Contemporary artist Mars Bugaoan to connect with audiences through his art at LoveYourself's Pride Night 2016

By Jean Natividad

With his chosen materials transformed in ingenious ways, Mars Bugaoan lets us in on his thoughts about themes that are all too familiar to us - the nature of change and constant evolution of all things. The artist makes us take a second look at the everyday transformations we see around us, inviting us to slow down and contemplate the cycle of life.

Bugaoan showcases his creativity through a variety of outputs, including photos, fine prints, installations, and mixed media artwork. He graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree Major in Advertising from the University of Santo Tomas and is currently pursuing his Masters in Fine Arts Degree at the College of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Read what the artist has to say before viewing his works at Pride Night 2016 set for June 11 at Pineapple Lab in Makati City:

How would you describe your work?

I produce works that present how the chosen material transforms and evolves. I want to show the order of things, the cycle of life, and the contrasts surrounding it.

What is the role of your art in empowering LGBT?

The message is to speak the language that we know – to share our stories/experiences in nobody else’s voice but our own.

What can people expect from you when they attend Pride Night?

To share with them a little of piece of myself through a visual experience.

The LoveYourself x Pineapple Lab: Pinoy & LGBT Pride Exhibit will run until the end of June, and part of the proceeds from art sales will go to LoveYourself. For more details, click here. To register and get free tickets, log on to go.loveyourself.ph/pridenight.

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Appreciate Eroticism with Tokwa Peñaflorida's Works at LoveYourself's Pride Night 2016

By Kris Tangco

Upcoming artist, Tokwa Peñaflorida, has showcased his works in numerous exhibits and campaigns including Ayala Foundation’s “As One As We Can” and The Red Whistle’s “Red Letter Days”. Tokwa has selflessly created works for advocacies he believes in. Prolific and skillful, with works ranging from paintings to illustrations for children’s books, Tokwa’s compelling works celebrate the beauty of the human form while combining deep and metaphorical narratives.  

With eroticism and nudism as prevailing themes, Tokwa’s artworks challenge socially conservative mindsets and conventions by speaking close to human experience. Never smug, Tokwa is an artist who is constantly honing himself. The altruistic artist sits down with LoveYourself’s Editorial Team for a short interview.

(Photos provided by Tokwa Peñaflorida)

Could you describe your art?

I always had this fascination with the concept of sleep and things that have a relationship to it, like dreams, the process of sleeping, beds and bedrooms, and the homograph as in "sleeping with someone". My art style is diverse and I love to experiment with different styles and media, but my language will always be the same. I focus on silent emotions and soft and warm imagery.

What is the role of your art in empowering LGBT?

I just do what I want to do to be honest. I never really got the logic behind "since I'm gay, I should only do homoerotica or gay-themed artworks" and I really don’t like it when people expect that LGBT artists only produce LGBT-related work. I do a lot of imagery that involves homosexual love, but I also do female pinups for heterosexual audiences. I'm also a children's book illustrator.

I just make sure that there should be an equal representation of different kinds of people in the stuff I do. And I fight for that equal representation. I'm a proud LGBT artist but that is not to the exclusion of others.

What can people expect from you when they attend Pride Night?

I will be displaying old and new works for the Pride Night. There will be prints and large series of illustrations of different stories.

Tokwa Peñaflorida’s works will be on display in LoveYourself’s Pride Night, set on June 11, 2016,Saturday at the Pineapple Lab from 7pm onwards. Click here for more details and register at go.loveyoruself.ph/pridenight.

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Up-and-coming Artist Josh Galvez's Illustrations On Display at LoveYourself Pride Night 2016

By Kris Tangco

Art director and digital illustrator Josh Galvez spends much of her time working in an ad agency and at the same time creating art, but she also dazzles the 11,000 fans on her YouTube channel Artpalette with digital painting videos. In 2013, Josh Galvez was one-half of a pair that represented the Philippines in the Young Designs Lions category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, a prestigious creative communications summit held in Cannes, France.

Josh also maintains an online exhibit featuring her works, which mainly are illustrations, and digital art. Her works will be featured at LoveYourself’s Pride Night 2016, much of which revolves around the theme of apparent normalcy.

(Photos provided by Josh Galvez)

“A lot of us have issues we keep buried deep in ourselves even though we pretend we are fine and dandy on the outside. Inside we're already drowning and that we have no choice but to keep afloat no matter what happens. We also have to realize that these issues may not get fixed overnight but how we live our lives is in our hands, not society's”, shares the young artist.

Get a glimpse of Josh Galvez’s experiential creations at LoveYourself’s Pride Night which will be held on June 11 at Pineapple Lab. Get your tickets and register now at go.loveyourself.ph/pridenight.

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HIV/AIDS and ART Registry of the Philippines (HARP) - April 2016 Report

HIV/AIDS and ART Registry of the Philippines (HARP) - April 2016 Report Past HARP Reports can be accessed through this link

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Get Swept Away by Daloy Dance Company’s Performance at Pride Night 2016

When HIV/AIDS advocate Wanggo Gallaga caught a performance of Daloy Dance Company he was moved by its grace and power, calling it "breathtaking, provocative, and daring."

