Where Rizal makes peace with photobomber

MANILA, Philippines – Well, here’s another place you can go to for alternative entertainment — where pianos grow wings and spikes and if you’re lucky enough you may even see an angel like what happened to this writer. Or view Jose Rizal making peace with his photobomber.

Spending the recent Jose Rizal Day judging the Jose Rizal as a National Symbol in the Age of Globalization art student portraiture competition held at the Blueroom Artgallery, I had a close encounter with all of the above.

It’s such a lovely place where vodka, whisky, beer and other brews flow, the company giving the high vibes even if you only gulp water from a bottle.

Technological University of the Philippines (TUP) faculty member Raffy Ignacio put up Blueroom in 2004 to give his young students a venue where they can display their works without prejudice on qualifications. Only talent counts most there. Two years after, a national broadsheet cited it as a best alternative art space.

A funny thing about the art exhibition hall is that its walls are painted white. So why was it named “Blueroom?”

“Because I like the free form of the blues and jazz of the ‘50s and whatever new development attached to it, or to its ever-evolving form,” revealed Ignacio. “The Blueroom is therefore like the blues and jazz in the sense that it can be a place where the arts could take place in a new setting — whether in music or in visual arts.”

Ignacio and lawyer friend Jose Gerardo “Boyet” Medina organized an art student contest, with the latter as sponsor.

The Blueroom is actually more than a gallery. It is also a bar-cum-trading area for Ignacio’s vintage album business. Thus, aside from the ongoing exhibit, the small gallery displays his one-of-a-kind stereo system in functional wood sculptures best described as “organic punk” style.

A wood crate full of vintage albums is also for sale. A bigger collection of vinyls is available for viewing and listening at the second floor. Audio Philippines, a group of audio wares and ideas enthusiasts, meet up at Blueroom.

The outdoor sitting area is covered with a tent embellished with a cloud of wood planks protecting the two pianos dressed up in Ignacio’s organic punk style. Open pianos, singer Arthur Manuntag can be crooning a ballad at any given night.

One of the sculptures is named Wild Piano, a tribute to the late Bobby Enriquez, raved by Ignacio as “the best jazz pianist ever produced on earth, and he is a Filipino.”

“During his lifetime,” Ignacio recounted, “Enriquez put the Filipinos in the world map of music, getting the same accolades given to such luminaries as Dizzie Gillespie, Count Basie, and others.” Yet, there is no tribute honoring Enriquez given by any group or individual Filipino except, for sure, Ignacio’s piano sculpture.

With the support of the Knights of Rizal of which Medina is a member, the competition-exhibit served as an alternative celebration besides the wreath-laying ceremony at the National Hero’s monument at the Rizal Park.

The entries were judged by Egay Fernandez and Mark Andy Garcia, both 13 artists- awardees of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, this writer, Ignacio and Medina.

Proclaimed first prize winner was Si Rizal at ang Pambansang Photobomber, oil by Mark Jerome Martinez. The graytone work shows Rizal taking a selfie with an iPhone 6 while his wrinkled hand flashes the peace sign as the halted construction of Torre de Manila multi-storey looms in the background. Si Pepe at ang Bayan, acrylic by Zorrick Enriquez, was second prize; and Walang Bahid Nguni’t Nagmamarka, oil by Brendon Enclona, placed third.

Blueroom Artgallery is located at 1354 Lacuna cor. Aguinaldo Sts. Bangkal, Makati City.