REA LYNN DE GUZMAN

("Pina Ooze," 2016, acrylic and image transfer on panel, 5x7)

I acquired Rea de Guzman's "Pina Ooze" from a fundraiser for the worthy Filipino American Artist Directory. It arrived and looks so much better in person (ignore the ratty dog towel against which I photographed it please; but ratty dog towels are relevant for "living with" art). Do click on the image to see more of its resplendence!

I believe this piece is actually an artist's study for her "Filipinana (After Filipinana)" series. You can see more about the 2014-2015 series HERE, but here's an Artist's Statement about it:

A predominant symbol in this series of work is the pineapple. Originally, Spain introduced the pineapple to the Philippines (from South America). The Philippines is currently the world’s largest pineapple producer. A distinct feature of the pineapple is piña fiber, which can be extracted from leaves and woven with organza to make clothing. Historically, piña fiber became an ingredient, along with organza and muslin, in traditional women’s outfits known colloquially as “Maria Clara” (a metonym referring to a mestiza literary figure from Jose Rizal's Noli me Tangere, first published in 1887). The “Maria Clara” became tied to Philippine ideals of beauty and female social roles, underscoring a great irony: the native notion of beauty took on the dictated perspective of the colonizer and became recognized by clothing made from a foreign fruit. This trend continues today as popular Philippine ideas regarding beauty center on imported products, media perpetuation of westernized images, and the championing of myriad skin-whitening/bleaching products.

 (Postcard for "Filipiniana (After Filipiniana)" series

[N.B. I don't know how to type the tilde over first "n"...]

ARCHIE RAND

I met Archie Rand through the poet John Yau. Both have collaborated several times and one of their collaborations is the etchings-based 100 MORE JOKES FROM THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. A print series of one of the etchings in the book is the charming "Cold Water Flat":

Now that you see the image above, you can chuckle with my placement of it in our wine cellar.

I was blessed that both gentlemen helped me inaugurate my literary and arts press, Meritage Press, and thankful that, as a result, I can also enjoy this charming etching.

I encourage you to check out the art of Archie Rand as well as the poetry of John Yau.

JEAN VENGUA

I met Jean Vengua through poetry but she's also an accomplished visual artist. I was honored that she chose to make two tiny chair paintings for my mini-chair collection -- I did a blog post on her paintings at my mini-chair blog, but here they are on a so-called "Tennessee Yellow Chair":

Thank you, Jean!

And do check out her poetry, too, including her award-winning book, PRAU!