CHASING ALONE: A TWO-MAN EXHIBIT

by Jov Ortua Almero & Corin B. Arenas

In life, as in art, duality is always an inherent truth. This bipolarity of the human condition is one quintessential aspect of being and living: love and indifference, compassion and intolerance, hope and cynicism. But amidst these opposing natures, between noise and silence, chaos and order, consciousness and apathy, one can always find, conjure, or even invent a state of solitude, no matter how fleeting, and at times no matter how precarious.

Chasing Alone-- a two-man visual exhibit by Oliver Abe Ramos and Roman James Soleño attempts to capture solitary yearning in a fast-paced society where interference perpetually defocuses our perceptions. The title is a dichotomy in itself. Chasing Alone can be understood as “seeking solitude” and/or a “solitary quest." Sadness, alienation, wistfulness, overt and subtle serenity, is the unifying affective theme apparent in their compositions. Sadness in dreaming. Alienation in wakefulness. And the beguiling facets of serenity.

Chasing Alone as Choice

Oliver Abe Ramos has a degree in Advertising and majored in Fine Arts. From a man’s perspective that has been endowed with enduring kin, his “Aloneness” is anchored on his preference to isolate his subjects from his own realities. Detachment from his subjects is a prerequisite to his creative process. When the human person is isolated, his senses are less clouded and sensibilities are not constrained. Hence, it allows consummation of experiences that eventually transcend into art defamiliarized.

Using red infused with dark hues, he depicts life in a dreamlike consciousness. His subjects possess enlivened qualities but with inert presence. The artist’s awareness of space is ubiquitous in his craft. Subjects blending seamlessly with space, he further magnifies somber moods and a forlorn atmosphere.


Chasing Alone as Struggle

Roman James Soleño started dabbling with the visual arts at an early age. Eventually, he broadened his creative vision and has arrived at a conceptual framework in approaching his medium.

At seventeen, with the offset of post-adolescent angst and idealistic responsiveness, his “Aloneness” is grounded on purposeful struggle. The motivation behind his art is to arouse a somehow radical reaction against the perceived realities he criticizes, or at least relate with his views. From abstractions like existence to illusions, and concretes like media to society, he struggles to communicate his insight of legitimacy that is oftentimes shunned.

With four paintings and one installation that tackles death, dreams/nightmares, abandonment, desolation, and disillusionment, he utilizes spatters and drips of vivid colors as a mode of deconstructing his vision of physical and spiritual destruction.


Aloneness

It’s hard to seek solitude, and it’s equally difficult when one ventures into a solitary quest.

However, in the awareness of our human need for solitude, we eventually find some form of tranquility and liberation from the inadequacies of the world outside. This is where our imagination and dreams are unbound, and through this visual display, it challenges us to reassess our versions of reality in relation to the ethereal aspects of the human condition.

“Chasing Alone” launched last August 6, 2011 and will run until September 6, 2011 at Sigwada Gallery located in 1921 Oroquieta St., Sta Cruz, Manila. For inquiries, you may contact Ms. Cecile O. Pagaduan at 0917-8075659, 743-5873, or email cil_pagaduan@yahoo.com.

Fairness

The only unbearable thing is that nothing is unbearable.
-- Arthur Rimbaud


Total Eclipse (1995)
directed by Agnieszka Holland
based on Christopher Hampton's 1967 play

--


Eternity

It has been found again.
What? Eternity.
It is the sea fled away
With the sun.

Sentinel soul,
Let us whisper the confession
Of the night full of nothingness
And the day on fire.

From human approval,
From common urges
You must free yourself,
And fly off as you may.

For from you alone,
Satiny embers,
Duty breathes
Without anyone saying: at last.

There's no hope,
No enlightenment.
In the quest for knowledge,
Only torture is certain.

It has been found again.
What? Eternity.
It is the sea fled away
With the sun.

May 1872
--Arthur Rimbaud


Tranlsated by Baudelaire Jones and Oliver Bernard

In Semaphores

When the lights are cutting out
And I come down in your room
Our daily compromise, it is written
In your signed armistice

For lovers in a rush, for lovers always
For lovers in a rush, keeping promises
For lovers in a rush, for lovers always.

An Open Letter to A

Dear Sir A,

I do not know where to begin or exactly how to say these things to you after the catastrophe which is my midterm exam. I’m thinking of whether I should even communicate anything humanly. However, I figured all I have to do is just write everything down. It’s like what David Wagoner said, “Only begin, and the rest will follow”.

