it not have any beautiful photos of its own recent events to post, instead of basking in the reflected glory of a past that it so willfully destroyed?
Joyous new beginning
But on to happier developments: A couple of months after the above debacle, a bright new opportunity presented itself for me to pursue my lifelong advocacy of promoting the development of Philippine art and the cause of Filipino artists.
I received a phone call from one of my favorite people, the venerable neurologist and art patron non-pareil Dr. Joven Cuanang, informing me that the Board of Trustees of the Asian Cultural Council (Philippines), of which he was a member, would like to invite me to join its ranks.
He added that Alliance Française’s loss would be ACC’s gain. I thanked him for this generous remark, and soon after I started my joyous new affiliation with ACC Philippines and its dynamic, high-powered board.
For those readers not familiar with the organization, the Asian Cultural Program was established in 1963 by John D. Rockefeller III with the “express purpose of supporting cultural exchanges between the countries of Asia and the United States through grants made to extremely talented individuals, for work in the visual and performing arts and for projects in the humanities” (see ACC website).
The ACC, launched in 1980, carries on the mission of its predecessor, and has given grants to over 6,000 grantees. Headquartered in New York City, the ACC maintains offices in Tokyo and Hong Kong with partner foundations in Manila and Taipei.
The ACC counts among its earliest alumni grantees National Artist for Visual Arts José Joya and National Artist for Music José Maceda, Conceptual artist Roberto Chabet, and, most recently, PARP grantees Ambie Abaño and Riel Hilario.
To start my work of assisting ACC Philippines in raising funds for its fellowship program, I knocked on the door of my favorite art galleries with which I had successfully collaborated in my past curtailed life as AFM president and gallery manager. Explaining to them my new role as ACC Philippines board member, I invited them to “partner” with us in ACC’s mission to promote cultural exchanges between Asia and the United States by raising funds for our fellowship program.
Three gallery proprietors graciously accepted my invitation: Remigio “Boy” David of Altro Mondo; Soler Santos of West Gallery; and Cesar “Jun” Villalon of The Drawing Room. Thus was born the ACC Philippines art-exhibition program.
ACC’s 50th anniversary
In celebration of ACC’s 50th anniversary in November, ACC Philippines’ board member and inimitable fashion designer Rajo Laurel will mount a spectacular show that will also mark his 20th year in the fashion industry.
To launch the series of events leading up to this celebration, ACC Philippines has planned a series of solo art exhibitions in partnership with select art galleries generously yielding a part of their earnings for the benefit of the ACC Fellowship Program.
Phyllis Zaballero
To kick off the series, Phyllis Zaballero will open on July 3 her solo exhibition “Color My World” at Altro Mondo Gallery in Greenbelt 5. The event will also mark the launch of the book “Phyllis Zaballero” by Alfredo Roces.
Zaballero comes back to the Manila art scene after a four-year hiatus, during which she was deeply involved in the preparation of the book, as well as the design and construction of her new, state-of-the-art studio.
In a blaze of color reminiscent of the French Provençal countryside and redolent of the aroma of Spain’s sumptuous feasts of tapas and wine, her show will feature her signature “tablescapes,” windows and landscapes.
An exciting new element is a series of small-format black-and-white paintings called “Les Taureaux et Moi” (The Bulls and I), Zaballero’s take on Picasso’s famous “Tauromachie” series.
The whole show is marked by the artist’s contagious joie de vivre, with works bathed in luminous colors and suffused with a sense of joyous pleasure. Bereft of any trace of the existential angst so fashionable among a number of artists today, Zaballero is not embarrassed to celebrate life, good food and delightful feasts.
2014 exhibitions program
Scheduled for January 2014 is ACC 2012 grantee Abaño’s solo exhibition at Altro Mondo.
The Arts Month of February will see Marina Garcia’s solo show at West Gallery.
May will feature 2013 ACC grantee Hilario’s solo sculpture exhibition at The Drawing Room.
And so, you might say, all’s well that ends well: I am happily back at my true calling and doing what I enjoy most, and my enemies are suffering bad karma for all their sins.
Deanna Ongpin-Recto was president of Alliance Française de Manille (AFM) 2009-2012, and a member of its board of directors from 2005 until she was unceremoniously ousted in June 2012. She founded the AFM-Philippine Artists Residency Program (PARP), for which she raised a fund, “whose fate is now unknown,” she says.
She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Asian Cultural Council (Philippines), for which organization she plans art exhibitions to benefit the ACC Philippines’ Fellowship Program.
