Poetry by Dayang Yraola
Paintings by Angelo Magno
Canvas Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines,
June 8, 2016
– 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.
