Monday, July 23, 2012

the fire within

After more than 4 years, I am actually going back to creating my own work. My entire life for the past couple of years have been spent opening up boutiques, galleries, the hotel and helping out artists in any way possible and balancing family life - so that leaves the remaining 3-4 hours of my day sleeping. Yes, I am still human after all.

So when I got an invitation to do a one man exhibition in Luang Prabang, Laos, I said yes and there came the push that I needed after all these years. My last major show was in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games and I thought I have been more complacent about developing myself further as an artist. So this Laos exhibition in November is truly another great reason for me to drown myself in my own universe with an exhibition entitled THE FIRE WITHIN.







The Fire Within is primarily a commentary on subjugation, censorship, and the human tendency to reignite the flame of freedom that has long thought been extinguished. Using original photographs taken from all over Asia and placed as puzzles on hundreds of match boxes, the works represent the faces of everyday people and their poetic representations confronted by their daily march towards happiness, their journeys towards it or the utter lack of it.

Meant to be opened and tinkered with, these matchboxes also randomly contain woven words, found objects and other pieces of thoughts. 

These works can either be placed as installations on walls, tables, floors and a variety of other available indoor surfaces.

 Above are the smaller sample pieces of the photography-based installations from the series. I am currently working on larger works and incorporating details on each match so the viewer can break down the image and be introduced into smaller stories encompassing each part.

More sleepless nights to come...

Sunday, July 22, 2012

spoolartist blog on the Phnom Penh Post!

So surprised to pick up a copy of the Phnom Penh Post's 7Days and see my blog featured on its pages alongside other bloggers in Siem Reap!

Click here for the link

Saturday, July 21, 2012

missin' him

I must admit, I miss this little fella. It's been 4 days since we sent him back home to the Philippines for a 2-month school break but somehow, the house has been eerily quiet. 

Sure, I fight a lot with my six year old. We argue about proper train tracks placement, we play tug-of-war with the ipad, he's my biggest competition with our stash of chocolates on the fridge, and he is just growing faster than I could bear to accept.

But he sure rocks our world in any way possible, and it ain't a parade without him around...

September is way too long...

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

streetbound - pecha kucha bangkok

The Pecha Kucha Night in Bangkok is drawing near, barely a week as a matter of fact, and I am both excited and nervous as I haven't gotten my complete talk done yet. This is however, more relaxed than my TEDx talk it seems, so I think everything's still under control.

Here is the subject of my talk for the evening:


The 20 slides / 20 seconds per slide format is a breeze, exactly like the Nerd Nite formats where I was a speaker twice here in Cambodia. The only drawback is that there isn't enough time to expound on your thoughts and ideas. Since I will be speaking about the Angkor Art Explo which we hosted last year as well as the forthcoming Poetry Festival in November, the time limit is equally a challenge and an interesting opportunity to be as concise as you can be...

The Pecha Kucha Night will be making its comeback (the last leg was 2008) this Monday, July 9th, 6:30pm at the Nest Rooftop Lounge in Sukhumvit Soi 11.