Contemplating Visit

Last time I posted an entry regarding browsing the arts housed in Lopez Museum from any desktop through an interactive button from their website. I enjoyed doing just that and also decided I would visit the museum one of these days and write about it here. The one thing that holds me back is I am sure I won’t be allowed to take any picture inside the museum for security reasons. Understandable, but really too bad. Since I won't have any photo except the building of the museum maybe, I was contemplating a scheme to present my visit in another way. I was browsing through a blueprinting site which offers to convert an architects design to blueprint and layout when an idea popped into my mind. Why not an unofficial lay-out of the Lopez Museum? I’m an IE and lay-out is just my thing. I’m not sure if this contemplation is illegal but wouldn’t it be a nice guide even before you go to museum that you would have an idea on which area you would want to check out first? I’m sure it’s not only me that has this nagging habit of reading guides and manuals first before doing anything or going anywhere. It’s just better to have an idea first on the course of actions that one would take for less effort and time wasted.

Tour the Lopez Museum Right from Your Desktop

I am now living at a time that those places of knowledge are not buildings but intercepting networks, at least the primary source of knowledge. But I have to say that I am a closet romantic and a sucker for history and for me, a museum is the perfect romantic history. Automatically, I logged into the net to search about the Lopez Museum. And I instantly love the website. It is painstakingly incorporated with that good old Filipino-Spanish feel. The website articles though seem to be not regularly updated. But what matters though are the interesting collections of paintings of Felix Hidalgo and Juan Luna that you will find in the museum. Oh yes, it is the home of Spoliarium who won the gold medal Exposicion General de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Spain. It also boasts of the letters and writings of Jose Rizal and home to prominent contemporary painters and has a vast Filipiniana library. It is also currently showing Fernando Amorsolo’s works. The museum was established because of the huge and rare art and book collection of the late industrialist and tycoon, Don Eugenio Lopez Sr. with his brother Fernando Lopez in 1960. It is in honor of their parents. The more I’m reading from their website, the more I want to go there and personally see the museum. The website even has a Tour the Museum button. And they also have a blog. Well, why can’t I? Benpres Building, the home of Lopez Museum, is in the heart of Ortigas Center where I got my new work. I can actually walk and be there after twenty minutes. And let’s admit it seeing it with your eyes is still better than seeing it from an LCD screen. Hopefully, the coffee is still kicking when I go to the museum after a graveyard shift. Ok, getting my planner, note: visit Lopez Museum.

Ballet Phillippines presents Coppélia

the coppelia cast

I received a most generous gesture when my friend Herlene invited me to watch Ballet Philippines' Coppélia at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) last Sunday. I was so excited as it is my first time to watch a ballet show by the most prestigious ballet group in the Philippines. So even if I was so tired and sleepy from the previous night wild partying, I dragged myself out of bed to travel three hours from Cavite to Manila to watch the show.

It's a story about an engaged couple Franz and Swanilda, the life-size doll Coppelia and an eccentric doctor who created Coppelia. The ballet is composed of three acts. On the first act, Franz and Swanilda was about to be married, but Franz had this fascination with the doctors life-size doll Coppelia. On the second act, Swanilda managed to get into the doctors house with her friends. But the doctor arrived and she had to hide in the closet where Coppelia was also hidden. Franz, wanting to see Coppelia also managed to get into the doctor's house but the doctor had drugged him. Swanilda, not posing as Coppelia managed to trick the doctor and rescued Franz. They were reconciled and ultimately, got married. You can read the complete story here of Coppelia here. Personally, I thought Franz of the story was a royal jerk. Why be infatuated with a doll and profess his love for Swanilda at the same time. But then again, I was there to watch the Ballet and be enveloped with the audio-visual treat of the orchestra and the magnificent dancing and would like to ignore Franz psychology at this point. I may not be able to appreciate ballet the way that it should be appreciated by the ballet connoisseurs but a part of me know that I am watching something really good. This are just for the reasons of how the dance are executed, of the discipline in following show schedules, and the heart-felt performance. It is for the reasons of understanding the story without lines but just music and movement that proved that it was indeed a beautiful show. A personal note though and I say it again and again, that even if Ballet is not a mainstream entertainment, it should be made available to the public. I define available as to be advertised in the mainstream media and not just in lifestyle sections of the broadsheet. So that the public will be given the chance to appreciate it. I think the masses need to appreciate art just because it makes one's life richer and broadens one's perspective. Congratulations to the cast of Coppelia and the Ballet Philippines.

