My art collection #1

The very first artwork I acquired was back on 2012, a watercolor painting by Valerie Chua. I love all her works but I knew this was the one I really wanted to own. It's simple and not so feminine. If you want to know the inspiration behind it - it's actually a girl Marimo ball. :)

Two years later. I went to Art in the Park 2014 last March and got these three. Not surprisingly all three are from Vinyl on Vinyl gallery. I'm slowly learning the type of paintings that really draws me in.
 
The photo from the top is a commissioned art "American Gothic" by Mayi. I had been admiring her works on instagram for quite a while and one day finally decided to message her. I'm glad she also does oil paintings. I saved up for 2 months! It was not expensive really ... well it was by my *salary* standards *lol* but it was all worth it!

Bottom on the right is a mixed media art by Jukus Sepada. Bottom on the left is an art by Jett Ilagan. I really should have bought both works by Jett ( T-T)~ but I had a budget. :/

And here is a recent piece I acquired. It's a mother and child ink art by Jose Alberto Reyes.

Escolta saturday market

I found out about this monthly art fair held in Escolta around the end of last year. I thought it was interesting to do it in a such a historical place. It is a bit out of the way and scary to go to alone but if you're alert it's a nice area to take a stroll and buy cheap stuff (Near Binondo & Quiapo). Well after so many months of putting it off I finally decided to attend one although my work schedule does not permit me to have a life during the weekends. *lol* Lately though I've been forcing myself to go to these art fairs with minimal sleep. So far I'm able to survive a full shift with coffee and more coffee. haha

Typical me I got lost on my way there. I'm directionally challenged haha ( ^^)v but if you keep a light heart then even stuff like this can be fun.

The fair caters to artists, crafters, book, and antique sellers. I was more excited about the artists really. I started acquiring art recently and the latest is this mother and child ink art by Jose Alberto Reyes. I'm still contemplating if I should have it framed.

If you also want to discover up-and-coming artists, there's another Escolta Saturday market on July 19, 2014. See you there! :)

Herb and Dorothy Vogel

I first heard about them through a video shared by Mansy. They own over 4000 artworks all from a librarian and postman salary (well technically it's just from Herb's salary, they used Dorothy's for living expenses).

There are 2 movies made about them.The first one, as told by the couple, friends, family and the artists they bought from, narrates how they got the artworks. It's a nice story about passion and living your life the way you like it and not following certain rules. They could have bought a larger apartment, traveled the world or became insanely rich but they didn't. They chose to buy and admire art. They didn't sell any of the art they acquired even when the artists made a big name for themselves. Instead they donated all their artworks to the national gallery as well as 50 pieces for every state in the US. Inspiring the creation of the second movie which I have yet to watch.





They taught me that anything is possible if you really love what you're doing. So now I'm slowly collecting artwork as well. So far I have 6 original artworks from local artists. Some have been quite expensive but some are very affordable. I'm planning to create an art fund so it doesn't burn through my savings (it is starting to lol) it can get addictive especially when you really like the work. I bought this one work from an artist and it is by far the most expensive piece of my collection, if I'm going to base it on the other works I acquired it is waaaaay too expensive but its the kind of work that will bring me sleepless nights if I don't take it so yeah I bought it. Now I have 2 months worth of debt to my savings >.< .

Eiga Sai 2014

Another year gone and it's time for Eiga Sai. I just went to my first screening last Friday. A lot has changed. It used to be just us geeks-the japanoholics-now I see normal people (lol so we're not normal?!). Anyway it was fun to watch movies alone again. It's just you and the movie in front of you. Ahhh but seriously I am going to pick where I sit carefully next time. I suffered through 2 hours of BO. (Ewww mura lang po ang deodorant!)

And so here are the movies I'm planning to see this year:

Tamako in Moratorium reflects what happens after college graduation. As Tamako figures things out slowly -passing four seasons and with no real goals ahead- the movie also shows her relationship with her father and with various characters in the neighborhood. I love the idleness of the scenes. Typical of what I love about Japanese movies.

Schedule: July 08 - 7:30pm / July 12 - 1:30pm // TRAILER

The Kirishima Thing is a typical high school drama. Their world is shaken by the sudden absence of Kirishima - the popular high school volleyball player. I haven't seen it yet but I just know this is going to be a tearjerker. Japanese high school films are typically full of angst.

Schedule: July 06 - 1:30 pm / July 11 - 4:30pm // TRAILER

Momoiro sora o (About the pink sky) tells the story of Izumi who finds a wallet filled with cash. Realizing it belongs to the son of a corrupt politician she decides to make "better use" of it by lending it to a struggling business man. She decides to return the rest of the money though and the owner quickly finds out about the missing money.

What I'm most excited about is that it was shot in black and white.

Schedule: July 08 - 4:30pm // TRAILER

A Story of Yonosuke - well the title says it all. It tells how Yonosuke affected people who knew him. A very short description, I guess saying more will tell the whole story. So let's just watch the movie! :)

Schedule: July 06 - 7:30pm / July 09 - 7:30 // TRAILER

 The rest of the movies and schedules can be downloaded here.