Improvisation, experimentation and polished technique all combine to make the dance theater collective a rising force in the Philippine dance scene.

Aside from garnering critical applause, Daloy has become a prolific presence in prestigious local arts festivals such as the Fete de la Musique and Malasimbo Lights and Dance Festival and the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Pasinaya Festival and Performatura Arts Festival.

In celebration of the inclusiveness amid diversity that is at the core of Pride Month festivities this June, Daloy Dance Company will perform at Pride Night 2016.

Below they share their unique viewpoint as a dance company and reveal the concept behind their performance this Saturday:

Could you describe your performance art?

Daloy Dance Company is a Manila-based dance theatre collective founded by Artistic Director Ea Torrado. With its commitment to dance as experiential inquiry and explorative practice, Daloy develops process-driven experimentations that incite and evolve dance performance aesthetics and thinking in the Philippines.

What is the role of your art in empowering LGBT?

At the core of our work is the conscious cultivation of organic and authentic movement, contributing thus to personal and communal transformation.  Dance as a codified movement language in most genres still have traditional gender roles.  In Daloy we aim to explore, experiment and experience movement from a very individual perspective. In our movement education programmes we advocate that body type, shape, age and gender are not limitations for one to move and enjoy his own organic movement.

What can people expect from you when they attend Pride Night?

Daloy artist Zyda Baaya and Artistic Director Ea Torrado are performing a short duet about the intricacies and intimacies of two women in a relationship.

Watch Daloy Dance Company's moving duet performance at LoveYourself’s Pride Night to be held on June 11 at the Pineapple Lab. To register, please go to go.loveyourself.ph/pridenight.

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Surrealism On Display at LoveYourself's Pride Night 2016 with Derick Vinculado's Works

By Kris Tangco

Derick Vinculado’s works transport the viewer into a surreal world filled with archetypal motifs from popular reality, while a sense of darkness and strangeness is conjured at the same time. Motifs from everyday life and from human consciousness such as empty arcades, towers, pyramids, and iconic landmarks are used by the young artist to create images of desolation and “emptiness”. With elements of pop surrealism, Derick’s works evoke strangeness in the familiar. A product of the illustrious Fine Arts Program of the University of the Philippines, some of Derick’s works will be included in LoveYourself’s celebration of LGBT Pride month. The dashing artist manages to give a quick interview with LoveYourself’s Editorial Team.

(Photos from derickvinculado.wix.com)

Please describe your art in 1 to 3 sentences.

My work of art is a reflection of this generation in a way that you can’t tell if it’s Asian, European, or American Art. Art in the present era has evolved so much because of the influence of technology, which has helped open doors for innovation and conceptualization. My art has always been subjective and personal, and i think that should always be the case.

What is the role of your art in empowering LGBT?

Making art has been empowering for all the artists whom I have known in my lifetime. I guess for me, doing what I love, loving my identity and having a passion for it is empowering for everyone.

What can people expect from you when they attend Pride Night?

They can expect my art to be playful and open to interpretation, innocent and surreal.

Experience the strangeness in the familiar and open your imagination to the magic of surrealism with Derick Vinculado’s works which will be exhibited at LoveYourself’s Pride Night 2016 on June 11 at the Pineapple Lab. Register now at go.loveyourself.ph/pridenight.

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The Red Whistle Founder and Artist Niccolo Cosme's Works On Display At LoveYourself's Pride Night

By Kris Tangco

Multi-awarded artist Niccolo Cosme joins LoveYourself in celebrating Pride Month by participating in an exhibit showcasing some of his works in Pride Night 2016 at Pineapple Lab in Makati City.

The conceptual photographer has always been a staunch LGBT advocate. He started The Red Whistle campaign in 2011 to raise awareness and understanding of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Philippines. 

A recipient of the “Ani ng Dangal” award bestowed by the National Commision for Culture and the Arts, Niccolo’s works have gained renown in the international scene. His “Project Headshot Clinic” is a platform that layers online profile photos of people with marks and motifs used by the advocacy. This initiative has caught the attention of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and he has spearheaded its implementation for campaigns in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Macau.

(Photo from nognoginthecity.com)

(Photo from thelighthousestudio.files.wordpress.com)

Interested in Christian iconography, Niccolo has also embarked on a series called “COSME XXX”, with a theme centering around pain. His photo exhibit “Resplendor”, on the other hand, depicts the various realities of HIV/AIDS in the Philippines. The accomplished artist and advocate shares a few moments with LoveYourself’s Editorial Team to talk about LGBT Pride and the works which will be on display in the exhibit:

Could you briefly describe your art?

My works are emotionally charged digital photographs that draw from my background as a gay man growing up in an intensely Catholic culture. Just as Christian imagery was adjusted to the context of different cultures, my art utilized counter-reformation aesthetics and hagiographical imagery while combining homoeroticism and national identity. Using live models, I have staged my photo­graphs. MY work recalls the hyper-realism and surrealism of artists, Pierre et Gilles [French artists and real life partners, Pierre Comoy and Gilles Blanchard].

