More than defiance; Orley Ypon’s ‘Arise’

It is looking more and more that the officials of this government particularly, the Comelec will ignore any criticism no matter how grievous their offence and lawbreaking. My friend and colleague Rene Azurin calls it the latest piece of skullduggery, meaning it is a series of acts. Unfortunately, there is no institution that can go after this misgovernment.

According to Azurin 82,000 PCOS machines have been moved away to a small non-airconditioned warehouse where it can rot away.

There the machines will rot and destroy the evidence for the grand false elections of 2010 and 2013 that gave us the government we now have. This is worse than bombing to destroy a country. Unless citizens act to stop the skullduggery it will continue and that is what to expect in 2016. No ifs or buts about it. It will happen unless Filipinos decide enough is enough.

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I went to ArtFair 2014 quite by chance. The plan was to go to Makati for dinner. We had time to kill so I suggested we go to ArtFair that again I would not have known had I not been in Facebook and befriended Remigio David. He is a serious “bon vivant” if there is such a term but his posts are a mélange of serious art, photography and restaurants around the world. Recently he posted about a book he read. Hmm. He also reads. So off we went to the ArtFair after several turns not being able to find it. Instructions were the venue was The Linkway and it used to be a parking lot between Landmark and Shangri-la Hotel. So from the start, I was disoriented but when we got there I was dumbfounded. This was an art exhibit as I had never been to before. Indeed if there are words to accurately describe the exhibit ‘there are none.” It was “anything goes.” And even more so because we were running out of time going through two floors of dozens and dozens of paintings and works of art, we had to wheeze through.

That was when I came upon Orley Ypon’s monumental work 5x 8 feet “Arise” in the Altro Mondo Booth 21. It is about Filipinos rising from the mud. Those saved in dry ground were pulling others still below them.

Right there and then I knew why I was led to this painting. It encompassed, it evoked the Filipinos’ ardent desire for reform, for change in their country. It was the perfect cover photo for our times and voila as cover photo for the crowdsourcing project of constitutional advocates.

I had turned down the artist’s suggestions. I thought I had wanted the picture of a crowd, any crowd but realized then that it had to be more than that. I found it in Ypon’s “Arise,” It had to have passion. It is about Filipinos wanting to get out of the rot their country has been for many years.

Thanking its admirers Altra Mondo Gallery owner, Remigio David said Orley Ypon painting won the grand prize in last Year’s prestigious ARC (Art Renewal Center) Competition in New York City.

A comment from an FB user made the apt posting for it “The Filipinos will not stay down.”

Magnificent masterpiece!

 That was it. It was a patriotic fighting painting that to me echoed the movement of Luna’s Spoliarium.

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It has been many years ago when Juan Luna painted The Spoliarium. When he submitted it to Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884 in Madrid, where it was given the first gold medal (out of three). It was later sold to Diputación Provincial de Barcelona for 20,000 pesetas.

The painting may have been made at a different time but the content and its inspiration are the same. It has movement and captures the same emotions. The painting comes alive with a particular motion — the motion when compatriots help and pull each other out of the morass. It evokes a final freedom. Spoliarium now hangs in the main gallery at the ground floor of the National Museum of the Philippines, and is the first thing that greets visitors on entering the museum. I have no doubt in my mind that in the future, near rather than far, Ypon’s “Arise” will take the same honored place.

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A day after, I trudged down to Altro Mondo in Greenbelt 5 to meet up with the painter. Unfortunately he was not able to come because he was supervising the delivery of the painting “Arise” to an unknown buyer. (Sorry, folks, you have to wait until it hangs in the National Museum).

The last word must come from Remigio David, the bon vivant who lives in Paris and had once wanted to open the best pastry shop that money can buy in Manila. But he had greater things in store for him.

“Since its inauguration in May 2010, Altro Mondo has sought to exhibit contemporary art in the Philippines and abroad.”

And that is what he set himself to do since then. It was a bold venture I told him but he chuckles and said “not if you know good painters.” They will always have buyers.

He has brought big names in the global art to Manila and promotes the work of young, emerging artists along with the established and critically renowned from the Philippines.

Altro Mondo exhibitions range from writing in print and online platforms, forums, projects, art events and collaborations with varied art institutions.

“ It seeks to carve its niche at the intersection of critical, cultural exchange. In line with this, the gallery often partners with independent curators, artist collectives, art platforms, institutions, writers, critics, fellow galleries, museums and corporate entities. The gallery also participates in a number of local and international art events, playing host to its choice of Filipino and foreign artists.”

The gallery is now on its fourth year, with coming exhibitions scheduled in the next two years.

“I keep a keen eye on the latest trends, developments and movements in the art world. But my feet are grounded in a critical, well-rounded appreciation of the arts. The intent, as always, is to enliven art making and promote its place in, and influence, on society.”

With those principles on art applied to the cooking of French pastry he would have indeed made the best in Manila. He chose to help Orley Ypon instead to paint and inspire his countrymen.