Going Without Exhibition Notes

I wrote the exhibition notes below for my good friends Kelly and Marlon Palaganas' 2nd two-man show called "Going Without" at Xavier University in CDO City last year. Kelly and Marlon are two of the coolest parents and married couple I know.

I had two versions of the exhibition notes, which I based on Kelly's concept of using the Morse code. I'm posting here both versions--the first one, the full text in English and the other one, the text with some words randomly selected and turned to Morse code. I strung the randomly selected or "found" words together into a "found poem".

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Full text:

GOING WITHOUT
Exhibition Notes

In the Palaganas home, one takes each moment to discover. Walk through the small unkempt garden and find birds-of-paradise or bougainvilleas for picking. In the living room, look at the children's drawings and scribbles on paper posted on the walls or piled on the table. Toys and books on the shelves. Framed artworks hung on walls or stacked in corners around the house. Artists' brushes in cups, a press on a table in the garage. Go without anything. Come around with a keener eye for the ordinary. Pick up things, however small—a bird-of-paradise, some bougainvilleas, blades of grass, a child's scribbles on paper, candy wrappers, old carbon paper. Lay them before you and see.

What is there to see? In their second two-man show together, Marlon Palaganas and Kelly Ramos-Palaganas show you what they have seen in the ordinary—opportunities to communicate not only art, but a life together around and outside of art.

With each other or on their own, Marlon found objects and Kelly picked flowers and leaves from various plants about the house. In between or during times of taking care of the kids, the house chores and jobs, they worked their way through mind and matter. Marlon made collages of found objects and Kelly painted with plant stains.

For both of them, eschewing store-bought paints and the use of brushes to whip paintings on canvas is a conscious effort at exploring other media and artistic consciousness. Kelly's choice of medium confines as well as liberates her. New to exploring plant stains for painting, she finds it filled with potential. She also finds it an interesting medium to grow abstractions. On the other hand, Marlon's choice of using only found objects in composing his collages is an exercise in moderation. Little maneuvering is required, which to him preserves “the personal side of artmaking”.

With crammed lives, Marlon and Kelly go without in art to go and grow within.

Angely Chi


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Some parts in Morse:

GOING WITHOUT
Exhibition Notes


In the Palaganas home, one takes each moment to discover. Walk through the small ..- -. -.- . -- .--. - garden and find birds-of-paradise or bougainvilleas for picking. In the living room, look at the children's drawings and … -.-. .-. .. -... -... .-.. . ... on paper posted on the walls or piled on the table. Toys and books on the shelves. Framed artworks hung on walls or … - .- -.-. -.- . -.. in corners around the house. Artists' brushes in cups, a press on a table in the garage. Go without anything. Come .- .-. --- ..- -. -.. with a keener eye for the ordinary. Pick up things, however small—a bird-of-paradise, some bougainvilleas, blades of grass, a child's scribbles on paper, candy wrappers, old carbon paper. Lay them before you .- -. -.. see.

What is there to see? In their second two-man show - --- –. . - …. . .-. , Marlon Palaganas and Kelly Ramos-Palaganas show you what they have seen in the ordinary—opportunities to communicate not only art, but a life together around and --- ..- - … .. -.. . of art.

With each other or on their own, Marlon found objects and Kelly picked flowers and leaves from various plants about - …. . …. --- ..- … . In between or during - .. -- . … of taking care of the kids, the house chores and jobs, they worked their way through -- .. -. -.. and matter. Marlon made collages of found objects and Kelly painted with plant stains.

For both of them, eschewing store-bought paints and the use of brushes to .-- …. .. .--. paintings on canvas is a conscious effort at exploring other media and artistic consciousness. Kelly's choice of medium confines as well as liberates her. New to exploring plant … - .- .. -. ... for painting, she finds it filled with potential. She also finds it an interesting medium to grow abstractions. On the other hand, Marlon's choice of using only found objects in composing his collages is an exercise in moderation. Little maneuvering is required, which to him preserves “the personal side of artmaking”.

With crammed lives, Marlon and Kelly go without in art to go .- -. -.. –. .-. --- .-- within.

.- -. --. . .-.. -.-- -.-. …. ..


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The found poem:

(the words in bold strung together makes a found poem :)

GOING WITHOUT
a found poem

unkempt
scribbles
stacked
around
and
together
outside
the house
times
mind
whip
stains
and grow

Angely Chi

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Samples of Kelly and Marlon's works from the exhibit:

Code A(dot-dash),11x15inches,Natural dye from flowers and leaves,2010
Kelly Ramos-Palaganas

Ode to Kaaro(14x18½inches),Found paper scraps,2010
Marlon Palaganas


To see more images of their works featured in the exhibit, click here

Hello again

It's been a long time since I've cranked this blog. Last entry: February 26, 2009! What happened? Well, many things enough to tear me away from blogging. A major culprit is Facebook. I'm hanging out there more because most of the world is there. Here, I would just be talking to myself. In Facebook, everybody's updated with everyone in a split second. When I'd like to share information here, I'd be sure for it to gather cobwebs and dust.

But I'm reconsidering the possibilities of this blog. For two months since my last trip to Dumaguete to see and help out in Amihan's exhibit, I've been contemplating of making a blog about arts and culture in the regions. Since I've been traveling so much now and interacting mostly with artists, why don't I write about it? Amihan's husband, Bendix Fernandez has undertaken art writing himself. He started writing press releases for the Jumalons, Amihan's family of artists. Now he is writing articles about artists and exhibits in the Visayas particularly those in Dumaguete and Bacolod.

My friend Kelly aka Artnanay has been nudging me towards the direction of art writing. Kelly is among the few art writers in Mindanao and she is eager to have new recruits to the noble cause of art writing for the regions. She created a Yahoo group for art writers which she invited me in. I haven't been actively participating in it but I think now I will be getting more involved with it. She also showed me her readings from an art criticism workshop she attended last year. I photocopied those pages which I found were must-reads. I'm going to share them as soon as I've freed some time to transcribe passages.

In a few minutes now, I'll be off to Gensan to conduct a survey on its independent local music scene for Muzika del Sur Music Awards 2010 and meet with visual artists for a Mindanao artists directory project. I'll be blogging again on these two when I get to Gensan in around 3 hours.

'Til then!