On becoming a blue-chip artist
PORTABLE MAGIC
‘Book Haul’ by Cecil Robin Singalaoa, watercolor on cotton rag paper, 2020, 4×6 inches
They exist on the margins of the publishing industry, but nonetheless they offer a much-needed, distinct voice in a sometimes increasingly homogeneous situation.
I’m speaking of the independents, such dynamos like Gantala Press, San Anselmo Publications, Balangay Productions, Librong LIRA, Good Intentions Publishing, Avenida Publishing, even Buensalido Public Relations Agency and so on. Then there are the brave and hardy souls who self-publish their books. They’re indies, too. Now come Grana Books.
Cover of Lyra Garcellano’s book
I recently bought visual artist Lyra Garcellano’s Elsewhere: Writings on Art (launched Oct. 9, 2024, at Parola, University of the Philippines Fine Arts Gallery on E. Jacinto Street, Diliman campus, Quezon City). Published by the Cavite-based Grana Books, Elsewhere compiles the author’s essays and Miki Blue cartoons with their sardonic humor.
Traffic, the publication of which Lyra Garcellano is co-founder
Coming from a family of writers (the poet Edel, journalist-essayist Rosario or “Chato,” and freelance writer-teacher Liana Rhissa), Lyra has had experience in publishing independently as a co-founder of the zine Traffic. Now comes her first book comprised of what foreword writer, the art critic Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez, calls “often ever so morose musings” concerning the art world and beyond, even life.
Like the late Edel in his prose and poetry, Lyra dares to speak uncomfortable truths about the system of art patronage and the cooptation of the artist. In the essay An Ecology of Weight, she writes based on some scribbled notes and doodles that she encountered. Below she is quoted at some length to give a flavor of her prose and to show the courage of her convictions.
“Even if I barely recognize some of the proposals (but my handwriting and doodles, yes), there is one I remember and am particularly tickled by: The Talipapa Market Association…
“Curate a show that will feature the kind of artworks sponsored by corporate institutions associated with established contests, like Metrobank, Shell, PLDT, etc.
“Given assumptions such as the impossibility of cultivating a career without the benefit of patrons, and the existence of an aesthetic canon that is determined by specific power of interests, this proposed show seeks to investigate the sources of art patronage while exploring the aesthetic canon that each institution imposes.
“After scrutinizing the extent of power (or control) that a sponsorship entails in art production, a ‘new’ organization (or a different origin of influence) is the logical conclusion. Such an organization is envisioned to possess the same degree of authority that established institutions wield. It will initiate an exhibition project and carry out its own standards for value-making.
“What is distinctly different about this alternative organizing is this: It is entirely beyond association with art production. For instance, the Talipapa Market Association. A talipapa (or market) is a literal space with improvised stall in which vendors sell raw food, such as fish, meat, and vegetables…
“What kind of an art scene will the Talipapa Market Association steer the status quo into?
“How will this unexplored group of tastemakers be any different?
“(Or will its own brand of aesthetics only reinforce or mimic the canon embraced by the usual institutions?…”
It’s a quandary even writers and journalists face, Lyra dear. Should one live with everyday compromises? Should one not stain one’s integrity by staying as far away from powerful people and institutions as possible, even shaking one’s fist occasionally at them in the spirit of being renegades or outsiders? Or, to be extreme about it, should one head for the hills, create in relative isolation, unblemished by dealmaking, away from the art market?
The cerebral writer, whom I’ve known as Liana’s kid sister and Chato’s baby, shows a maturity, partnered with generous dose of cynicism, that views the art fair as “a part of the artworld circus where we see a compendium of re-processed themes in a range of styles and constructions. The recycling is observable not only among the art objects but even among the artworld players.”
Elsewhere truly shows that trodding on the art path, doing art, is not easy. How come I suddenly hear Streisand singing Sondheim’s ditty Putting It Together with the refrain line “Art isn’t easy”?
But Lyra can laugh at herself as seen in her cartoons that poke fun even at buffets served at exhibit opening receptions in galleries, a sense of humor that this old aunt hopes will be sustained in subsequent books.
For a copy of the book, email granabooks@gmail.com. Grana books can be found in Facebook and Instagram.