When you stepped in class this morning and asked us what had happened, I knew you were trying your best to be optimistic, to help uplift our spirits. When you said you were very disappointed, that’s when a part of me shuddered. You were even uttering words like “where did I go wrong?” Many students in class got a low mark, but I knew I had failed the moment I finished taking the exam. You gave my paper, I saw my score. I felt like vomiting and fainting, but all I could do was sit there and listen to you as you gave kind words of encouragement.

Maybe I lacked focus? There is simply no excuse. Results show that my efforts were simply not enough. I am not proud of delivering such menial exam grade. I am embarrassed of the fact that although I studied, this is the only result I can muster. I didn’t just let you down; it’s dire enough that I let myself down. I wish I had done so much more. This isn’t easy to let go unlike old high school tests which I didn’t even try to pass in my rebellious youth. It made me question my abilities, my intellect. Am I even cut out to be in this program?

It occurred to me that this failure brings forth a relevant learning experience, one that I’ve constantly avoided all these years. This is the very thing I’m afraid of and it kept me from doing what I’m most passionate about.

Before being admitted in the MA program, I decided to forego unnecessary commitments to pursue writing. After 3 years of working, I’ve come to terms with the truth that I must exhaust every means possible in order to actualize this calling. Now that I’ve encountered this obstacle, though it frustrated me, it made me realize that I have a lot to be thankful for. It’s just part of my pursuit for Telos, it must be earned. I am merely being refined. Upon realizing that, I was able to let go of my fears. By it, I believe I am also able to change my destiny because now I can confront this head on without hesitation.

I remember the first question in the exam. It asked us about the sublime—I wasn’t able to answer that correctly. I only remembered the answer minutes after passing my paper. The sublime has the power to unite contradictions. On the other hand, I was able to answer the question about Arete: that the human person must possess philosophical virtue and moral or practical wisdom to attain goodness. I believe these teachings are now permanently etched in the core of my being. I aim to tread the Golden Mean, to be the sublime that unites all contradictions, and propagate goodness. One day, I hope to embody all these when I become a teacher, as well as a worthy writer.

I write this not in defense of my mediocre grade or to convince you to give me a higher mark. It has nothing to do with that at all. If anything, I want to be graded fairly. I only wish to receive a grade which I deserve.

Consider this a letter from a student to her teacher, assuring him that he did not fall short. You are one of the most remarkable and dedicated instructors I have ever come across in my life. I say this not to flatter you, but to let you know that I have realized and learned so much from your class (and we’re just half-way through the semester). You get through your students, sir. None of us emerge from CL 121 with the same pair of eyes. We see things as they are, more clearly now.

Hindi po kayo nagkulang.



Respectfully yours,

Corin

Howl to get there?

Howl (2010)
directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness...
--Allen Ginsberg


I knew I should have made time to watch this a while back, but I think the timing is just splendid. Thank you, Allen Ginsberg for giving me the drive to move forward. Thank you James Franco for giving life to Allen.

I'm moving. Just moving.

The door of City Lights Bookstore
San Francisco, California

This is the publisher of one of the most celebrated poems in the 20th century, Howl. One day I'll be back in Frisco to read some of my poems at City Lights on open mic. Now, that's a plan.

Words

There is a proper time and place for things,
Mother always says. Once, she scolded me.
I had been caught using bad words, words
I heard my older brother speak, our neighbor

Yell, and my playmates giggle to. Silence, to her,
Meant submission. She had turned to face
Me, looked into my clear wide eyes and fixed
Her sharp stern stare which cut my throat

Flawlessly, like a thousand knives. It wasn’t long
Before I’d taste my own salty tears and choke
Mutely. All that trouble because I misused my
Words. I wondered, what did I say? I must have

Been too young to comprehend. I did not
Know what they meant. And so, I learned
To temper my tongue. Hold back
If I feel I must. This is what is expected

Of you. Inevitably, growing older each year,
I kept hearing the same ghastly words. People
Misuse words daily. All their pointless chatter,
Those cheeky rumor mongerers, whispering

Back-stabbers, loud and obnoxious mockers, them
Simple liars. Now tell me, you know more than you
Should. I’m sure you’ve been one of them at some given
Time and place— whether you meant to hurt another

Or admit to tactlessness, doesn’t matter. Discovering
The true weight of words is by no means easy, know
Their meaning, and understand. It is another thing
To believe. One cannot undo what has been said.

It Ain't Me, Babe