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While Typhoon Basyang’s winds were building up along Roxas Boulevard last night, we were at the Metropolitan Museum for This French is Pinoy!, an exhibit of French expat Henri Eteve’s works while here in the Philippines (organized by Alliance Francaise with Avellana Art Gallery).
Henri has been staying in the Philippines for the past 45 years, and except for the vestiges of a slight Gallic accent, he has definitely gone native. Some of his favorite pastimes include trawling Quiapo and other parts of downtown Manila for bizarre odds and ends (buffalo horns, anting-anting); and the occasional antique book written about the Philippines by another European. He loves to talk about other famous expats who have settled anonymously in our humble country, like Charles Lindbergh and Bobby Fischer.
Henri’s curious, observant, but not-to0-serious attitude in life translates into upbeat, colorful works with organic forms that have an ebullient, almost happy feel to them. (Here’s designer Jojie Lloren surveying them.)
I’m embarrassed to admit that I haven’t been to Metropolitan Museum in a while. Last I went there was during Marlene Aguilar’s book launch, but all that is another story. So I wandered around the galleries upstairs, and there was this exhibit of contemporary Japanese photographers (“Out of the Ordinary/Extraordinary” sponsored by the Japan Foundation), which shows how Japan’s young photogs see their country in this generation. I was not disappointed. The works were amazing like these prints by Takano Ryudai of half-bodies—the subjects are so androgynous you cannot tell if they are male or female.
I got home in time before Basyang hit. When the weather’s better, I want to go out and see more exhibits and shows, and I think you should, too. “This French is Pinoy!”runs until July 31, while “Out of the Ordinary/Extraordinary” runs until September 30.
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