Amiel Roldan: A Painter & A Curator ™

Anselmo “Bobi V” Ortiz Valenzuela was a pioneering independent curator whose stewardship of Hiraya Gallery and other spaces shaped contemporary Philippine art; he was a mentor, connector, and institutional catalyst who launched careers and sustained critical discourse across decades.  Anselmo “Bobi V” Valenzuela — reflections and appraisal  Anselmo “Bobi V” Valenzuela occupies a distinct place in the recent history of Philippine visual culture as an organizer of encounters—between artists, critics, collectors, and the public. He is widely credited with bringing Hiraya Gallery to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s and with founding or stewarding other influential spaces such as Boston Gallery and Kulay Diwa Art Gallery, platforms that became incubators for emerging talent and experimental practice. These institutional roles mark him not merely as a curator in the transactional sense but as a cultural entrepreneur who built infrastructure where none existed.  Valenzuela’s mo...

How a sustained ₱1 trillion reconstruction and development program could transform national infrastructure, health capacity, and resilience—and outlines the systemic risks if such investment is not continued . ---  Premises and planning assumptions   The visual premise frames ₱1 trillion as divisible into major national projects: ₱350B for a north–south freeway, ₱500B for a metro subway, ₱100B for three international airports, and ₱50B for three tertiary hospitals. Treating these line items as planning scenarios produces a clear, fund‑allocation model for national reconstruction and modernization. Using discrete project buckets enables targeted cost‑benefit analysis, financing strategies, and phased implementation.  ---  Projected impacts if funding is sustained  - Transport connectivity: A continuous north–south freeway (₱350B) plus a Metro Manila Subway (₱500B) would dramatically reduce logistics costs, shorten travel times, and unlock regional economic corrid...

Introduction   This essay presents a concise, direct framework for investigating a an alleged political coalition, the alleged partylist group/s , alleged to be involved in money laundering and materially supporting an insurgent group, the New Peoples Army. The analysis assumes a presidential directive authorizing coordinated inquiries by military and civilian agencies. The purpose is to define legal thresholds, identify financial indicators, outline investigative steps, and set procedural safeguards to ensure lawful, effective action.  ---  on actors and core allegations  The alleged partylist group/s is a coalition of civic organizations, non‑profit entities, and a small number of political representatives that publicly advocate social reforms. Intelligence and open‑source signals indicate recurring transfers from opaque foreign entities and domestic intermediaries to accounts linked to the Alliance. The allegation is that a portion of these funds were laundered an...

  On the premises of money laundering and foreign funding investigations: an analytical framework   Introduction   Allegations of money laundering and illicit foreign funding of political activity raise complex legal, financial, and political questions. A credible inquiry must rest on clearly articulated legal premises, transparent investigative standards, and robust evidentiary procedures. This essay sets out an analytical framework for understanding how such allegations are evaluated and investigated by state authorities. It addresses the legal definitions and thresholds for money laundering and conspiracy, the indicators and forensic techniques used to detect anomalous bank accounts and funding flows, the role of international cooperation, and the procedural safeguards that protect legitimate political expression and the reputations of individuals who have served the state honorably.  Legal premises and definitional thresholds  At the outset, any investigatio...

    Kristoffer Ardeña’s SEICHES at Art Informal stages painting as climate, labor, and material memory—works that insist the tropics are not backdrop but collaborator; this critique reads those insistences through material practice, Duchampian reorientation, and a hopeful poetics of repair.  Introduction Kristoffer Ardeña’s practice reframes painting as a lived, environmental process: materials carry climate and history, and images are sites where weather, labor, and vernacular technologies negotiate meaning. His recent trajectory—marked by the Ghost Painting (Cracked Category) series and sustained experiments with elastomeric coatings on printed tarpaulin—positions him within a global conversation about neo‑tropicality and material realism. The works at Art Informal on November 27, 2025, continue this inquiry, offering surfaces that breathe, fissure, and remember.  ---  Material and Method Ardeña’s primary medium—elastomeric paint applied to printed tarpaulin a...

Introduction   Neil Pasilan's solo exhibition presents a focused investigation into the expressive capacities of works on paper, centered on water-resist drawing and punctuated by heavy oil pastel renderings. The show stages a sustained dialogue between material process and figuration, assembling serial studies and larger compositions that treat paper as an active site of inquiry. This essay offers a streamlined critical reading of the exhibition, emphasizing technique, formal strategies, thematic concerns, and installation choices while foregrounding the ethereal effects achieved through oil pastel interventions.  ---  Materials and Techniques  Water-Resist Drawing  Pasilan's primary method is water-resist drawing, a technique that foregrounds the tension between preservation and saturation. Masking fluids or wax reserves protect areas of paper, producing luminous highlights that counterpoint dense washes and ink. This interplay of subtraction and application y...