What is the role of your art in empowering LGBT?

My art is inspired by real life heroes I've met and worked with in the LGBT advocacy. I focus mostly on their struggles that also resonates with my personal pains. My aim is to disrupt emotions and convey the stories of these real life heroes, to present the constant pursuit of a person to belong and be accepted.

What can people expect from you when they attend Pride Night?

I am very excited to connect and share my ideas and aspirations during the Pride Night, and to hear different stories as well. Let's exchange energies.

Get a chance to interact with the vibrant and enlightened Niccolo Cosme at LoveYourself’s Pride Night to be held on June 11 at the Pineapple Lab. To register, please go to go.loveyourself.ph/pridenight.

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Renowned artist Leeroy New to showcase works at LoveYourself's Pride Night 2016

By Jean Natividad 

Enter the world of the beautifully bizarre as artist, sculptor, and designer Leeroy New unveils his works that celebrate Pinoy and LGBT pride at Pride Night 2016 on June 11 at Pineapple Lab in Makati City.

The young contemporary artist is known for creating eccentric and out-of-this-world artwork that challenge the imagination. One of his most famous creations include his collaboration with designer Kermit Tesoro for pop star Lady Gaga's muscle dress in her "Marry the Night" music video.

New's artistry is experienced in film, theatre, visual arts, and fashion. He works as a production designer, has designed sets and costumes for theater groups like Ballet Philippines and Dulaang UP, has participated in Philippine Fashion Week, has joined numerous exhibitions abroad like the Singapore Biennale (2008) and the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (2009), and has mounted large-scale art installations like his Balete series (2010).

Immerse in New's outrageous and unconventional works of art at Pride Night 2016. Part of the proceeds from the artwork sales will go to LoveYourself. Click here for more details and register now at go.loveyourself.ph/pridenight for free tickets.

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Philippe "Phi" Salvador Palmos of Rak of Aegis set to perform at Pride Night 2016

By Jean Natividad

Theater actor, writer, singer, and gay rights advocate Philippe "Phi" Salvador Palmos will be joining the stellar lineup of artists for Pride Night 2016.

Phi Palmos as Jewel in Rak of Aegis

Palmos, who plays the role of Jewel in the hit musical Rak of Aegis, is set to perform that night in celebration of Pinoy and LGBT pride.

Phi Palmos in Mabining Mandirigma

The multi-talented performer also co-wrote the gay comedy film Slumber Party and has acted in several theater productions including Mabining Mandirigma and Ibalong.

Phi Palmos in Ibalong (Photo by Jojit Lorenzo)

Get to know the artist more through our Q&A with him below.

Describe your art in three sentences or less.
It is a mix of art and advocacy. Entertainment and awareness. Rage and rave.

What is the role of your art in empowering LGBT?
I can't say that my art has impacted so much for the plight of LGBT. For me, the visibility of people like me making, providing, collaborating to make art is one that I hope will empower other LGBT. That not only does their life matter, more so, what they want to contribute and say to the world matters too.

What can people expect from you when they attend Pride Night?
That they will be mesmerized with my voice, I hope! Hahahaha. If not for my voice, then, I hope they be mesmerized by the message of the song. That they get empowered by merely being there, celebrating with us. Celebrating our Pride.


Catch Philippe "Phi" Salvador Palmos' performance at Pride Night 2016 on June 11 at Pineapple Lab in Makati City. Click here for more details and visit go.loveyourself.ph/pridenight to register.

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Visual Artist Junjun Sta. Ana's Works To be Featured in LoveYourself's Pride Night 2016

By Kris Tangco

Jun-jun Sta. Ana, visual artist who describes his works as “instinctive”, utilizes everyday objects as tools for expression. Hailing from a family of dentists, Junjun despised school and started his career in the arts as a window dresser.

He honed his skills and artistry with one of the early release fine digital cameras back in the early 2000’s, experimenting with digital manipulation to come up with surprisingly different results.  exhibit in 2013 at the Nova Gallery in Makati City showcases 125 photographic prints using an iPhone4. The exhibit shows different views of the city of Chicago, including a portraits of men seen from social networking sites such as Grindr.

Photos taken from chuvaness.com

“The work I do is instinctive, using a lot of found materials.” said Jun-jun.

Jose Ardivilla of The Standard describes Junjun’s photography as the antithesis of the narcissism associated with selfies and the glamour of glitzy landmarks, and instead offers the viewer an introspective journey by highlighting the unwanted and ignored, the blending of the pensive onlooker with the details of the surrounding environment.

For a few moments, get lost in the world of Junjun Sta. Ana’s art which will be exhibited at LoveYourself’s Pride Night 2016 on June 11 at the Pineapple Lab in Makati City. Get your free tickets to the event by registering  at go.loveyourself.ph/pridenight.

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