Kanto – God Antifornicator

The Venus Transit at Kanto, June 6.

May 31, 2012 God Antifornicator

THE VENUS TRANSIT
Marius Black First Solo Show at Kanto Artist Run Space
June 6- 16, 2012

Reception will be on June 6, 6pm.
Kanto Artist Run Space, 7274 The Collective, Malugay St,
Makati City.

The passage of Venus in front of the sun is among the rarest of astronomical events, rarer even than the return of Halley’s Comet every 76 years. Only six transits of Venus are known to have been observed by humans before: in 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, and 1882 and, most recently, in 2004.

Explorations were set out for further observation whenever this rare alignment occurs ensuing the progress of explorations in the 19th century and these explorations gave birth to other explorations. The transits of Venus have further helped us have a better grasp to determine the size of our solar system. The planet Venus is rich in archetypal symbolism. It is often known as the Morning Star, the Bringer of Light. It is related to love, human unity, beauty, and oneness.

The planets are once again aligning on June 5-6th 2012; this will be the last Venus transit we humans will observe in our lifetime. With that rare of an astronomical event, Marius Black offers his first solo show to the transit of Venus.

Marius Black is a cum laude graduate of UST major in painting. His early works were of skinned human figures telling stories of constant pain and suffering in life and in love. These figures were only seen on a dead black background as if the skinless figures were kept in a dungeon highlighting only the bright red meat and muscle.

His transition of painting concepts and styles ranged from horses deconstructed to fictional characters from games and TV co-existing with the female figure in sexual fantasy positions or constrictions.

Continue reading “The Venus Transit at Kanto, June 6.” →

Ang spoken word gig na walang title: Poetry and coffee on Saturday at The Collective.

April 23, 2012 God Antifornicator

The last time I joined a poetry reading was one year ago, give or take a few days. It was fun, but it doesn’t happen often even though poetry readings, in theory, are easy to organize. Get a group of friends, look for a suitable place, and agree on a date where you could meet.

So I figured, hey why not organize one?

So for this Saturday, I’ve invited some friends (and they could also invite their friends) over at Kanto in The Collective for an afternoon poetry reading/spoken word gig. Which does not have a title, because it’s often difficult for me to come up with catchy titles. Not that we really needed one.

But we sort of need a theme. So I asked friends to read poems (or personal essays) about sex. Sex as an act. Sex as a function. Sex as power. Sex as violence. Lusty. Romantic. Casual. Humorous. Serious. Tragic. There are so many ways sex could be interpreted.

So if you’re not doing anything this Saturday afternoon (April 28th), feel free to join us in Kanto at The Collective. We’ll be there at 4pm. If you want to read in front of everyone, that’s cool. If you want to just hang out and listen, that’s cool too. We could have coffee or beer and maybe some afternoon snacks. Kanto will also provide amplifiers, if you’d like to play music.

TwoPoints.net will show us how to make a book in 5 days without using your computer.

April 12, 2012 God Antifornicator

Philip Paraaan of Kanto told me of the One Weekend Book series: a workshop on how to create a book in five days without using computers.

OWB was started by TwoPoints.net and they will be holding their next workshop at The Collective from April 19 to 21. Instead of the usual five-day workshop, they will be condensing it to three days.

The workshop is for free and has 20 slots available. Philip told me that participants are asked to commit to the entire three-day workshop.

I really really want to participate in this workshop. Except that until now, I don’t know what my book will be about. I only have a few more days to think about it.

Notes from a really long weekend: Saturday at The Collective Art Fair.

March 2, 2012 God Antifornicator

It was a Friday night when we screened at Cinema is Incomplete, not Saturday.

I could now remove setting up a booth in a fair from my bucket list.

There was a slight mix-up when we signed up for tables at The Collective Art Fair: I told Philip Paraan of Kanto I will be reserving table booths for Sine Bahaghari, 2 tarot readers and for my friend Mich, whom Philip also knew. Philip was able to do that but thought I will be relaying the news to Mich, while I thought Philip will be contacting Mich himself. Of course, with both of us busy with a million things leading to the fair, neither of us were able to tell Mich that she will have a table at the fair. And that’s how Sine Bahaghari ended up with two tables.

So sorry, Mich.

I don’t know how it happened that we were not able to sell any Sine Bahaghari merchandise, though. I guess the fact that none of the Sine Bahaghari organizers had any real experience running a business has something to do with it.

Early in the morning, I also realized I will not be able to do any tarot readings for anyone so I left the tarot reading booth to my friends so I could only focus on my other booth and the film screenings. I ended up forgetting lunch, losing my temper, hardly paying any attention to an even more tired Bern, and heading straight home as soon as we’ve settled all the dues for the booths and tables.

It was a crazy, tiring day; and that is coming from someone who has had his share of crazy, tiring days.

But yes, The Collective Art Fair was fun, too, the way fairs are always fun. I finally got to meet in person a long-time online friend (hello, Gabs). I got to hear Gerry’s royal penis joke. The most fun I had was when I introduced Sigrid Bernardo to my boyfriend, Bern, and my ex-boyfriend, Carlo, with the three of them facing each other.

“Ay!” Sigrid exclaimed and mentioned it was one of those awkward “it’s complicated” moments. Except that, as far as complicated moments for me go, it wasn’t that much, yet. I was really enjoying myself at that point.

It would have been more fun though if I had money to actually buy something, but that should be something I ought to remember for next time.

Sine Bahaghari at Cinema is Incomplete and Kanto. Tarot Monkey at The Collective Art Fair. The Forsaken House at UP.

February 23, 2012 God Antifornicator

I was telling Philip Paraan of Kanto earlier this afternoon that the next time we mount an LGBT film screening for Sine Bahaghari, it won’t be on February. There are too many things going on for the National Arts Month and mounting a film festival bars one from attending other art-related events around the metropolis.

From tonight until Sunday, I don’t expect I will be getting enough sleep.

Tomorrow evening, Sine Bahaghari will screen two love stories at Cinema is Incomplete: the romantic comedy “Lovebirds” and the gorgeous-looking drama “Muli”.

In “Lovebirds”, a young man introduces his Spanish chatmate to his conservative mother; said chatmate turned out to be another young man, to the mom’s disbelief. “Muli” is the story of the affair of a lawyer and an activist innkeeper in Baguio, spanning several years. The two films offer two facets of gay relationships and it would be interesting to see contrasts between the two films.

On Saturday, Sine Bahaghari will also participate in the first The Collective Art Fair. Several artists and entrepreneurs will gather at The Collective for a day filled with art, music, books, clothes, movies, and food.

At Kanto, Sine Bahaghari will be screening two short films by Sigrid Bernardo: “Little”, an internationally-acclaimed film which was only shown once in the Philippines, and “Babae”, a favorite among LGBT film screenings. They will be followed by the noir-ish “Señorita” by Vincent Sandoval.

For the fair, Sine Bahaghari will be selling the soundtrack of “Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa”, DVDs of “Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe” signed by Irma Adlawan, and Sine Bahaghari shirts and bags. The fair will also have tarot readers available, courtesy of the Tarot Monkey, SP Lovecraft Productions, and Yam Lacaba.

Speaking of Irma Adlawan, by Sunday morning, the boyfriend and I will be watching her perform in The Forsaken House from Dulaang UP. We were supposed to watch the afternoon staging instead of morning so we could have some rest after the art fair, but Ms Irma will not be playing during the afternoon. Why should one miss catching Irma Adlawan on stage if one has the chance to do so? You just don’t.