We now return to our regularly scheduled program.
Hey, it’s been awhile but anyway, I just wanted to plug this new project of mine: an online zine called New In Manila
It’s basically a zine where I try to cover various scenes of the Manila design and art scene. You can check out some of the features we have right now like Manila Design Week and the Versus 2 Exhibit which was held in Alliance Francaise De Manille.
CLICK THE IMAGE!
One of the best bands to come out in the local scene, Updharmadown. They have developed a unique sound which I would say is distinctively Updharmadown. I thought the first album, Fragmented, was one of the best I’ve heard in a while. I’ve only heard bits of their 2nd album, Bipolar but from what I’ve heard so far, it seems like another topper.
Shepard Fairey has been under the spotlight for the past year or so. Initially with his work on the Obama HOPE poster and how the image became the unofficial campaign image for Obama, which appealed particularly to the younger and more internet-savvy demographic. And lately, for the “fair use and appropriation issue” where the Associated Press threatened to sue Fairey, who used a photograph that an AP photographer took and turned it into the Obama HOPE image.
Shepard Fairey first came to fame through his early Andre Giant Has A Posse/Obey Giant campaign where he also appropriated an image of wrestler Andre the giant into posters and stickers, which later on evolved into the Obey logo. He also branched out to doing t-shirt and apparel through his brand, OBEY. He is also involved in graphic design & illustration as well as developing marketing campaigns.
You can read more about the issues in the following links below:
AP alleges copyright infringement of Obama image
You can hear his side of the story from this interview with NPR here.
Well, that would be the day. I actually don’t know much about all the financial terms save for what I’ve read, heard and seen on TV. And this is my disclaimer that everything I will write, wrote or writing is simply based on my uninformed opinion.
So, the past 1 month or so, we’ve all heard about the great financial crash. Lehman going bankrupt, AIG almost succumbing to it as well if not for the timely save by the US government and yet we see AIG executives blowing money on retreats and massages, how swell. Even locally, we have seen a couple of big giants affected. Ayala Corp. apparently has lost quite a sum on the financial markets, all stocks are down as such in all other internatonal markets. Even 2007 1st time billionaire Andrew Tan of Megaworld fame, fell down the ranks of billionaire and joined the multi-million ranks once again. People are scared and panicky, understandably so, because it’s about money. You know how it is, Man and his relationship with money. It goes a long, long way.
Well, relationships aside. The reason why I’m ‘blogging’ about this is because how I think it can affect the local economy. For the past few years or decade, the Philippines has slowly becoming synonymous for outsourcing. Ah yes, the great outsourcing race, where every bank or big western company has been forwarding all the calls to their service hotline into other countries that have the ’skill’ to speak like an American or British, really depends on where you are calling from. Aside from outsourcing, some of the more major industries we have that are very dependent on the international market (read: US of A), is export. More specifically, the export of two things, electronics and manpower. Though not really consider a commodity, overseas foreign workers send a lot of money home and really helps in boosting the economy as the money they send is used to spend and spending means more money going around, which I heard is generally a good thing. The export of electronics is another big market, 60% of total exports big. This includes electronics used in hospital, cars, radio, computers and among other things, while the next biggest is garments which has been experiencing quite a downturn for the past few years due to the emergence of cheaper manufacturing options in China & Vietnam.
So now that we got that intro out of the way, what’s next? Well simply put, when banks start going bankrupt and their stocks go crashing, there’s gonna be some belt tightening involved. Of course I think the 1st batch of people they would cut or retrench would be the executives. Things that they can do without and in the current business focus on service, the outsourcing scene in call centers and BPOs would probably one of the last groups to experience any major cuts in jobs. Again, it’s still gonna happen, I’ve already heard of some multi-national banks retrenching a certain percentage of their staff. Same thing for all those people who went to Singapore or Hong Kong to work in these big financial firms, some of them are gonna get cut. And once they do, that cuts into the remittances which in turn affects the local economy. It’s the same principle for people in other industries working overseas. The nurses, maids, engineers, doctors.. when people start cutting down their costs, the 1st thing off that list are luxury items, and personal nurses and maids are considered luxury in foreign soil.
Now the export of electronics is very connected to the root of all evil, money! You know we love it, money! Recently there has been news about GM and Chrysler talking about a merger, car sales have been dropping for quite some time now with the big gas hike a few months back and now this financial crash going on. Lots of job cuts that happened and by the end of 2008, GM will cut even more jobs, like 5,000. So more unemployed folks, less spending on consumer electronics, less car buying. Which means less demands from factories locally and we all know what happens if supply is > than demand. Basically less spending will decrease the need to manufacture some of the things such as microchips, ABS brakes or power supply adapters, and it will definitely affect the local electronic manufacturers and it’s workers. Garments is on the same boat. Not only is it a declining export commodity, clothes are also one of the things removed from the list of ‘what do I really need’ and ‘what are the things I can afford to buy’.
