ARTELERIA Manila

BASTARDS in NYC

BASTARDS OF MISREPRESENTATION: NY EDITION
a multi-venue exhibition on view October 27, 2012 through January 6, 2013

Curated by renowned artist Manuel Ocampo
Featuring 20 Manila artists representing the cutting edge of contemporary art from the Philippines

ARTISTS:
Poklong Anading, Yason Banal, Bea Camacho, Valeria Cavestany, Lena Cobangbang, Maria Cruz, Gaston Damag, Dex Fernandez, Arvin Flores, Dina Gadia, David Griggs,  Robert Langenegger, Romeo Lee, Pow Martinez, Jayson Oliveria, Carlo Ricafort, Timo Roter,  Gerry Tan, MM Yu, Maria Jeona Zoleta

TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. is pleased to present Bastards of Misrepresentation: NY Edition,  presented as a multi-venue exhibition headquartered at TOPAZ ARTS with participating organizations Queens Museum of Art, Tyler Rollins Fine Art, Crossing Art Gallery, and the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, taking place October 27, 2012 to December 30, 2012 with special events and artist talks scheduled throughout the duration.

Bastards of Misrepresentation is about the cultural scene happening in the Philippines yet is not a definitive show about Philippine art. The show is not without irony aptly titled “Bastards of Misrepresentation” as the Philippines is a country with a hybrid culture; embodying the complexity of its heritage and colonial history while its political identity reflects the pervasive “misrepresentation” of its people. Moreover, the show deals with issues about aesthetic autonomy, social critique and the philosophical politics of expression, variant material economies and the alternate conditions of authenticity, and information distribution through shared affinities.

Astutely named “Bastards of Misrepresentation” the artist collective headed by Manuel Ocampo has been shown in Berlin and Hamburg in Germany, and in Bangkok, Thailand. For the first time this survey show of Philippine contemporary art as broad as Bastards of Misrepresentation will make its debut in the United States in New York City, presented by TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. Simulating the experience of the sprawling Manila arts scene, the show is dispersed throughout NYC from alternative arts spaces in Queens such as Topaz Arts and Crossing Art Gallery to cultural institutions Queens Museum of Art, New York University Asian/Pacific/American Institute and Tyler Rollins Fine Art in the Chelsea art district.

This exhibition will provide important opportunities for the artists involved by illustrating the diversity of practices currently being explored by the Filipino avant-garde. The exhibition will highlight the significant contribution this group of artists is currently making to the history of art in the Philippines, while embracing a new era of outward looking ambitious artists working to put Filipino creative communities on the world stage.

The artists included in “Bastards of Misrepresentation” represent the cutting edge of Filipino art in the last five years. Many of the artists have won prestigious awards such as the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Artist Awards and the Ateneo Art Awards and nominees. Many are establishing reputations abroad in Europe and Australia, while others are highly visible as peeserformers in the underground art and music scene in the country. Three of the artists from Manila — Yason Banal, Lena Cobangbang and Maria Jeona Zoleta — will be in New York City to participate as Artists-in-Residence at TOPAZ ARTS with funding provided, in part, by the Asian Cultural Council Starr Foundation Visual Arts Fellowship.