CONSTELLATIONS

How many of us look to the heavens for our fortune and fate? Do the stars hold secrets to our future and perhaps, more importantly, insights into ourselves that we previously didn't know of or believe in?

Visual artist Monnar Daelo Baldemor elucidates on this theory on canvas, and expounds on the implications of a zodiac mentality on what defines us as human beings - our complex social interactions with the world at large.

On The Water-bearer, Monnar interprets his own personal ties with his wife Che (he's Aquarius; she a Libra). The water bearer and the Scales of Justice meet in a diorama of plenty and happiness.

Instead of going for the obvious, sometimes divisive nature of the zodiac and the horoscope predictions derived from it, Monnar sees “Constellations” as a celebration of togetherness. Uniqueness in unity, so to speak.

“Our zodiac signs should be used to distinguish us; not to keep us apart. In the end, no one deserves to be alone - seeming zodiac incompatibility notwithstanding,” says Baldemor.

Monnar is the son of prolific, internationally known painter Manuel D. Baldemor. He shares the talent for visual arts, yet father and son forge divergent styles. Monnar's creations are akin to the distorted figures of Spain's Salvador Dali, rendered with the same laboriously detailed strokes of Germany's Ernst Degasperi and anatomical disfigurations of Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch. What the elder and younger Baldemors share is a preference for, and affinity with, bright pastel colors.

Presently the design director for the weekly magazine Women's Journal, Monnar has earned five Jurors' Choice nods in the prestigious yearly art tilt of the Artist Association of the Philippines. He was also chosen as finalist in the Phillip Morris Group of Companies Philippine Art Awards. Baldemor has worked in the publishing field for almost two decades and maintained cartoon strips for various publications such as Sun Star Manila, Diyaryo Filipino, Manila Times, and Malaya.

Monnar is a member of the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP), Samahan ng mga Kartonista sa Pilipinas (SKP), and the Pinsel Artist Group of UE Caloocan. He has participated in more than a dozen group exhibitions.

“Constellations” is Monnar's fifth solo exhibit. ”Constellations" opens on July 17 2010 and shall run until July 31, 2010 at the Sigwada Art Gallery located at 1921 Oroquieta St., Sta. Cruz, Manila, Philippines.

UNQUALIFIED SAINTS

The Sigwada Art Gallery opens to the public the Fifth Solo Exhibit of Jcrisanto Martinez. Titled “Unqualified Saints,” this is the last segment of a trilogy of exhibits this year by the artist which focuses on the central dilemma of faith and worship. The final installment is a cumulative iconographic exposition that showcases mixed-media sculptures defining the thin line between a genuine doctrine and idolatry.

In the initial outing The Graven Images, Martinez made representations of the seven deadly sins as figures and naming them as saints collectively verbalizing a statement and a warning, reminding us not to be misled by false idols and rethinking what really drives us in our earthbound lives. Martinez defined hero-worship by revealing the ominous visage of human worship as he shows us the archetypes of "God" as conceived by man; those that we adore much and exalt to a degree that is even beyond gods in The Godmakers.

Unqualified Saints becomes Martinez’s final platform to pick out the heresies from the true doctrine; dividing the good from the bad and discovering a remarkable picture of faith and belief as it is being struggled to be understood by man who, without question, cared deeply about it. Here, the artist continued to create mixed-media sculptures utilizing a mix of resin, gold-plated brass, carved plate and old wood rendered with acrylic and enamel paint, fashioning these into tangible icons. Martinez reflects back to his primary premise, that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The concluding piece in this exhibition is “Risen,” a small piece of mixed-media assemblage on burlap featuring an antique cross which bears the imprints of one previously nailed on it. The message implied actually has a thunderous inference to the artist’s basic assertion; that the one to rely faith upon has risen and is unseen.

As a précis to his expression, Martinez concludes that those whom God ordains so solely and exclusively as to be infallible in every distinct testimony are very infrequent; most celebrated saints have made their fair share of blunders. Hominids are, after all, imperfect mortals. If we can fathom the roots of the differences between sinner and saint, maybe more of us can move into the latter group.

Unqualified Saints opens on 03 July 2010 and shall run until 16 July 2010 at the Sigwada Art Gallery located at 1921 Oroquieta St., Sta. Cruz, Manila, Philippines. For inquiries please contact (632)7435873 or email cil_pagaduan@yahoo.com.

Image: JCrisanto Martinez, “If My People Pray,” Mixed Media / Assemblage on Burlap, 2010

Texts: JCrisanto Martinez, “Unqualified Saints”