Re-post from Kilometere Zero.
Themes: Art, History, Sunset-watching
Sites: Ayala Museum, GSIS Museum, Metropolitan Museum, and Mall of Asia
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October 14, 2006 – my friend and I went for an art tour which took about a month to plan. This idea was borne out of a discussion about the Spoliarium, then Amorsolo and an argument on who is cultured and who isn’t. Both of us, it turned out, wanted to do a museum tour – with one knowing where to go, and the other is clueless (that’s Glenn for you).
The initial plan was Spoliarium – National Museum, The Parisian Life and Amorsolo Collection at the GSIS Museum and the Hidalgos at the Metropolitan Museum, and then sunset photo ops at the Manila Bay. Milenyo came and went, and I called up the National Museum and the GSIS Museum to inquire about the schedule. Apparently, the storm hasn’t left – the Spoliarium is not available for viewing and The Parisian Life is in Spain, and is due back 2 weeks later.
The plan changed to Ayala Museum – Makati, Metropolitan Museum and Mall of Asia (to my utter dismay).
Early part of the day
Ayala Museum was fantastic. Apart from the beautiful building and courteous staff, the collections are amazing. We started out on the floor which had the paintings and life-story of Fernando Zobel de Ayala, in tandem with Jaime Zobel de Ayala’s photography. I loved Jaime’s play of light and shadows with his photos of sand, and his digital images. Fernando – the man, on the other hand, amazed me. His paintings had a creative and free-spirited feel to them, yet the texture and style seemed old – as his generation. His letters were lovely, to say the least; I stood there reading all of them wishing he were my grandfather so he could have written me such wonderful letters and wish me a lot of sun without the heat. I wondered if there are still men as brilliant as him, and yet as humble and as open.
The museum has a great collection (though few) of Amorsolos and Lunas, with both of their styles obvious even to an untrained eye (or maybe because I like them so much that their paintings looked familiar immediately). A couple of paintings though didn’t look familiar, and it surprised us when we found out they were Amorsolo’s. (Aside: look out for Amorsolo’s girl with flowers, and notice the kind of flowers she’s holding and at what period it was made).
There were also some beautiful lithographs of Old Manila and old Filipino lifestyle on the next floor from a German geographer and a French artist, if I remember right. There are also religious art and relics – a beautiful (though a tad scary) mix of Filipino artistry and faith.
After lunch
Next stop was Metropolitan Museum, but thanks to Glenn’s penchant for taking wrong turns, we ended up driving towards GSIS museum (which I said we should see since its on the way) – a moment of spontaneity I declared, which he denies.
The GSIS museum is a treasure trove – a small collection of National Artists’ paintings from HR Ocampo, Ang Kiukok and de la Joya, as well as Fernando Amorsolo (my favourite is Babae sa Batis). It also houses works of new artists and students, some of which were really impressive (these have got to be seen by more students, too!). The Parisian Life copy is a definite copy and not worth raving about.
Metropolitan Museum’s upper gallery was sadly empty – though Hidalgo’s paintings of the virgins, and the boat with Death (Im really sorry I forgot the titles!!!), were majestically there. As we stood there and fell in awe of the strong images, two students walked by, looked at them and left. I was in the brink of calling them back and explaining how significant those paintings were, while my friend wanted to tell them off (or was that me?).
The gold and the pottery were all intact, complemented by the exhibit of religious art in the lower floor. What was amazing though despite the gallery being empty was that, the other side housed incredible works from Chinese modern artists: digital images of China, of Judgment Day in Cyberspace (I hope I got that right), videos of clay images, and a huge collage of dinosaurs depicting an end (or that’s how I saw it).
On the other side, a room was boxed up and filled with cut-up foam where, if you wear plastic bags for shoes, you could go in, “swim” and have a heyday at the foampool. COOL, I swear. It beat the life out of me, too, craving for water and rest after running from one end to the other. It seemed at some point, like a physical depiction of Judgment Day in Cyberspace, with images of What Dreams May Come popping into my imagination.
And for the closing
Afterwards, we went to Mall of Asia, where at the back, you could watch the sunset from the baywalk-type area. To my surprise, people were milling around and despite the rock concert for that night, I was convinced that most of them came to watch the sunset and the fireworks later. Bring back the sunset-watching culture in Manila! As much as I didn’t like going there (see my old blog), it was actually a good place to view the Manila Bay sunset. Despite the clouds, too, the transition of the sky’s colors was amazing.
We were joined by several freshman high school students from Lagro High School and we spent the time sharing stories of how their day went – that they went on a field trip and saw the Philippine eagle and tarsier, their tour guide wasn’t around to watch them, that they wondered what was so spectacular about Manila Bay and how dirty it was…
Going on big-sister mode, I shared with them stories about the tarsiers in Bohol, about the Philippine Eagle in Davao, about other beautiful Philippine spots, about how dirty Manila Bay was and why we should try to save what is left of it, about Corregidor, about which side was Cavite and which direction was Bataan, and other stories. I also ended up giving them the RockEd web address, and insisted that Glenn take their group picture with the sunset – and send them their copies soon enough. The girl I was supposed to send to wrote down her address: HV dela Costa Street. Happily, we – Ateneans as we were – told her who HV dela Costa was. Her face was a mixture of curiosity and satisfaction. Actually, all their faces looked inspired. It was one of the most rewarding and refreshing experiences ever. Glenn also went around and took photos of people enjoying the sunset, with a bunch of rockers posing with it (photo links below).
We ended the day with dinner at Pupung’s (as I insisted that I will only have dinner in Mall of Asia at a restaurant that I couldn’t find in my immediate vicinity in QC and in Makati). Haha, Pupung’s! How Pinoy can you get?
In retrospect
It was an amazing day, and I hope friends could pick up a thing or two here. It doesn’t hurt to try this kind of trip, and it doesn’t hurt to know that some people are actually interested to have them, too. Another thought is to push for Mall of Asia to start cleaning up that area (over the rocks at the bay). Since it’s their turf anyway, reclaimed land and all, there is no excuse for them to look over the fence and ignore the dirt. It is part of their social responsibility, just as everyone else looking at the sunset should tell other people to stop littering.
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Click here for Glen’s blog if interested to see the trip from a guy’s POV. Right here are the photos – my shots and his combined, primarily because for some photos we couldn’t figure out who took which (but the crafty photo of the lovers’ backs is mine!!). See this for the Manila Bay sky transition.
