Love is, and other poems form another time

Poetry by Dayang Yraola

Paintings by Angelo Magno


Canvas Gallery,  Quezon City, Philippines,

June 8, 2016

 “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”

– Leonardo Da Vinci

Angelo Magno and Dayang Yraola have been friends since their college days in UP, Diliman under the Art Studies Program. This exposed them to other artistic  disciplines such theater, and creative writing.

After college and graduate school, both have pursued their own paths. Dayang is currently pursuing her Ph.D. and curates multimedia projects locally and abroad.  Angelo teaches in college while continuing his art practice.

The poems presented in this exhibition were written more than a decade ago. As one of their professors put it, the poems express a juvenile spirit.  They speak of could be’s and must be’s, of afterthoughts, of unrequited love, of the little prince, of the goat that ate the flower, of imagined places, and of homage to anonymous characters. In this exhibition, Angelo reinterprets the poems through paintings and objects.

Some of the poems were selected from the book, "Truth About Accepted Lies" (2010), featuring poems written by Yraola and illustrations by Magno, capturing narratives from a different time. Despite both artists pursuing different directions, their works validate their strong and unconditional intellectual and creative bond -- different yet mutual. This exhibition is a celebration of that friendship.

 ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Dayang Yraola is a curator. She is currently based in Hong Kong as a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies.  She is a grantee of the Asian Cultural Council in 2012 and a recipient of research and creative grants from The Japan Foundation from 2012-2015. Dayang is an independent curator working with artists from The Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.  Her curatorial focus is in process as media (archival and laboratory), technology as media (analogue, digital, mechanical, electronic), and senses as media.

www.dayangyraola.com

Angelo Magno received his bachelor’s degree in Art Studies at the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 2000 and recently finished his masters in Fine Arts in the same university. He is an officer of the Association of Pinoy Printmakers (formerly known as the Philippine Association of Printmakers or PAP). He also teaches at the Asia Pacific College (APC), School of Multimedia Arts, iAcademy, and St Scholastica’s College in Manila.  He has exhibited his works in the Philippines, Malaysia, USA and Indonesia.

avmagno.blogspot.com

Fairytale

I will marry you when the moon is all sullen.

Grey.

 With a hint of acid green.

 And smell of animal carcass.

Moths. And maggots.

Feasting on what was left of the red fresh meat.

I will marry you when the ends of earth

Is about to meet its beginning.

 Painting pink over pink.

 And blooming ocean breeze,

Bursting  like orange juice in the morning.

Neither my brand of fairytale.

What is  important is invisible

Apologies, on behalf of those who have not read “The Little Prince” or just pretend that they did

For you should be responsible

For those you saved

For those you cared for

For those you tamed

For it is that

The distinguishes a boy

From the prince

Or the fox

From his pack

Or his rose

From the others

For what is important

Is invisible to the eye

Not because one is blind

It is just buried in the mind.

 Love is, and other poems from another time.

PERYA
Canvas gallery/Vargas Museum, University of the Philippines,Diliman, Quezon City

“In a carnival, everything is rendered ever-changing, playful and
undefined.”  -Andrew Robinson on Bakhtin: Carnival (2011)




Perya is the appropriation  of the carnival in the Philippine setting.
Inspired by the playful  colors from the perya, I created a composition
integrating  various  images  taken from  Philippine culture -  boxer
codex,  ibong maya,  mata ng agimat, masks.   The images were juxtaposed in
a playful  manner to  create  a game like layout with rules undefined.
This nameless game  can be interpreted  by the audience in any  way that
they please.  - avmagno


“Laro-laro, Gawa-gawa, Tao-tao”

Acrylic, relief print with chine colle’ on canvas

48 inches x 24 inches

Portrait of Juan

Rubbercut on Pelon Fabric

36 x 30 inches,  image size

48 x 36 inches, paper size

Angelo Magno

2014

Before the  advent  of technology and instant  selfies,  portraiture has always been associated with power and wealth.  Only  the  affluent patrons  can afford  to  commission their portraits to  be painted by   artists or draftsmen.Portraits , if displayed in the proper  setting,  usually are used to validate ones state of  wealth or  political power.

Relief  print  method  (rubbercut) was the medium of choice of the artist. In printmaking, one  has the    advantage to create  multiple originals  rather than  just  one   masterpiece thus,  democratizing art. Print has always been coined as the  art for the masses.

Portrait of Juan  is a  representation  of the common folk, the common Filipino. An anonymous character who is  unassuming.   A character  that  has not been given an equal opportunity to be depicted in an illustrious manner. 

The name Juan connotes   the common Filipino folk .

An idiomatic expression that  can  mean  - anybody

Anyone can be  aJuan and any Juan can be any  Filipino. 

Itim na Poon

rubbercut on pelon textile, 36 inches x 18 inches, 2015

Depction of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo, one of the most iconic religous images in the Filipino Catholic tradition. Because of its location, its feast is one of the most attended religous events in Manila. The icon is interesting because of its dark color which somehow breaks the notion that saints are usually as racially white.

The black Nazarene is also a saint associated with the masses because of its  phenomenal number of devotees.

Rubbercut, considered as a democratic medium because.of its advantage to create multiple originals seems to be an appropriate choice for this work. 

Scriptorium is an exhibition of drawing and chine-collé that reflects Magno’s past and current contemplation of human’s ethereal relation with the physical and the divine. His strong religious grounding (gained from his great-grandfather and grandfather who were both priests of the Aglipayan Church) exposed himto different religious practices whose elements he has expressed in visual forms.

By presenting texts and estampitas (scapulars) that portray abstract representations of people (rendering them anonymous) based on their confessions, Magno creates a space that conveys different narratives to the viewer. These drawings are part of an installation to signify the creation of a site in an ambiguous spatial context. Like the Scriptorium (the place where scribes wrote biblical narratives or illuminated manuscripts during the medieval times), the museum becomes a medium for the creation of narratives based on familiar and newfound experiences from viewing the exhibit. The exhibit runs until June 27, 2015 at the UP Vargas Museum.

Angelo Magno (b. 1979) received his bachelor’s degree in Art Studies at the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 2000 and is currently finishing his masters on Fine Arts in the same university. He is a member of the Printmakers Association of the Philippines (PAP), and a teacher at the Asia Pacific Collége (APC), School of Multimedia Arts. He has exhibited his works in the Philippines, Malaysia, USA and Indonesia.