To celebrate “creative month” in Cebu, the two featured talents will be showcasing their works in an evening show at NUSTAR Resort and Casino on November 14. Instead of competing with one another, they intend the show to become a venue for them to complement each other’s works.
By Alex Y. Vergara
Art and fashion will intersect anew in “Bisti,” or garments in the Visayan language, a joint show featuring fashion designer Philip Rodriguez and artist Jane Ebarle on November 14 at the NUSTAR Resort and Casino. Jane, who describes her works in textured acrylic as abstract expressionism, has done 10 new artworks, while Philip, one of the country’s leading designers based in Cebu, is also showcasing 10 looks.
Each talent is free to do his or her respective interpretation of Filipiniana finery inspired by what Filipinos wore during colonial times, but updated and reimagined for today’s Filipinos. As both clarified, they won’t be limited by each other works, as no one would be copying from the other. That would have been limiting and a tad too predictable. Instead, they have agreed to limit the scope of their inspiration to what Filipinos, particularly Cebuanos, wore during the late Spanish and early American periods.
First-time collaborators
In Jane’s case, it’s her first time to collaborate with a fashion designer whose medium is far different from hers. “I’ve done group shows with other artists, including fashion designer Edgar San Diego, wherein our subject revolved around women’s Filipiniana attire” she says. “But Edgar was wearing his painter’s hat that time. I’ve never done this before (with a fashion designer) until Philip came into my life. So, I really did extensive research. He even invited me to attend an edition of ‘Ternocon’ so I could immerse myself further.”
For his part, Philip has collaborated with other artists before, even sharing the stage with accessories and jewelry designers, but it wasn’t as purposeful as this one. He even had one collab in the past with an artist who painted nothing but horses. To put it mildly, it was a strange mix, he admits.
“This time, I was the one who initiated the collaboration because I really like Jane’s paintings,” says Philip. “Since it’s a collaboration, one of our objectives is to complement each other’s works.”
Philip, for instance, plans to mix prints and fabrics like piña and organza to achieve varying textures and color. This approach, he says, not only updates his colonial-inspired clothes for today’s wearers. It also echoes Jane’s art, which is very tactile, what with its recurring quality that seems to jump out of the canvas.
“As of now, I’ve done 10 looks to be modeled by nine ladies and a gentleman,” he says. “If time allows, I might add some more pieces. Let’s see.”
Jane, on the other hand, like mentioned earlier, has had to immerse herself in Filipiniana fashion, paying particular attention to Philip’s aesthetics as a designer.
“Bisti” is also proving to be an ambitious show despite the limited number of pieces to be featured by both talents. Philip reveals as much: “The show opens with a video featuring a guy walking towards an old, seemingly abandoned house. When he opens the door, a painting of Jane greets him.”
“Heaven and Earth”
The grand, old house, it turns out, is right across Philip’s shop in one of Cebu City’s genteel districts. To make it more personal for Philip, one of the show’s beneficiaries, musician-scholars from the Tabor Hills College of Music, will play one of the late Emilio Villareal’s classic pieces “Langit ug Yuta,” or “Heaven and Earth.”
Emilio, a prolific and legendary Cebuano musician during his time, also happened to be Philip’s uncle.
Prior to this show, the two only met late last year. Jane, a Fine Arts graduate from the University of Santo Tomas, began painting again relatively recently after spending decades as a fulltime marketing professional. She posted some of her earlier artworks on Facebook, which, by some stroke of luck, eventually caught Philip’s attention. He lost no time sending Jane a message on Facebook Messenger, expressing his interest in one of her works.
It also helped that Jane’s married name, Ebarle, rang a bell with Philip whose family originally hailed from Camiguin. The Ebarle family name is well-known there. And true enough, when they finally got to talk to each other, Jane’s former husband did come from the island province just off the coast of northern Mindanao.
As early as their first meeting, the two hit it off and became fast friends. Soon enough, Philip was broaching the idea of a joint show to herald Cebu’s “creative month” in November. With Philip’s extensive connections in the booming city, Jane need not do anything except say yes and produce the paintings.
It will also be a homecoming of sorts for her since Jane, a native of Pangasinan, once called Cebu home for six years when she worked there as one of Robinson Galleria Cebu’s marketing managers.
“How can you say no to Philip,” she says with a chuckle. “But at the same time, I was a bit apprehensive because showcasing my art in Cebu means widening my market beyond Metro Manila. I’ve done shows abroad, but this one at NUSTAR will be different. It’s on a whole new level. It’s not the typical art show.”
Philip, who, as a designer, must have participated in more than a thousand fashion shows through the decades, is still excited nonetheless because of “Bisti’s” multi-pronged concept, which he says is “intense.”