I admit I’m worried, I run an integrated marketing firm. Advertising costs are the first things that get cut out from annual budgets. And considering we are only about to enter into our 3rd month of operations, it’s going to be a tough ride and we’re going to have to grind it out. I just hope that our flexibility will allow us to move through the upcoming tough times ahead and I feel that if we can survive this, we can come out bigger and stronger.
On business related things, I think I’ve mentioned it before, I’m still quite interested in opening up my own gallery space/bar/event space and I’m considering in going to Singapore to open one. I think the market there is more ready, it’s art scene is growing and vibrant and it has lots of international exposure. Rent will probably kill me, though I hope with the financial crisis going on maybe i can get a better value. Spending might be down so that might kill me, but I don’t really need it to make a lot of money at the start. I just want something that people can come down, listen to some music or see some art. I gotta find some investors in this but I think it’s definitely worth doing. I hope there’s news to share about this once 2009 kicks in.
Finally! I have gotten hold of the Kaws One book. Originally published on September 2001 by Little More in Japan, the book contains artwork by Kaws that he did for his show at the Parco Gallery in Tokyo from March to April 2001. Among the notable work he did for the show were his take on The Simpsons aptly named Kimpsons, some of his early work on the ads posted in OOH (out-of-home advertisements) ad spaces such as bus stops as well as his prominent “collaboration” with Kate Moss.
The San Diego Comic-Con is one of my dream events to attend! A 4-day event where all comics, toys, movie, anime and other related genre geeks and nerds converge to basically “geek out”. From selling and buying memorabilia and books to meeting creators, and for companies to launch their products to it’s hardcore fans.
Ever since the comic book movie genre and anime boomed in America, there have been more and more people who are attending this event. In fact, there were so many people the past 2 years that many people have complained about the overcrowding and this year is the first time that they did not do any on-site ticket selling. And guess what? The pre-selling tickets that was done online sold out fast!
I think I want to attend this before I reach the age of 30, I am thinking of going maybe next year or the year after next the latest. I really have to work hard and try to save up as much as I can. I was also planning some backpacking trips around the Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia area as well as a trip up to Tibet, I guess one of those I have to scrap for the meantime. Let’s go SDCC!
I’ve always been a big Kaws fan, although I couldn’t afford the vinyl toys he makes with Medicom, I recently had a chance to purchase a book he released in a small show he did in Japan a few years back.
Here is his latest work, inspired by Pipo, the mascot of the Japanese police. Spot the difference.
The Original
The Kaws Version
A thought came to mind while I was at the office earlier. Why am I so insistent in trying to become an active part of the art, design and music culture?
I’m not really sure what to say, but this idea came to me while thinking about it. I think partly it’s because it allows me to make my mark in this world. In today’s current age where products and ideas are pushed by multinationals, being involved in culture is one of the things that I feel is something that’s achievable by an ordinary citizen like me. It’s one of the things that you can still try to grasp and feel with your own hands, not just something mass produced by or built up by factory or marketing machines just to sell. Something like a song, when written honestly can feel like the artist or the band is sharing part of their soul or their personality to the listen. It feels genuine.
But these days, even that isn’t safe from the prying hands of the big players. It’s funny though, because even before some of these subcultures have already crossed bounderies to mainstream markets. However I feel that these days, what’s happening is that companies are integrating into the culture and making it seem that they are supporting it’s ideals and history. But the truth is they are bastardizing it and making it fit into their mold, while still selling it to people who don’t know better. And as you see more and more people are getting into these cultures or subcultures under the assumption that it is real, when in reality this just the same machine under a different guise.
I hope I made sense. Think about it.
In the name of continuous learning, I spent the past few nights watching some classic films in the graffiti, hip-hop and b-boy scene. I started with Wild Style, then with Beat Street and finally Style Wars. Funny thing is that most of these films were released in between ‘82 to ‘84, I reckon the period looks like one of the key periods that catapulted the culture to the level it is currently. It is also the last few years of subway “bombing” as New York adopted more stricter security measures and harsher penalties to violators which lead to many graffiti artists hanging up their cans and pens.
Personally I feel that this change helped open up people to the artists themselves as they started to focus their work towards art galleries and shows, although some bombers might contest that the trains was the best medium for their work, I think art shows is something that was bound to happen when you start generating interest like they did in the 80’s. While some might coin this as selling out, I simply think that it is evolution, albeit somewhat forced. It’s funny how fast graffiti moved from being just vandalism and now it is considered to be part of modern and pop art. Artists like Keith Haring, Futura, Jean-Michel Basquiat, once the vandals of society and now their paintings probably cost more than the salary of the Mayor of New York.
It’s great to see how the vibe of New York at the time was, it was like in the infancy stages and now it’s fully grown. While I never really knew how it felt back then, watching these films at least gives me a glimpse of the culture’s past.
For me, the really interesting insight I got was how influential the 80’s were to the current generation. I can only wonder if our current generation can leave as great an impact as the past has done to us.
