The Artists and Their Artworks at the BONIFEST 2019 Art Exhibit
The Artists and Their Artworks at the BONIFEST 2019 Art Exhibit
Nov. 17, 2019, Members’ Lounge, Toronto City Hall
(Photos: MC Ramos and Y. Cabana)
Eric Tigley
Ms-represented, Acrylic and spraypaint on wood 18″x24″
Ms-informed, Acrylic on wood 18″ x 24″
Ms-nomer, Acrylic and spraypaint on wood 18″ x 24″
Millionaire, Genius, Inventor, Eric B. Tigley is none of these things. Eric is a humble story maker from Jane and Finch who likes doodling on walls and eating hamburgers. As an artist, he has been able to work on campaigns for KFC and the NBA, had featured shows at the University of Toronto, and has been profiled on ABS/CBN. When Eric is not creating new art pieces, he is an elementary school teacher and a published artist/writer. His book, HOY! A PHILIPPINE ISLANDS ACTIVITY BOOK explores the history and culture of the Philippine Islands, and has allowed Eric to share his work though out Canada and United States. Eric B. Tigley draws his inspiration from the sights and sounds of Toronto, especially the diversity of students he has worked with through out the years.To find out more about Eric and his escapades, follow him at erctigz on instagram or visit erictigley.com.
Ed Muyot
Political Illustrations, Pen and ink on white board 24″x24″
The art works are a collection of editorial cartoons composed by Ed Muyot during his stint as an editorial cartoonist of a Filipino community paper in Toronto at a time when the Marcos regime was in power in the Philippines. Far from the clutches of the dictatorship’s bloody suppression of democratic rights, the cartoon served as another platform to inform the expatriate Filipino community and the broader Canadian public for awareness of the current issues of that dark period of Philippine history. The artist was a former Marcos’ political prisoner and signed his works by a “nom de plume” to spare his relatives from state retribution in the Philippines.
Celia Correa
Anyare, keri pa Pinas?, Acrylic on canvas 18″x22″
Celia B. Correa, Filipina-Canadian artist, retired, a Nagkakaisang Artista-Arkitekto member while at the University of the Philippines at Los Banos, works are portraits of Filipina immigrants and Maria Makiling the guardian of Mt. Makiling in Los Banos, Philippines.
Joe Rivera
Balangiga 1901, Oil on canvas 30″x36″
Sparrow Unit, Oil on panel 24″x30″
Warrior Dance, Oil on canvas 18″x24″
Not your ordinary artist, Joe Rivera started painting late in life. After retiring from law practice, Joe turned to blog-writing and writing commentaries on social and political issues about his adopted city of Toronto and his native land, the Philippines. He also took lessons in drawing and painting without an inkling it would become his new calling after retirement. Joe started painting on large canvases and exhibited his works wherever he found a welcoming place to hang them. Subject matter is of utmost importance to Joe: the more serious and relevant to the community and society at large, the more he is attracted to interpret them on canvas, mostly in social-realist form.
Socky Pitargue
Nahidlaw (Longing), Acrylic on canvas 24”x30”
Ang Napapanahong Pagbabalik ng Usang Superhero, Acrylic on canvas 24”x24”
Madonna and the Disappeared Child, Acrylic on canvas pad mounted on masonite board 12”x16”
Hanggang Dito Na Lamang Ba At Maraming Salamuch?, Framed digital print, 11″x17″
Socky Pitargue is an immigrant from the Philippines who came to Toronto in 2011. She was formerly a writer and creative director in a multinational advertising agency, and had successfully built her own shop in Manila. She first picked up the brush in 2015 and in Fall 2019, sold out her first solo show. Her art explores colonial and diasporic themes – often with playfulness and whimsy – taken from her Filipinx point of view.
Katrina Canedo
Lucid Formations, Acrylic on canvas 18″x24″
Katrina Canedo is a Filipino-Canadian artist and live painter currently based in Toronto. Her works often utilize vibrant and colourful palettes to capture stories from a contemporary lens. She hopes to inspire and encourage others to also share their own colourful stories. Since graduating from the Independent Illustration program at Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology in 2015, she has went on to exhibit in multiple galleries across Toronto, including Only One Gallery and Northern Contemporary Gallery. She’s also collaborated with multiples organizations for the City of Toronto (such as The PATCH Project, The STEPS Initiative, and StreetARToronto) and worked on projects with Warner Music, New Balance, NYX Cosmetics, and Reebok. Katrina’s art has also landed her in the world of speed painting. Some of her most notable performances include: live painting for iHeart Radio’s Newstalk 1010 with Mike Towhey, sketching portraits for NYX Makeup Content Lab, live painting at the Art Gallery of Ontario as well as winning multiple Art Battles since 2016.
