2012 was jam-packed for visual artist Don Salubayba in matters of traveling and collaboration. He looks back at the intent of doing more project-oriented work and how that year allowed him to encounter more opportunities to play with his practice and present his work beyond the shores of the Philippines. A chat with him identifies how such opportunities such as artist-residencies overseas and collaborating with other artists in the international level make the necessity to be open and the dynamic of creativity more poignant.
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David Medalla takes time to answer questions in between his travels to Cumbria (where he did a homage to Kurt Schwitters), his home in Bracknell, and a future trip to New York.
Gary-Ross Pastrana narrates a facet of his experience in Bangkok University Gallery through a residency program from November 2010 to January 2011 under the curatorial direction of Ark Fongsmut. He likewise discusses the integration of being situated in a ‘new’ place into his work and the progression of which his works take shape in every residency.
Maria Cruz has been living and working in Australia, Manila and Berlin. She discusses her navigation among these places and highlights their artistic climate in terms of education, production and the community's involvement. The painterly practice that informs even her video and installative works is likewise addressed in this correspondence. Through the other questions, Maria expresses a kinship between artists with whom she shares a mutual respect to.
To add to his trove of laurels, Rodel Tapaya won the Signature Art Prize last year. In a condensed version of series of correspondences, he discloses to Jun Cristobal what the award means to him and how it is like to settle into an occupation as a painter.
Clarissa Chikiamco challenges Tatong Recheta Torres' "shift" from painting and extricates the seemingly complex system of the software interface in which Tatong has currently chosen to superimpose his practice in. We find out that there is no discrepancy among Tatong's movement between media, and that the 3D environment of Second Life is a dream landscape for an artist who always explores formal limitation and disciplines.
Aside from being the Mecca of Printmaking, Paris enthralled Ambie Abaño completely from May - August 2011. She shares the process she undertook preparing for the AFM-PARP grant proposal, the residency programme of Cité Internationale des Arts, the sights and people that captivated her and how she continues to bring the collaborative practice of printmaking wherever she goes.
