I have always wanted to visit art museums in different places. This was my latest museum visit, which was last March 7, 2015 at Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo. This museum is likely to be full of contemporary art works by lots of artist within a subdivision at Antipolo in a 1.3 hectare land area. I’ve always like appreciating art since I was a kid but I don’t want doing one such as painting, coloring and more; because I feel so dirty whenever I do one. But as I grow older I realized that art is never dirty, it’s all about creativity. “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see” – (Edgar Degas) 

Karnabal by Salingpusa (Acrylic on canvas) 144 x 480 in. 1992

The painting behind me was made by 16 artists of the group Salingpusa in 1992. It is one of the seminal works of contemporary Filipino art. The theme of a carnival with its freakshows and games was utilized in this work as a visual device to register the artists’ dissatisfaction with the divisive socio-political realities that deflated the euphoria following the end of the Marcos regime by a popular uprising. The composition is divided into different cubicles the same way the post-Marcos Philippines was carved up by different powers, each with its own rules and domain.

U-Turn by Antonio Leano (Oil on board) 183 x 183 cm. 1987

The painting on the right side of the picture is re-telling, so to speak of the horrors described by Juan Luna’s Spoliarium (1896), set in the tone and setting of a modern street. This artwork portrays the defeat of the spirit, of humanity, at the hands of the heartless mechanization of the modern world.