Siren’s Hall
Various Artists
Allan Balisi, Bru Sim, Dexter Fernandez, Dina Gadia, Enteng Viray, Erick Encinares, Eugene Jarque, Gani Simpliciano, Gary Ross–Pastrana, Kanamura Hitoshi, Kat Medina, Louie Cordero, Lena Cobangbang, Lyle Buencamino, Lourd de Veyra, Mariano Ching, Mark Salvatus, Marcus Nada, Mike Munoz, MM Yu, Masi Solano, Manuel Alvero, Nice Buenaventura, Poklong Anading, Pow Martinez, Romeo Lee, Raena Abella, Radioactive Sago Project, Sam Kiyoumarsi, Sleepyheads, Tim Brown, Vic Balanon
Allan Balisi, Bru Sim, Dexter Fernandez, Dina Gadia, Enteng Viray, Erick Encinares, Eugene Jarque, Gani Simpliciano, Gary Ross–Pastrana, Kanamura Hitoshi, Kat Medina, Louie Cordero, Lena Cobangbang, Lyle Buencamino, Lourd de Veyra, Mariano Ching, Mark Salvatus, Marcus Nada, Mike Munoz, MM Yu, Masi Solano, Manuel Alvero, Nice Buenaventura, Poklong Anading, Pow Martinez, Romeo Lee, Raena Abella, Radioactive Sago Project, Sam Kiyoumarsi, Sleepyheads, Tim Brown, Vic Balanon
04 June – 11 July 2010
Curated by
Mariano Ching
04 June – 11 July 2010
I am of the belief that the best artists have impeccable musical tastes. Show me someone who listens to Andrea Bocelli and My Chemical Romance and I'll show you someone who paints tacky, earnest triptychs with Mother Freedom in the middle with a dove on her shoulder and bloody placards at her feet. In contrast, I know of many earth-shakingly brilliant poets and fictionists whose iTunes playlists send me into paroxysms of embarrassment.
I will not even presume to provide a psychological explanation for that mysterious connection between a tastefully-curated iPod and a mind-blowingly brilliant exhibit. All I know is that artists, with the likes of Poklong Anading and Louie Cordero, have razor-sharp sound armaments that make you want to light up a fat one—rich repertoires ranging from scary Japanese experimental psychedelia to icy, minimal German techno to obscure garage punk. Someone may or may not see a connection, although I haven't peeked closely enough to check if they have Michael Learns to Rock and Sitti strategically hidden away somewhere in the deepest, darkest caverns of their iTunes playlists. Maybe they do, and for all we know, it's songs like “Paint My Love” that lend Cordero's paintings that sense of the powerful and the beautifully depraved.
But how does one quantify something as frustratingly relative as taste? The goodness and badness of taste always depend on the point of reference (i.e. would The Clash still be cool if Piolo Pascual and Billy Crawford sang and danced to “Straight to Hell” on ASAP every week? Consequently, by virtue of singing a Clash song, would those two bozos acquire a patina of coolness? Further: can Justin Bieber escape the stigma of his tragic adolescence by singing Van Dyke Parks compositions?)
So taste is always governed by the parameters of subjectivity. But the true creative mind recognizes kickass music from the very first note alone, and how that music finds an immediate register within the pipes of his own imagination, weaving a powerful mindscape—or, the grooves of his own madness. How do you even begin to quantify something as elemental as rock and roll? When that first chord hits, you shut up and listen. Or sing. Or scream, or drink, or drive a fist into a wall or someone else’s face. Or maybe pick up a brush. For ultimately, as a wise man once said, all art should aspire to the condition of music. Or madness.
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About the Artist
About the Artists
Mark Salvatus (b. 1980, Lucban, Philippines) currently lives and works in Manila. He graduated cum laude at the University of Santo Tomas College of Fine Arts and Design Manila with a degree in Advertising Arts.
Since 2006, Salvatus calls his overall artistic project as Salvage Projects working across various disciplines and media. Basing it on the word ‘salvage’ or to save or rescue which is also the meaning of his surname, he tries to build direct and indirect engagements using objects, photography, archives, videos, installations, participatory projects, and platform organizing that present different outcomes of energies and experiences.
Salvatus had solo shows at the Vargas Museum, Ateneo Art Gallery, Cultural Center of the Philippines, La Trobe University Visual Art Center in Melbourne, Australia, and Goyang Art Studio in Korea. His works have been presented in various international exhibitions including Between the Sun and the Moon, 2nd Lahore Biennale, curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, (Lahore, PK, 2020); Video Spotlight: Philippines, Asia Society (NYC/USA, 2015); Unfolding Fabric of Our Life, curated by Mizuki Takashi, Mill6CHAT (HK, 2019); Open City, Manila Biennale at Intramuros, Manila (PH). He is also a recipient of the 13 Artists Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines (2012); Sovereign-Schoeni Art Prize, Hong Kong (2012), and Ateneo Art Awards (2010). He was granted an artist residency in Asia Culture Center (ACC) Gwangju and Rijksakademie (Amsterdam) Exchange Dialogue Program, IASPIS Umea, Sweden; Art OMI, New York, Common Room Networks Foundation, Bandung, Indonesia and Goyang Art Studio in South Korea.