Maripi Leynes
Still At It, Acrylic 30″ x 30″
Maripi Leynes was trained as a journalist and had a career in the civil service that encompassed writing and managing publications and special projects, media relations. She did well in arts in grade school, sketched figures a lot, then made clothes for paper dolls and dreamed of being a fashion designer when she grew up. These days she still draws figures with a difference – her drawings now tell stories or have messages.
Szara Joy Salise
Isulong mo, bagong tipo, Textile installation, 29.5″x20″
Szara is a Filipina currently residing in Canada. She is a self-taught crafter, focusing on repurposing fabric materials and, mostly, a pen and ink creator. She takes a lot of inspiration from everyday scenes in the Philippines. Most of these scenes comes from the growing movement for genuine democracy and freedom in the Philippines in the city and in the country side. You can follow her works in progress on instagram @sz_guhit.
Francesca “Ching” Esguerra
Lumad Grandmother and Girl, Pencil & Crayon 12″x18″
Andres Bonifacio, Glass Etching 11″x8.5″
Francesca is a Toronto-based aspiring visual artist who has been active in the Filipino community – particularly in youth organizing – since she came to Canada in 1994. She was a founding member of Migrante Youth in Toronto and was also a member of Anakbayan. Her artwork reflects aspects of her own life and her pride in the history and revolutionary culture of the Filipino people. Francesca suffered and survived a massive stroke in 2006 which affected her communication skills, including drawing. Yet she remains motivated and determined to rise above this challenge and hone her artistic skills once again.
Francesca (right), with parents Rick and RJ Esguerra (Photo: R. Sevilla)
Ricky Castelvi, Congen Orontes Castro,
Michelle Ramos and Oliver
Michelle Chermaine Ramos
No Time for Mourning – The Birth of La Generala, Acrylic on canvas 24″x 30″
While most depictions of Gabriela Silang depict her in battle or on horseback as she is remembered as a warrior, she was first and foremost a woman who had to carry the burdens of living in that place and time. This piece rewinds to the catalyst that pushed her over the edge which was the murder of her husband Diego Silang. Violence and personal trauma changes people and I wanted to reflect on her moment of quiet contemplation in the depths of her grief and caged rage as her shadow self rises to give birth to La Generala.
Michelle Chermaine Ramos is a multi-disciplinary artist in various art forms including visual arts, multimedia, jewelry design & creative writing. As a self taught artist, she became a published cartoonist at the age of 11 and continued to draw comic strips for local magazines for the next 3 years. After trying realism she discovered there was nothing more rewarding than taking on the challenge of painting realistic portraits and symbolic illustrations.
Ysh Cabana
More than making a mess, 11″ x 14″ spray paint on cardboard cut-out
Activists have been under fire for using graffiti as a tool to convey the message in public space. Stencil is one of the many ways of using spray-paint so effective as graffiti that it entered the zeitgeist of mainstream culture. Paying homage to Milton Glaser’s I NY, Ysh created a stencil to popularize Andres Bonifacio in I AB as an easily reproducible media in ways more than making a mess. Ysh Cabana is an artist, writer and educator. As a PATCH artist, he was commissioned to produce artwork for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/ParaPan Am Peoples’ Cauldron. The creative process of which included brainstorming sessions with over 300 community members to reflect their diversity.
By Kalayaan Garcia
Kalayaan Garcia
Bicutan Political Detention Centre, 1983 (chalk pastel on paper)
A six-year old artist’s perspective of Bicutan Detention Centre. (The structure was built during martial law in the Philippines as a showcase to bolster the dictatorship’s claim that political detainees were housed in dormitory-like settings. Most detainees were moved there only after weeks of interrogation and torture in other detention centres. -Ed.)
Kalayaan started painting and exhibiting works since she was a child in Manila and Toronto. She started formal art lessons at age four (Children’s Museum & Library Inc.) and continued through high school (Cardinal Carter School for the Arts) and college (Ontario College of Art and Design). As a young adult, she went on to have her solo exhibitions — a 20-year retrospective of her works depicting various styles, ranging from social realism to surrealism– first in Manhattan (Philippine Consulate General, New York, 2001) then in Quezon City (as International Guest Artist by the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, 2002). Kalayaan now teaches art in private schools in the Greater Toronto Area. She is also a social artworking instructor in entertainment, charitable fundraisers, institutional, corporate, government and non-government settings.
By Julia Urban
(Photo: Ysh Cabana)
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