BATANG BALER | Baler, Aurora, Philippines

You might want to check out these exhibits.

Art in the Park. February 27, 2010. 2pm to 11pm. Jaime Velasquez Park, Salcedo Village, Makati City. The art fair will feature works by Balerian brothers Jeho and Johann Bitancor.

Korea-Philippine Art Exhibit 2010. GSIS Museo ng Sining, Pasay City. Exhibit opening on February 26, 2010 at 6:00 PM. Among the Philippine artists who will have their artworks in the exhibit are Roy Buen and Vincent Christopher Gonzales from Baler.

Baler, Aurora: The Exhibit. Bulwagan ng Dangal, UP Diliman’s University Heritage Museum. February 15 – March 31. The exhibit is “is largely an ethnographic exhibit that foregrounds the town of Baler in Aurora, Quezon. Curated by Prof. Rubén D.F. Defeo.”

For the exhibit, the siege of Baler is chosen because of its impact in the life of the people of Baler. A major area of the Bulwagan simulates the Baler church interior where the action took place. A looped version of the documentary film on the siege of Baler entitled Los Ultimos de Filipinos is screened on a set schedule everyday of the exhibit.

The exhibit also presents the community of Ilongot through vintage photographs of this fast vanishing traditions.

A special segment of the exhibit focuses on the various creative ways where Baler is depicted in art. A formal presentation, this section features diverse artworks that portray musings on Baler by artists from the UP College of Fine Arts like Leo Abaya and Denes Dasco. The installative sitework of Junyee uses coco coir and other materials extracted from the coconut tree, thus providing an apt preview of the current state of industries in Baler. (http://www.upd.edu.ph/~updinfo/whatsup/)

Vargas Collects History. “To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth, the University of the Philippines Jorge B. Vargas Museum presents a satellite exhibition that creates a dialogue with Bulwagan ng Dangal’s exhibition on President Manuel L. Quezon and his origins, the humble town of Baler, and explores the history of the collecting practice of Vargas.” Memorabilia Exhibition opens February 23 at the 3F Galleries of The Vargas Museum (http://www.upd.edu.ph/~updinfo/whatsup/)

Jeho Bitancor’s “unBOUNDed” Will be on view until September 18, 2009 at blanc Makati. blanc is located at Crown Tower, 107 H.V. dela Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati City. For more information, please call or sms 752-0032 / 0920-9276436, email info@blanc.ph or visit www.blanc.ph, www.blancartspace.multiply.com

unBOUNDed
by Jeho Bitancor

How does space as a phenomenon translate to embodied articulations of personal and social significance?

Referencing my condition as a migrant, I had to grapple with this problematic and contemplate on other questions whether the space to locate our bodies constricting or liberating or both? If so, how does it manifest? Is it of our own choosing and creation, or is it imposed and inherited?

My inquiry was triggered by the tension I had to negotiate as a transient body constantly relocating itself, from the “periphery” to the “center”, and from the west coast to Midwest to east coast in barely two years. This would mean adapting to new circumstances and unfamiliar grounds. Or better yet, enduring/enjoying shifting working conditions; from a huge garage space in California, to a freezing open patio in Memphis, to a claustrophobic basement apartment in Jersey City, and finally to a decent studio space in the suburbs of Central New Jersey.

It is while working in a spare space in Jersey City measuring less than 7 X 5 ft in floor area that I have come to question the nature of my existence. Does the space I occupy define me or is it in defining myself that I inhabited it? Similarly, is the decision to be “in” the space and adhere to the condition it entails a result of my own volition alone or a product of inherited values historically ingrained within my psyche? It can be both in my case for there are a number of reasons that may be politically in/correct or even romantic. It can be the notion of growing artistically/ intellectually and recognizing my battle as a post-colonial subject, while at the same time grazing at my enemy’s pasture for which I am not yet guilty of.

For this exhibition, I have focused on subjects that are apparently social in context and navigating through issues that affect me. For me, there is no dividing line clearly delineating the personal to societal. I believe that personal experiences transcend to if not a direct result of the workings of society.

Age-old issues of vulnerability, conformity, dislocation, bondage, greed, identity and struggle are presented in various reconfigurations and re-contextualization. Utilizing as a device objects that contain figures or figures that resemble objects, the works allude to feelings of entrapment, enclosure and imprisonment. Others served as shelter and recluse, echoing the duality and manifold definition of inhabiting and identifying with a space.

info taken from blanc art space multiply page