photos courtesy of this cute girl , ;)

Harvest Romance - Fernando Amorsolo at the Metropolitan Museum

Seven of the most prominent museums in the Philippines is paying homage to the National Artist for Visual Arts, Fernando Amorsolo. These museums are the National Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Lopez Museum, Yuchengco Museum, The Ayala Museum, GSIS Museum and The UP Vargas Museum.

Last Saturday, me and my friend, Herlene went to my first stop at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila patroned by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines). MET as it is fondly called, is showcasing what Amorsolo is best known for - tranquil paintings and sketches of the nostalgic farm and rural life in the Philippines. The exhibit is appropriately called BayaANInanding, "Ani" which means harvest in Tagalog. It shows the overflowing reap sowed by an extraordinary filipino talent that is Amorsolo.

Fernando Amorsolo was raised in Camarines Norte but was born in Manila on May 30, 1892. He was named a National Artist in 1972 and died two years after in 1974. He graduated in the College of Fine Arts in University of the Philippines. But even before that, when he was thirteen, his family moved to Manila to reside on the house of a painter and his maternal uncle, Don Fabian Dela Rosa.He first discovered his talent for painting under the tutelage of the Don.

The central theme of Amorsolo's paintings are the sceneries and everyday life in a farm. He painted farmers planting rice, women harvesting fruits and cooking on mud pots (palayok) or just walking on a beaten track on the side of the mountain - essentially finding beauty in the most simple chores. He even have paintings on farm past times like cockfighting and sleeping on afternoon siesta breaks under a mango tree. He shows these scenes from the valleys of the Tagalog region, the heavenly scene of the Baguio mountains and the rugged terrains of Muslim south. Truly, he is a sensual and romantic painter. His paintings are endearing for its unassuming simpleness and appreciation of what we find our lives as ordinary. He does them in various medium - pen or ink in paper, oil on canvas, oil on wood and board.

Amorsolo was also an avid traveler. He takes time with his friends to visit places where he gets inspiration for his paintings. But what's the romance did Amorsolo found in such back-breaking work like farming and land tilling? A simple reason - Farming is the representation of the cycle of life itself and what can be more fascinating than life? You know the similarities are uncanny - you have to make sure that the land is properly turned over and irrigated,carefully nurturing it.You protect the crops from damaging elements. And there maybe times when crops are lost but most of the times the land is going to be bounty. Like life, you celebrate the generosity of God and earth that nurtures you back with good harvest.

As I was standing in the gallery with my friend, I wondered how many Filipinos know about Fernando Amorsolo's works. Seeing that me and my friend are only two of the six visitors that day, I would say not much. Filipinos are made to believe that art and museums are for the elite when in truth, it is mostly about the majority's experience that the artist conveys. It is the truth-seeking on the nature of a person and a heritage of a nation.It is my hope that the educators of the young today would see past beyond the stereotyping and open the eyes of the young generation to the richness of these heritage.

Unfortunately, taking of exhibit photos are not allowed inside the museum but if you want to personally see his works, you can visit MET which is just beside the Bangko Sentral in Roxas Boulevard. The exhibits will run at the seven museums until early of 2009.For more information on the date of the exhibits, click here.

My next stop is at the Ayala Museum, where Amorsolo's work about women are being exhibited. It is entitled Amorsolo’s Maidens Concealed and Revealed.
A nice trivia you might not know, Amorsolo painted the Ginebra San Miguel bottle logo that depicts Archangel Michael defeating the devil not known as Marca Demonio, he used the money to finance his studies abroad.