THE ART FAIR ] Slim pickings at Manila Art 09

Detail of painted-on vintage poster from Dexter Hernandez at the Pablo booth.

"Marami bang maganda?" Ben Chan asked me last Sunday afternoon(after he pointed out the 'bch' embroidery on my canary yellow shirt) at the ManilaArt fair in NBC Tent. I didn't really know what to say. "O baka naman ubos na." Well, it was a little slim pickings in this supposed to be 'groundbreaking' event that gathered Manila's top galleries (or at least those who can afford to join) in one place for a three-day show of what, I presume, are on stock at their backrooms. How did they choose the works to show? "These are the artists exclusive to Finale (which includes Keiye Miranda, Bembol Oligario and Lyra Garcellano)," Vita Sarenas whispered to me, "except for two." Once I had made the rounds, its so clear that most of it are same old, same old, from styles to color palette (pastels are a favorite!). Still, a few can make you linger for a while. Like the pieces in this post.

People would ask, What did you like? The dog, I would say. And immediately they would know. By Jonathan Ching.

At left, I loved the lace-y motif in this one, from Gallery 9. At right, I didn't exactly love this but Yeyey Cruz pointed it out to me, complete with art history references. I had no idea what she was talking about. "It has so many layers," she said, pointing out the view of nature at the bottom left. But I kinda like that there are drinks recipes with all these religious figures. Religion and alcohol. Not always the best combination.