Filipino Diaspora Part III

image by england hidalgo

i'm honored to be part of this photography and art exhibit at the manila town in san francisco. nancy hom curated the show. i showed with her at the berkeley arts festival gallery maybe about 4 years ago. we talked a bit about doing an exhibit and it took 4 years to materialize.

we had a panel discussion that i was nervous about but everything went okay because i just wrote and read my speech. there were about 50 to 60 people at the discussion. i intended my talk to be very clear and i guess they understood because no questions were asked after.

arvin flores is a fellow member of kwatro kantos. http://sitekreator.com/curatorialprojects/main.html
he's very articulate and i'd like to thank arvin for doing most of the talking. he's also the main writer in our group.



i have met ric rocamora a few years back at pusod, berkeley and i like his work on creating awareness on the plight of filipino ofws and veterans. he and his photographs were featured in pbs regarding the filipino veterans.

the i-hotel is historic regarding filipino-americans. this hotel became the symbol of our struggle here in the land of plenty and i'm excited to be part of this even if i was years late. that struggle happened in the seventies. the original building was demolished and all the chinese and filipino tenants were literraly dragged outside the building.



i'm not sure how it got built again but i can say that it's a great space for showcasing filipino artists. we need this badly and thanks to all the people who got this going again.



the exhibit will be up until december 31 so please come by. here are some details...

‘The Filipino Diaspora Part III: International’

EVENT: Exhibition presented by Manilatown Heritage Foundation

DESCRIPTION: Photographs by Rick Rocamora and Vic Valbuena Bareng; artwork by Mel Vera Cruz, England Hidalgo, Arvin Flores and Sharon Hing.

DETAILS: Oct. 13, 4-6 p.m. (opening reception), Oct. 13-Dec. 31 (exhibition), 1-6 p.m. (Tues.-Sat.), Manilatown Heritage Foundation, 953 Mission St., Ste. 30, San Francisco.

Oct. 27, 2007 730pm Sat - open mic

Nov. 9, 2007 Fri 730pm - Film premier: Bill Sorro: His life and activism

Nov. 14, 2007 7 - 9 pm wednesday - Book launch: God of luck and new edition of wooden fish songs
by Ruthanne Lum McCunn

Dec. 5, 2007 Wednesday 7pm - Film screening: Bloodlines

CONTACT: (415) 777-1130, mhf@manilatown.org, manilatown.org

ISABELA

my baby girl came in october 7, 2007 weighing 8 pounds. millette had labored for 5 hours and more than an hour of pushing. me and arielle (my niece) were beside her during isabela's birth and i'd like to thank arielle for her concern and effort. millette said the second time was harder than the first and i am thankful that everything went well.

miro is a little jealous but we try our best to give him attention. he's very intelligent and i think he understands now.

here are some pictures...

Two tattoos I did this weekend

first time i have done tattoos without practicing on pigskin. Rurik's tattoo was a funnel web spider. i used a 3 round needle because the size was a bit small for the design. it took me 4 hours for this one but it's all worth it. tattooing made me draw again.

i was drawing since i was 5 but i got tired of the praises so i experimented on stuff that most people couldn't relate to. it seems to me that the purpose of drawing was to get people's attention. show people that you're good then float on their appreciation. i got over that so i stopped creating art for their tastes meaning i stopped pleasing my audience.

but the art of tattooing made me draw again. i could spend hours drawing on human skin because it involves respect. respect for the person you're tattooing so patience is key. i didn't have patience drawing on paper or canvas because of the reason i stated above. paper or canvas are disposable. it can be used for wrapping fish or a substitute for tissue paper. human skin is disposable too but you have to wait till he or she dies.

the second one i did was for bong. he's our friend way back during our 'sho-biz' period. i did some cover-up on the heart tattoo he got in prison. it was amazing how they did that tattoo. they used paperclip as needle and the black smoke from a candle as ink. it was crude but still great once you thought about how they did it.

i just added wings and a kris sword plus the name of her mom. here are some pictures...

