2 posts tagged “art”
Brazil is my new favourite country. Ever since I read Ricardo Semler's The Seven Day Weekend, and discovered caipirinhas, I've been always on the lookout for anything new and interesting from that part of the world.
One of the things I admire most about Brazil, aside from the soccer and the beauty queens, is its ability to compete in the international marketplace - Embraer (who'd be kicking Bombardier's behind if not for the generous federal subsidies) and CVRD (who are just about to take over Inco - one of Canada's biggest natural resources companies) come to mind. It seems that the Brasilenos have done one thing right - ensure that the technology transfer happens once the multinationals come over to expand their markets. Something Filipino entrepreneurs would do good to follow.
Today I found Icaro Doria, a brazilian journalist who created the widely-circulated Meet the World series, one of the most evocative examples of contemporary political art, in my opinion. Enjoy!
Listening to: Michael Franks (Sleeping Gypsy, 1997)
What was (or is) your favorite subject in school?
Elem: Reading, yay! Our school had a fancy reading program that was separate from the whole grading system. You started out from A1, A2, B1, B2 to as far as you can get. I reached M1, and was the only one in the whole elem at that level. I'd have thick, high-school looking textbooks to go through, which had lots of complicated, long-winded stories that had reading and comprehension questions at the end. I loved burying my nose into one of these things and was sort of sad when we had to go to the next class, which I din't like as much - Filipino Composition. Mind you, it wasn't because I hated Filipino (Tagalog), it was because we never talked in Tagalog except in class. We spoke Ilonggo (HIligaynon) at home, at school, on the streets, and Tagalog was the "official language" that we had to learn.
High School: History! It was like Reading all over again, but this time, the stories I was reading about really happened. UPHS still had American History as part of its curriculum in the early 90's, so I can tell you lots of useless stuff about Merkins than most people. Then there was Asian History, which was really cool too - the Sumerians, and ziggurats, and the Tigres and the Euphrates....and Filipino History, where I learned to write my name using Alibata, the ancient Filipino script. We had Filipino history in elementary school but UP High made me really think about who wrote what and why.
Defining Phil History moment: Andres Bonifacio and the KKK story. (Gregoria de Jesus was v. cool!) Our batch collectively agreed Jose Rizal was such a sissy. Andres Bonifacio was the real deal - he got his hands dirty, and was in the trenches with the rest of his men. Rizal was all right, he just wasn't hands-on enough.
Uni: Art History. taught by the then MA-candidate Patrick Flores, who since then has gone on to become the Art Studies bigwig at UPCAL. A quick search on Wikipedia now lists him as the curator of the National Museum (!). Loved learning about the cubists, the Renaissance, and my all-time favorite, the Moderns. Watched and critiqued B movies (the forgettable Ax Murderer series, local ST(sex trip) films) for this class. Asked the big questions about Art (with a capital A), the Canon, and the complicated process of validating what was big A and small A art. Trawled Megamall's fourth floor and acted all artsy and pretentious at any given moment. Questioned the why, and who makes what off anything.Got introduced to the works of Imelda Cajipe-Endaya and Brenda Fajardo. Planted the seed of me going to Europe someday to see all the pretty pictures. Fulfilled that dream five years ago, yay! Now a certified art gallery and museum junkie.
Post Grad: Starting your Own Business (Freelancing) - enjoyed learning about tax breaks and working for myself. Finally convinced three of my colleagues to start our own venture. Stay tuned.
jonesing for: tickets for Andy Warhol at the AGO
