An Orange Evening

It was another of those long meetings, where you keep going back to the buffet for coffee. But this time it was in Bacolod. The evening was more than gratifying though.

After the meeting, we were invited to Manny Montelibano's exhibit at Orange Gallery, owned by one of Bacolod's pride Charlie Co. We were told Charlie himself would be there to entertain us. I met Charlie at the Philip Morris Art Awards last year; he gladly posed for my photo collection of local artists, which I show to my Humanities class. I also have a good collection of pics of his works - the Madonna series in the collection of Tita Inday Pefianco, who was herself a very gracious host to us when we visited Bacolod in October 2007.

But this was Manny's show, not Charlie's. Manny is a multi-media artist, and he sits in the Committee for Visual Arts, representing West Visayas. I sit in Cultural Education, and that was an inter-committee regional meeting, another innovation at the NCCA. That's how I got to his show.

The show was titled "Poasa" (Fast). The gallery facade greeted us with a cross made of incandescent bulbs and a smiley. Initially I wondered if we were being brought to the Victory Christian Fellowship prayer meeting. But I have been to the Orange Gallery before, so I was sure this was the place, at the second floor.

At the entrance we were greeted by the tarpauline poster showing the cross outside, so I was assured I was not lost. The second floor gallery was fully carpeted in red, with matching red curtains. The hall was a shower of "Dear God" letters written by kids on intermediate paper. The visual was stunning: white paper swaying on strings from the ceiling against a background of red. One had to go through the delicate maze of prayers, and that alone was a spiritual experience.

The upper gallery was a video installation. The main video showed the Santo Intierro, and devotees trying to reach the glass case, wiping ther white handkerchiefs as an expression of faith, but foregrounding the main video screen were smaller screens showing various scenes of gospel sharing by various religious sects. We didn't hear what they were saying, but they were very distracting. At first there seems to be no connection at all between the lower and upper galleries, except that the video screens were also predominantly red, and white paper were scattered on the floor. The upper gallery, however, was enveloped by darkness, unlike the lower's deep red.

Manny Montelibano's "Poasa" is a pun on the words Po, a Tagalog expression of respect or reverence, and Asa (hope). The artist challenges one's faith (prayers, Santo Intierro) against popular icons - the smiley, the preachers on TV, the cross as a Broadway marquee. The skeptic might ask, where do these prayers go? Who would read them? But the devout would not be bothered, because between them and their god, they know there is no difference between the white paper pads and the white handkerchiefs, for it is in their act of faith (writing the letter, wiping the Santo Intierro) that they are healed.

The better part of that evening was meeting Bacolod's artists Charlie Co and Dennis Ascalon. Both artists are exhibited at the Singapore Art Museum. In fact, SAM curator Joyce Toh flew in that day just to - according to Dennis - "check how we are doing." Also present that night aside from Manny, Charlie, and Dennis were Milton Dionzon, actor, artist, event organizer, etc., Aklanon writer and post-modernist/post-colonial critic John Barrios, and Florence-based Wena Diaz. Poet Ricky De Ungria was there ahead of us for dinner, but he left earlier.

Manny took us back to our hotel at past midnight. He was asking if we wanted to be anywhere else in Bacolod that night, but I thought his show and meeting so many creative people were enough to call a day.

(Photos from top to bottom: Charlie Co's Chinese Madonna (Inday Pefianco's Collection), Manny Montelibano's "Poasa", John Barrios reading through prayers; Milton Dionzon, Charlie Co, Singapore Art Museum curator Joyce Toh, Manny Montelibano, and Wena Diaz at the gallery for a funshot; Dennis Ascalon posing solo for my collection.)