In 2006, Salvatus co-founded Pilipinas Street Plan, a community of street artists based in Manila. Furthermore, in 2012 he co-founded 98B COLLABoratory, a multi-disciplinary site for creative sharing, discussion, and collaboration. He also founded Load na Dito (LONADI) in 2016 with Mayumi Hirano, an artistic and research project based in Manila.
Sleepyheads, a proudly Pinoy indie folk-punk trio—John Jayvee del Rosario (vocals, drums, composition), Erick Encinares (bass, production, composition) and Rico Entico (guitar)—are ripping up and tearing down the barriers of mainstream music with their tongue-in-cheek lyrics, gritty low-fi sound and freakishly fun performances. While their infectious feel-good beats may induce uncontrollable fits of head bopping, toe tapping and jumping and jiving, the content of their music is certainly not lightweight. Their songs—intimate, fiercely poetic and deceptively meticulous—tackle everything from brokenhearted miseries to social alienation to warding off the disillusionment, chaos and decay that comes with modern urban life. Often serving as the opening act in Manila’s premier galleries such as Silverlens and MO_Space, the band aims construct songs that will serve as the soundtrack to the art that surrounds them. The Sleepyheads are all about subverting the status quo and breaking down the barriers of a society steeped in self-consciousness and material concerns.
Related Exhibitions
About the Artists
About the Artist
Mark Salvatus (b. 1980, Lucban, Philippines) currently lives and works in Manila. He graduated cum laude at the University of Santo Tomas College of Fine Arts and Design Manila with a degree in Advertising Arts.
Since 2006, Salvatus calls his overall artistic project as Salvage Projects working across various disciplines and media. Basing it on the word ‘salvage’ or to save or rescue which is also the meaning of his surname, he tries to build direct and indirect engagements using objects, photography, archives, videos, installations, participatory projects, and platform organizing that present different outcomes of energies and experiences.
Salvatus had solo shows at the Vargas Museum, Ateneo Art Gallery, Cultural Center of the Philippines, La Trobe University Visual Art Center in Melbourne, Australia, and Goyang Art Studio in Korea. His works have been presented in various international exhibitions including Between the Sun and the Moon, 2nd Lahore Biennale, curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, (Lahore, PK, 2020); Video Spotlight: Philippines, Asia Society (NYC/USA, 2015); Unfolding Fabric of Our Life, curated by Mizuki Takashi, Mill6CHAT (HK, 2019); Open City, Manila Biennale at Intramuros, Manila (PH). He is also a recipient of the 13 Artists Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines (2012); Sovereign-Schoeni Art Prize, Hong Kong (2012), and Ateneo Art Awards (2010). He was granted an artist residency in Asia Culture Center (ACC) Gwangju and Rijksakademie (Amsterdam) Exchange Dialogue Program, IASPIS Umea, Sweden; Art OMI, New York, Common Room Networks Foundation, Bandung, Indonesia and Goyang Art Studio in South Korea.
In 2006, Salvatus co-founded Pilipinas Street Plan, a community of street artists based in Manila. Furthermore, in 2012 he co-founded 98B COLLABoratory, a multi-disciplinary site for creative sharing, discussion, and collaboration. He also founded Load na Dito (LONADI) in 2016 with Mayumi Hirano, an artistic and research project based in Manila.
Sleepyheads, a proudly Pinoy indie folk-punk trio—John Jayvee del Rosario (vocals, drums, composition), Erick Encinares (bass, production, composition) and Rico Entico (guitar)—are ripping up and tearing down the barriers of mainstream music with their tongue-in-cheek lyrics, gritty low-fi sound and freakishly fun performances. While their infectious feel-good beats may induce uncontrollable fits of head bopping, toe tapping and jumping and jiving, the content of their music is certainly not lightweight. Their songs—intimate, fiercely poetic and deceptively meticulous—tackle everything from brokenhearted miseries to social alienation to warding off the disillusionment, chaos and decay that comes with modern urban life. Often serving as the opening act in Manila’s premier galleries such as Silverlens and MO_Space, the band aims construct songs that will serve as the soundtrack to the art that surrounds them. The Sleepyheads are all about subverting the status quo and breaking down the barriers of a society steeped in self-consciousness and material concerns.
Related Exhibitions
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