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IF the
rock band Rivermaya were to title a concert as “Has-Been
Gig for Has-Beens,” would you buy a ticket and watch?
Or, if April Boy Regino would name his nth comeback
album as “Baduy Album for Baduy Listeners,” would you be
caught alive and conscious listening to it?
Young
painter-conceptual artist Buen Calubayan’s exhibit at
the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Small Gallery in
December last year was titled Idiot Show for Idiots.
And what do you know? Lots of people came and even left
their comments on the guest book. Besides the usual
“Great exhibit! Astig!” most are unprintable
though.
But for
the whole month of January, Idiot Show for Idiots
can be viewed at the Cubicle Art Gallery in Pasig City
and Calubayan’s personal gallery, the Jelo Submarine in
Sampaloc, Manila. In March it will be transferred to Big
Sky Mind in
Quezon City.
We had a
chance to visit the December show and it wasn’t
Christmas all over the Cultural Center of the
Philippines. Written on Manila paper that was pasted on
the door and the wall of the gallery were the words in
bold letters: “Hindi na tayo gagawa, tapos na ang
postmodern, mga unggoy!”
Literal
translation: “We’re not going to create anymore.
Postmodern is dead. Monkeys!”
Call it
grafitti-trying-hard-to-be-a-mural, but it’s a clear
reminder that with the conceptual approach to the genre,
it’s like going to a bar with no beer, just cranberry
juice. And you’ll drink some because it’s good for you.
You’ll feel good but not as good as how you immediately
want it to be.
Going to
an exhibit without the usual paintings or installations
can be easily dismissed as little else than yet another
attempt by these so-called bleeding-edge young artists
to make a name for themselves by shocking or provoking
the audience.
But the
audience becoming angry, indignant, annoyed, frustrated
or humored would be, in itself, proof that the exhibit
is successful in involving them or engaging them.
Calubayan’s traveling exhibit gets rid of the usual red
wine-punch-pica-pica crowd typical of art exhibits.
Most art
shows tire and bore us as much as they delight and
intrigue us. We go out of our way to visit an art show
to find both something new and familiar. Either way, we
buy the painting or sculpture because we feel good when
we look at it, and—especially—because we know that, in
time, the value of the artwork will be doubled or even
quadrupled.
Calubayan’s artwork in this exhibit can’t be bought or
stolen, at least physically.
In the
cubicle exhibit, the graffitti-mural reads: “Close
during gallery hours.”
Calubayan is a graduate of fine arts from the University
of Santo Tomas. He is currently pursuing a Master’s
Degree in Cultural Heritage Studies. Is he a real
person? If he is, is he using his real name? Is he
really an artist or just all concept? What’s the point
of having no recognizable art to exhibit at all.
Many saw
the artwork and met the man behind it, but nobody would
admit to being fooled by the lifeless and the living.
Many will claim they know and appreciate art and admire
the artist.
Nobody
would admit he’s an idiot. |
