While Filipinos have been exhibiting abroad for over a century — think Luna at the 1884 Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid, Lee Aguinaldo’s exhibition in the 1971 Sao Paolo Art Biennale in Brazil, all the way to the more recent groundbreaking exhibit of contemporary artists “Wasak! Filipino Art Today” in 2015 at ARNDT Berlin — it’s impossible to ignore how the diaspora of Philippine artists has increased in the past decade along with the growth of major art fairs across the globe.
Last October 20 to 24 2022, we saw the joyous occasion of multiple Philippine artists exhibiting in the Asia NOW Paris Art Fair in France. Founded in 2014, this 8th edition exhibited 88 participating galleries. The fair has offered opportunities to enhance representation of Asian Art in Europe, giving a platform for Asian artists to spread their unique perceptions and regional histories. Amidst the cultural events in Paris, Asia NOW was presented around the same time as the fair Paris + par Art Basel. But even President Emmanuel Macron graced the Asia NOW fair in the egalitarian way of the French, choosing to visit on a public day and not during the VIP opening.
While the Asia NOW fair is held in different venues, this 2022 edition was moved to the Monnaie De Paris, a historic neoclassical building that is still running as an institution for minting France’s coins. Built on the left bank, the solid masonry gives an apt impression of the treasures inside, this time housing a range of Contemporary Asian Art. As a functioning institution assigned to mint distinctly French coins, the new venue suggests a symbolic sense of a European space openly welcoming Asian Art. It literally offers a new venue for Asian Art to makes its way transcontinentally, not only in the art market but in the context of the institutional and academic.
Vinyl on Vinyl (VOV) was the only Philippine gallery to exhibit in Asia NOW Paris. Although VOV was not without its kababayan companions. Also at Asia NOW, photographer and painter Mark Nicdao exhibited with French gallery Rivoli Fine Art. Mesmerizing with highly emotional drips and spirals in “Microscopic Amphigories”, his paintings were cultivated over several months working in Paris. Philippine artists Leslie de Chavez, Ayka Go and Nona Garcia also exhibited with Yavuz Gallery, a Singaporean and Sydney-based space that often recognizes the talent of Philippine artists in a roster attuned to social histories. In Elmer Borlongan’s first solo show in Europe “When Time Stood Still”, collectors from Manila and the Pinoy community in Paris gathered in a reception arranged by the Galerie Geraldine Banier. The event was part of the cultural program of the 75th anniversary of France-Philippine relations. Overall, the Philippines was well-represented in the European cultural hub this year.
It is the 3rd time Vinyl on Vinyl is participating in the Asia NOW fair. One of the founders, Gaby dela Merced, recalls the fair with familiarity, “Being back doing international fairs since the pandemic kind of feels like a reunion of sorts. You get people from all corners of the globe during fairs and there are some galleries that do the same set of events as you. We’ve gotten close with some through the years.”
In this third presentation, VOV presented an experimental performance piece by Anton Belardo under the identity of Jellyfish Kisses, as well as a group exhibition of seven artists – Iyan de Jesus, TRNZ, Ciane Xavier Calma, Is Jumalon, Martin Honasan and Teo Esguerra. The works aligned with VOV’s vibrant style, installed along booth walls designed with raw wooden textures.
Jellyfish Kisses engaged audiences with performance piece “Tiny Worlds”
Anton Belardo’s alter-identity Jellyfish Kisses has become familiar to wider audiences in the Philippines after her work at ALT Fair and Art Fair PH. Since her first solo exhibition in 2017, “The Diary of Jellyfish Kisses, Chapter 1: Bed Stains” (where she presented a room with intimate stains like tears and vomit) this seminal work kickstarted a series that has evolved into a continuing story of the inhabitant’s space and relationships.
