Exhibit Catalogue OF Constancio Bernardo At CCP

 Notes on the Concept and the Selection Process

​Foreword
         
           In the initial meeting (04/02/14) of  CMaB Foundation curatorial committee (Leo Rialp volunteered as head, with Rod  and I as members) with the CCP-VAMD  (headed by Victoria “Boots” Herrera), Boots said that the past CMaB President has already had exploratory talks on the concept and it has already been communicated to the CCP management and approved in principle.
 
         The original concept was to the effect of the Artist retracing his exhibits at the CCP  (from 1971 to 1991) but limiting to abstract ones (not necessarily acrylic).         Boots said the MOPA ones are to be included as it has been subsumed under CCP after the EDSA Revolution. The original concept goes well with the upcoming 45th Anniversary Celebration of CCP.

​       First Stage of Selection:
 
       Museo Bernardo Reports:  I then surveyed every solo and every group exhibit my father had with CCP and MOPA. Among others, accounting for the whereabouts of all pieces, I produced very detailed three Reports:

1. From the CCP Exhibits Confidential (05/14/14)
2. From the MOPA Exhibits Confidential (05/06/14)
3. Consolidated Pool  to Select From (05/23/14)

​          The confidential aspects of 1) and 2) identify a number of MISSING ONES to the last paper trail of each piece. Missing ones are those that have not been recorded by my father as having been sold to, gifted to, donated to or recycled or that no other document could trace the whereabouts of. (Relevancy of this point can be seen).
 
            Report No. 3 above was submitted to the CMaB Board (I am not a member of it) combining extracts from the first two reports  as well as accounted for artworks that may be considered extendable as covered from these ones. That is to say, those belonging to the same Series or styles as those from the CCP-MOPA Exhibits 1971-1991 that were, however, exhibited elsewhere (e.g. Luz) some of which are now with various Collections.
      
            Not so fast: However, the new CMaB Board did not think it has to be bounded by the original concept.  By this, the array (presented in Report no. 3 above) would thus be become just a first stage of selection, thrown into a Pool.  The amended concept frees its universe of the time and venue limits. Meaning that any abstraction anywhere exhibited and any time period would be considered.
             For the CMaB consideration, I prepared Thoughts on the Exhibit:

Part I  is an evaluation of the Past Exhibit at Ayala Museum (emailed to CMaB Board mid-June 2014)
Part II is on the subject of Art critics/writers  (emailed some parts to CMaB Board by mid-July 2014)
Part III was prepared for mid-August emailing but I didn’t anymore  (since no one in the CMaB Board was apparently reading these reports, anyway).
 
            Second stage of Selection: Individual Museo Bernardo Foundation members were then solicited opinions based on a free selection of abstracts based on Images Folder of the Catalogue Raisonne (taking 1.5 hours of fast panel review of ok/not ok show of hands). Their choices were collected together and thrown into the Pool. It was nearly purely visual criterion operated here. Despite my familiarity with provenance, I did not try to influence the selection (having already had my own array based as well on extra-visual considerations).
 
            Other Collections: Boots said it would add value to the exhibit to have pieces from collectors in it. The early reports already contained listings of these. On the second meeting of the CMaB curatorial committee with the CCP-VAMD head (05/19/14 at the Podium), I showed a copy of the listings of collectors (of those pieces that fall under the concept) but this was not considered in that meeting except for Boots’ comment that the Luz’ Gallery records are not that organized to be able to trace the collectors.
 
No short cutting the selection: I had offered that those paintings that had been framed by the artists had already gone pre-selection if one takes the assumption that the creator would prioritize the framing according to the valuation he put into the artworks. This was rejected as a criterion, and so consequently unframed artworks entered the Pool by the end of this second stage totaling nearly 200.
 
           Third Stage of Selection: Upon the hiring of the CMaB curator, the plan was to make him/her select from this large pool of 200 unhampered by any external influence (from mainly my familiarity based in having produced the Catalogue Raisonne on funding by Ayala Foundation of three-year duration 1999 to 2001). And then his choices would still be subject to final selection by the CMaB Board. I objected to this last because the selection process would then have a fourth stage, making it very drawn out...
      
           When Robert Paulino, was hired as such in July, I simply provided him (on 07/25/14) a copy of Report No. 3. By this time, a decision was made that a few representational pieces should be included as a reminder of the adeptness of the artist. Another decision was there should be no repetition of the previous year’s exhibit at Ayala Museum. Notwithstanding this, one piece – Meditation- managed to be an exception.
 
             The Pool by this stage so far had been selected from the Images folder of the Catalogue Raisonne. I had now to take out those that are MISSING or not accessible, something that could have been known outright by going through the data-base itself and not merely by the Images. The Pool was trimmed this way from 200 to about 170.  Then the actual specimens were brought together in the Studio-B for the selection of the Robert. From a just-photographed set of artworks on paper present at that time in the Studio, he threw into the Pool about 10 pieces to make the total to 180.

            His  choices became final; limited only by spaces as calculated from the digital mock-ups provided by  Job Bernardo. Interestingly, of my 40-piece array consisting of  samples of Series that had been shown at CCP-MOPA, 31 of them landed in Robert’s choices.  Since the Report No. 3 does not have Images to connect to the titles and AC-numbers, it probably did not influence much his choices. Of my specific choices from my father’s last Solo (Banaag in 1990), none from the Tawag Pansin Series, Kislap sa Dilim Series or Sidhi Series ended up, but one from the Gunam-gunam Series did.
 
           Majority of those finally selected for the Small Gallery unknowingly have been in the Folio of  artworks on paper for a proposed post-humus exhibit  in 2003 that I gave to Sid Hildawa, the former head of the Visual Arts of CCP. From among the Folio also was a set of Images I sent by email to Boots in early 2012 for what at that time was a planned simultaneous exhibit at Ayala and CCP at year end.
 
             In the CMaB curatorial committee meeting with CCP (10/20/14 at Environs) the matter of collectors became a belated agendum. I had prepared  a limited List of Artworks to Borrow (10/04/14).
           
             After May, Leo was unable to attend anymore any curatorial committee meetings of its own as well as with the CCP; instead Robert was, later on Barbara Mae Dacanay was (she also attended the AVP committee meetings). The fourth curatorial committee meeting with CCP (on 10/29/14 at CCP) no longer touched on selection.
 
            The fifth curatorial committee meeting was held on 11/13/14 at the CCP on the occasion of first batch of three batches Museo delivery of artworks. This touched on presentation (with special attention not to repeat the curatorial style at Ayala Museum).  -Angelo 11/12/14

EVENT COVERAGE TO FOLLOW

   PDF PRINTABLE FILES - Post Scripts