In February, M.O.B. went on a week-long whirlwinder to Manila for the first-ever Manila Biennale. Open City 2018 was held in and around the walled city of Intramuros, in an amazing mix of exhibitions, performances, lectures, presentations and market events. Manananggoogle was invited to return to its ancestral haunts as part of the Biennale’s performance program, curated by our old comrade Carlos Celdran. (The brilliant Ringo Bunoan curated the visual arts components). Congrats to everyone on Team Manila Biennale, from organizers to volunteers, for a great first run!

It was a week of utter mayhem, stress and delight: it was an utter blast. I’d do it all again at the drop of a hat. Here, a few out-takes from our Biennale adventures and performances.

Manananggoogle C Suite

MOB + MNL

Night 1- Carlos Celdran, touring us through the Biennale art installations

Rehearsing with our amazing young volunteers (most of whose parents work in Intramuros)

Manananggoogle, Teatrillo, Intramuros

Manananggoogle, Teatrillo, Intramuros

Manananggoogle, Teatrillo, Intramuros

Manananggoogle, Teatrillo, Intramuros (with Ray Rana, Leo Guinid, Mikee Sibayan, Marie Fabella, Jose Mari Carpena)

post-show with young volunteers, Intramuros

post-show casual moment, Intramuros

Reannimal and Woff, Baluarte de San Diego, Intramuros

JoTa and Khan performing at Artist Ball, Intramuros

Longtime MOB BFF Denis Lagdameo and his sculpture, Artist Ball, Intramuros

MOB with Denis, San Diego Gardens, Intramuros

MOB with JoTa, San Diego Gardens, Intramuros

Carlos performing with band, Transitio, Intramuros

Manananggooglers in a tunnel, Intramuros

It’s a good thing this blog came with a caveat regarding its occasional-to-sporadic nature, but I’d say I’ve been pushing the boundaries of this into something more like non-existence. Back now with a few updates from the past six months.

While fall and winter 2017 were easy-going for the most part, spring 2018 was largely a blur. Key components of this were an extra-heavy teaching load (beginning with pre- and post- spring course intensives bookending a crushing 4-course spring load), new M.O.B projects in Manila and Hong Kong, intensified duties during a highly stressful period at the arts org I’m on the board of, planning and coordinating a major half-day symposium in Berkeley, and flying to Southern California to give a couple of lectures. Oh, and planning and co-hosting my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary celebration in late June. Plus some protests here and there. I’ll piece out some of these events in separate posts, but all this to say it’s been a doozy.

This pattern is nothing new, and I’ve certainly written about it before: I regularly go through insane flurries of work where anything nonessential falls to the wayside, followed by long periods of inertia where I’m on the wayside myself. One might acknowledge these slow stretches as necessary recuperation and regeneration, but sometimes… they’re really just straight-up inefficiency and sloth. I accept some of this, while still trying to con myself into imagining and creating without an agenda, too. Returning to keeping my art journals is usually a good way to do this.

In any case, I am now one week into what I hope to be an extended period of reflection and anticipation; updated news and more to follow.

Saturday, December 16
1 pm – 5 pm
Here, in SF (look for black door on right)
RSVP here.
(If you can’t make it but you know you want something,
contact me to arrange a different day/time for pickup.)

Swing by, say hi, have drinks and snacks! Pick up prints or books from the wofflehouse store sans shipping fees and paw through various bits of offline this and that, from small works on paper to non-editioned test prints. Work out some cash or multiple-works deals with me, too! And, if you’re really lucky, I’ll wear my absolutely terrible holiday sweater covered in oil and car company logos.

Thrilled to finally be able to announce that I was awarded a 2017 Painters and Sculptors Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation! I received the good news some weeks ago, but was sworn to secrecy until today’s official press release.

I am insanely grateful to the Foundation for this honor: while I’m somewhat known in the Bay Area, I’ve rarely received national recognition for my work, so this is something special for me. And I have many kind words I wish I could bestow on whoever nominated me or juried this, but it’s a 100% anonymous process (even my application was anonymized), so I have no idea who my guardian angels are.

Like any good San Franciscan, I turned to local institution Mitchell’s Ice Cream (no relation, no foundation) to celebrate yesterday. Their slogan is “Award Winning Ice Cream,” so it stood to reason that I should indulge there.

Cheers!

Death is always next door, but lately it’s felt like the neighbors are coming over too often. Still, better to be hospitable than hostile: trying hard to stay friendly (if not too chummy) with those on the other side of the veil.

The night that John passed (I found out the next morning), I was at SomArts Cultural Center, installing some prints in the Ramp Gallery for their annual Day of the Dead exhibition curated by Rio and Rene Yañez. John’s death knocked me for a loop, so I didn’t have the bandwidth to post about this other project for a while.

It’s Día De Los Muertos today, so now’s as good a time as any to share these.
Ebony/Violets. For Ms McKinney and Mr Rogers Nelson.

Remembrance and Resistance: Día De Los Muertos Exhibition
Oct 6 – Nov 9, 2017
Somarts Cultural Center