defy gravity!

…a wall full of beautiful art and fingers filled with brilliant stones and an airstream safari wouldn’t hurt at all but until i can afford all of that, i’m gunning for the basic building blocks…a brick at a time is always a good idea.

my friend, the brilliant visual artist dodong bandibas brought doxch and myself to emotions gallery, where he is a featured artist. i fell in love instantly with this Badon sketch, a different take on the madonna and child…in stark black and white. inding, the owner, pointed out this fact: his every stroke is deliberate. true artists practice restraint, a trait i lack and therefore have a high regard for (as with most things one does not have, yes?)

it now hangs on my wall, joining the other pieces of art i have acquired through the years, mostly bestowments by good friends. the first ones were portraits of me by CAMMA and Palanca awardee (and Sunstar cartoonist) Josua Cabrera. another Josua was later given to me by the artist, my favorite of a series he displayed at the maribago gallery…of a woman hanging her laundry to dry…a visual metaphor for revealing ones’ emotions…which struck a chord in reserved, detached me.

an abstract by high school classmate (now UP professor) Sio Montera made of asphalt and nigo (coconut fiber) hangs in my living room, another gift from the artist. it is called “chance encounters”, which sealed my love affair with the piece. it is of seven circles, like molecules ceaselessly floating and banging into each other in space…until a chance encounter bumps you into a particle that was destined for you. of course i had to have it
i had a total of five of dodong’s works (all generously given): a duo of his tindera series, because i’ve always loved vegetables and rural scenes like this…done in his Malang-inspired style…and a triptych of abstracts in delicious Armani hues (that are now on loan to anne marie and hang in her house in baltimore).

behind me hangs a lovely Adeste piece (complete with dedication at the back), a coffee-stain depiction of a flores de mayo flowergirl , which freaks my brother seth out because of her piercing stare.

and just to underscore how eclectic this little, er,collection is…a digital painting by Leandro Panganiban and Paolo Gomez, which i have written about before.

somewhere in this house (i will find it, James) are unframed scratched photographs by James Niesche, which i thought were absolute genius! just when you thought nothing new could be done with photographs, he takes shots of empty spaces (hallways, corridors, rooms) and scratches figures entangled in various stages of pre-coital frenzy right on the surface of the photos. again, ingenious!

and, of course, my pwede na ko mamatay karon/i can absolutely die now piece…a large de Pio portrait of me done in ‘03 done in his signature order-in-chaos style.

next on the list? i’m moving on ahead, fearlessly, into the world of nudes. there is a gorgeous Jun Martinez nude i’m lusting after in the emotions gallery.well, two actually…the green framed one of a woman that looks uncannily like wendy of PBB fame…and an unframed supine woman. lovely, lovely.

as for the handful of jewels? i fell in love with a round amethyst set on sterling silver cocktail ring by monique del gallego-jarque and had to have it. she’s resized it so my fat fingers will finally be adorned nicely where i want them…the index finger as well as the ring one it’s lovely to own real stones, so start getting some too. you can check out her real bling at tothebeach.multiply.com

who needs a boyfriend, eh? teeeheeeee

me

the badon, sorry jay aldeguer

my amethyst ring. this gemstone is said to have the power to protect one from drunkenness. watch out red horse!

damn these memories, they always reduce me to tears. the date,well, dates me.

here i am in 1993, getting ready to put the paddle on some expectant neophyte whose folks made the fortuitous mistake ( i have yet to regret a moment of it) of choosing unit 4 of the men’s dorm to dump their son in. they did not know what they were in for, nor did they know that it was hard to say goodbye to these nasty walls…this darn campus.

i… became… in UPLB.

perhaps soon i shall put it all down, commit it, finally, to paper. and we’ll have a laugh, a few sniffles, a lot of bawling, and big, big hugs all around. damn these memories.

me in a striped esprit shirt (all the rage even then), pepe jeans folded at the cuff, suede loafers, and a signature fan