Sun and Cross

just finished another tattoo last sunday. i was still nervous but not as nervous as tracie's. i started using the metal grips and tubes. i doubted using these grips at first because it will add more weight to the gun. but these grips are a lot more stable compared to the plastic disposables i was using. the weight of the grip balances the weight of the tattoo gun so i can have a lot of control. the plastic disposables were too light and i had to literally lift the gun while holding the plastic grip so the weight is heavier on top which makes it harder to control

i was also planning to get the 1/2 inch diameter grips but nancy and ariel adviced me to get the larger ones. good thing i followed their advice because the larger ones are heavier and i think this makes my lines more accurate.

thanks again nancy plew and ariel cruz for advicing me to use these grips.

rene is tracie's husband. he liked tracie's tattoo and that's why he had me do his first tat. i was excited that he was letting me do this but i cannot celebrate until i did the actual tat.

i did the tattoo at cruz creations in san jose and i'm happy with the result. the metal grip helped a lot and i think i will not go back to those plastics unless for small works.

i also practiced on pigskin the day before doing the tattoo. i added the outline around the design just to get used to the new grips and i noticed it kind of looked good with the outline but decided not to include it because it might make the the design look cluttered.

i used a five round (nancy's advice) needle for the whole tat including the shading around the cross. the shading might look a little dark because it's still not healed. that area should appear lighter once healed because i used gray wash. here are some pictures...

Tracie's Tattoo

i overcame one obstacle last weekend when i tattooed tracie. oscar p recommended me that i do her tattoo. i was really nervous when she emailed me regarding the tattoo because she's my first ever tattoo client. i've dome 3 tats (whew! that's a lot :-) before her but those 3 people are close friends and i'm happy to say they are still my friends.



i practiced twice on pigskin as i've shown here in my blog. i did good on practice but i know it's still different in actual tattooing and i had doubts when i was about to start doing her tatttoo. the main thing i was concerned about was the scary fact that once i pricked her skin, there's no turning back. i cannot erase it or undo just like in photoshop. second thing was that i had to make my lines straight just like in practice. third thing i was thinking about was the pain that i'm going to inflict on her.

i had to erase all the fears in my mind and get the job done. nancy plew from cruz creations tattoo helped me do the set up but she cannot help me do the actual tat. i had to do it myself. it took about an hour for the set-up because nancy had to guide me step by step because i wanted to learn how to set it up the faster way. some guy in the next booth heard nancy explaining things to me and my wife overheard his reaction... he said wide eyed, is this guy going to tattoo somebody?





all my fears vanished when i finished the outlines. the fear on the guy in the next booth vanished too. i did good on the outlines and i knew coloring was easier. it took us 6 hours to finish the whole tattoo and i was really exhausted and hungry by the time we finished. i know tracie must be tired and hungry too. another lesson learned was that never tattoo on an empty stomach.





tracie just emailed me the picture of the tat after it's healed. it looked great but i missed to black out an accent on one alibata character but this can be fixed easily. tracie's husband will be my next client.

thank you ariel cruz for letting me use your shop. thanks billy truong, kenya and of cource nancy plew and ariel for having the patience to teach me about this artform.

Old Pictures from Quezon

here are some old pictures i've taken about 20 years ago. the locations are unisan (where i grew up) and lucban quezon.


an old house in unisan quezon


palengke in unisan


san isidro in lucban quezon


chicharones display in lucban


girl from unisan quezon


lucban


boats from unisan

Berkeley Bus

I saw this bus parked in a road some time ago in berkeley. it reminded me of my artworks.

Pig Skin Tattoo

i have my first ever tattoo client and i'm nervous so i had to practice on pig skin before i do the actual tat.

the first time i held the tattoo gun, i was confused because of the weight and the machine vibrates. it's a lot different from holding a brush or a pencil.

i was happy i did the practice because i learned a lot. i learned a bit on how to tune my machine and about applying colors. i also discovered that i improved my technique. i'm getting used to the vibration and the weight of the tattoo gun. i did good on the lines on the pig skin but i know it's still different when i'm actually tattooing.

i felt good after the pig skin tat because i think i'm ready to tattoo on humans. here are pictures of the pig skin tat.






