Unbeknownst to many attendees of Art Fair Philippines, the exhibit actually ran for five days, instead of the advertised four—that one extra day is actually reserved for VIPs and members of the press (take care to never confuse the two). A vernissage is what it’s called—a private viewing before the formal opening.

Though Art Fair occupied two whole floors at The Link this year, the successful turnout (kudos to organizers Dindin Araneta, Trickie Lopa, and Lisa Ongpin-Periquet) ensured a lot of interesting shenanigans to ensue.

For one, we spotted artist Pio Abad mingling with Tintin Bersola-Babao and Julius Babao (a.k.a. the Brangelina of local TV news), and fashion designer Rhett Eala photobombing artist Ryan Villamael before joining in for a proper photo. Siblings Quark and Cristalle Henares arrived, with the latter perusing through Daniel Dela Cruz’s “It’s Always Tea Time” (which if we aren’t mistaken, also made an appearance at last year’s Art Fair), while the former caught up with friends near the buffet line.

Everywhere, we saw people carrying rolled up posters and wondered if there was a freebie we missed at the registration table until we discovered the astonishing pile of prints by Maria Taniguchi just waiting to be brought home. Just watching people struggle to roll the prints without creasing the paper was an art performance in itself. Speaking of art performances, we hope you participated in Geraldine Javier’s interactive art piece Let’s Talk About Art. I did, but I’m not telling you what I wrote.

On with the program. We bumped into artist Romeo Lee who was giving out postcards to his show Art Unfair @ The Leenk because he was—you guessed it—not part of this year’s Art Fair. That’s the spirit! We also chanced upon One More Chance actor John Lloyd Cruz conversing intently with artist Wawi Navarozza. Tell us, Luis Santos: Was your painting “Untitled” based on John Lloyd? Are you a fan?

Meanwhile, filmmaker Tad Ermitaño kept live maggots in a log transported from Luisana, Laguna at his video exhibit “Eye of the Storm.” He intends to keep the maggots live until Sunday, the last day of the Art Fair, when he—and a few strong-stomached guests—can feast on them. Art, man.

Photos by Patrick Segovia