In this 2022 exhibition at Asia NOW, the artist’s portrayed persona sat quietly at the center of a recreated bedroom space. She wore her distinct mismatched contact lenses – one pitch black with barely a pupil, the other transparent, fading into skin painted blue. Soft textile sculptures and neon lights illuminated the small enclave. The surrounding video works showed her personal experience in 2020 and 2021, commenting on the almost-draconian lockdowns in Asia. The footage showed daily video calls with a friend that documented mundane routines to emotional breakdowns. Running almost 24 hours every day for a year, the work takes the form of endurance art and captures the raw emotion during the lockdowns.
Complementing this installation, Jellyfish Kisses indulged fair visitors with a live performance. Each hour she would emerge from the space to do a round of the fair, speaking no words and only using subtle gestures to communicate. The disciplined silence during the long opening hours of the fair built on the staying power shown in the video works. Within Jellyfish Kisses’ safe space, all fear of judgment disappeared. These “Tiny Worlds” endeavored to develop communal healing with audiences, inviting viewers to immerse in interaction and dialogue.
Seven Artists in Vinyl on Vinyl’s Electrifying Booth Exhibition
Jellyfish Kisses’ practice ranges from installation, performance, sculpture, video and painting. Hanging in the gallery booth, she exhibited a large-scale portrait of a cock-eyed girl embellished with painted details. Purple flames line the bottom of the work. Martin Honasan also exhibited two pieces that exemplified his process of accreting layers. In these fragmented portraits “Shield” and “Hem”, Honasan hints at deeper meanings on what it means to be human underneath the acrylic, aerosol paint, and distressed fabric on canvas.
Since an introduction to art through daily episodes watching anime, TRNZ (Terence)’s painted characters showed straight-faced, childlike figures. On exhibit were a figure casually swathed in mounds of clothing, and others donning items over their heads from a laundry basket, t-shirt, snorkel and shopping bag. Meanwhile Filipina artist Iyan de Jesus enchanted with magical portraits of a long-haired maiden riding a mountain goat as well as serving tea to an unusually large rabbit. Painted in billowing circles and lines, the works possess a sense of the serene and surreal common to the artist’s practice.
Brazilian-born, Philippine-based artist Ciane Xavier Calma showed beautifully bizarre artwork revolving around the human psyche. Much of her sculptural work in Asia NOW displayed movement and sound in commentaries on our modern connections to technology.
Lastly, Is Jumalon and Teo Esguerra exhibited largely monochromatic works. Jumalon’s somber oil-on-canvas paintings presented a series named “ASSEMBLY” – renditions of shadowed structures fragmented by subtle geometric textures and details. In Teo Esguerra’s work, he paints on top of ethereal silver gelatin prints made by his vintage film equipment. Painting over these prints he follows Japanese aesthetic concepts “wabi-sabi”, the beauty of the imperfect, and “mono-no-aware”, stirring deep feelings through objects.
For this year’s edition of Asia NOW Paris, each artist on the Vinyl on Vinyl roster showcased a unique aesthetic through thoughtful techniques.
___
Founded by Gaby dela Merced and Pia Reyes in 2009, the gallery has come a long way since their first space at The Collective, a warehouse-turned-bohemian-space in the backstreets of Makati. Those who sought the alternative culture in the early 2010s would remember biker gangs hanging outside chicken stop Wingman, or rockin’ performances at the B-side bar. Ten years ago, Vinyl on Vinyl was one of the few places you could find vinyl records and art toys when these type of collectibles were almost impossible to find.
Since moving to its location in Chino Roces avenue, Vinyl on Vinyl has persisted as a source of unconventional art, often straddling pop surrealism, or focused on emerging genres.
On VOV’s “About” page, the gallery describes its mission “to bring local artists to international shows and to locally exhibit peripheral art forms often rejected by the mainstream”. While it’s achieved the latter, the gallery’s 3rd time to participate in Asia NOW Paris is just one of their many exhibitions that shows how it’s achieved the former. As Vinyl on Vinyl represents Philippine Contemporary Art in this year’s edition of Asia NOW Paris, the gallery continues to immerse in the international creative climate with an experimental and immersive exhibition.
All photos courtesy of Vinyl on Vinyl gallery.