i noticed a lot of you are checking this out so here's the link to the final tattoo... Tracie

Street Art Exhibit

there's going to be another art murmur coming plus the art walk in SF. i'm thinking of displaying some pieces on the streets of SF and oakland.

my fears:
1.) somebody might get offended and kill me.
2.) if somebody tries to hurt me, i don't know how to defend myself.
3.) the pulis might arrest me.
4.) i'm old and i might not be able to handle the cold weather.
5.) i will smoke a lot.

so will i let my fears get a hold of me or should i just do it? my instinct says i should just do it.

it's a kind of protest against those galleries who require artists to cut their ears. here are some pieces i'd like to show...


'Tiger Ipis' 2006 Mixed media on 3 pieces of cartons.


'White Dick, Brown Chick' 2006 Acrylic on carton


'Hangal' 2007 Acrylic on back of poster board

'MURPHY' in Datebook

hello guys,

remember the guy i was talking to you about at the oakland art murmur? he's the artist who cannot get his artworks in galleries because he does it in cartons.

i was surprised and got excited when i saw his artwork in the cover of datebook. i rushed and read the article but i didn't see his name anywhere. i recognized his art immediately because i also took photos and published it on this blog.

http://melveracruz.blogspot.com/2007/05/traidor-at-art-murmur.html





i think it's unfair that they didn't mention his name but i guess they could not find him at the scene because when i took pictures of his work, i couldn't find him either. good thing he gave his card to me. that's why i knew his name was murphy.

i also told him if we could show outside the galleries together sometime. i forgot his answer but i'll call him again.

Recent Drawings

i've been doing some comissioned drawings lately. i have a lot of styles in drawing. i don't believe in focusing in only one direction. most people tell me to just focus in one style but i find that boring. if they ask me why i have too many styles. i just tell them because i can.

i really enjoy drawing and these artworks are like my exercise. here they are...

TRAIDOR! At the art murmur

I was at the art murmur in oakland last night. I have been hearing about this buzz recently and I’m glad to be part of it. Our show traidor is hanging at esteban sabar gallery. I also heard a lot of negative things about this gallery. This gallery they say is too commercial and hangs ‘inferior’ artworks. I walked around art murmur and found out that much of the art hanging at the galleries are pretty much the same so I don’t understand why somebody would degrade esteban sabar.

What I noticed is that a lot of the people who look at the art seem to really ‘dig’ the artworks. I have been an artist for almost forty years but I still cannot understand most of the paintings. If somebody would write heavy stuff about a door I saw leading to a bathroom in one of the galleries, that door could be a masterpice.





I have done my pieces on cardboard boxes mainly because I could not afford a canvas and it really worked for me because I am a third world artist. Those rugged boxes have the appearance of inferiority. I don’t delve too much on drawing anymore. I have proven to myself that I can draw so I turn to subject matter. For me, I can use low quality materials as long as I get my message across. Those expensive art materials conspire with ‘art’ and I don’t have to follow it.

I think the advantage of being a third world artist is that we have an overflowing sense of reality. I can see a lot of pretensions. I’m not saying this is bad. I’m just curious why I didn’t see any artwork that represent oakland. There are drive-by shootings nearby and here we are looking at art that we don’t understand.

I heard people who represent art murmur mostly came from san francisco. Most of them are artists who got evicted from sf because of gentrification and now they are gentrifying oakland because of art. Art is elitist so it attracts people who have the luxury of having time for art. I know as a third world person that most poor people don’t have the luxury of having art in their lives because their priority is to have food on their tables.





One nice thing happened to me last night though. No I didn’t sell a painting. One guy came up to me and blessed me and my paintings because they were done in cardboard boxes. He’s doing the same and his artworks cannot get in galleries because they’re done on cardboards so he spread his artworks outside the gallery. He said esteban sabar must be a cool gallery for accepting my paintings. But it’s not just the cardboards. There’s a lot more to it.

Lian ladia curated our show. Traidor! Also features works by england hidalgo, marcius noceda and carlo ricafort. it will run up to the end of this month so check it out if you have the ‘time’ :-)