Imperial Satellite, Tokyo National University,2007

THE CONFUSED MAN MET OTHERS KNOWLEDGEABLE ENOUGH TO BROADEN HIS OULTOOK IN LIFE, BOOSTING HIS EGO ON ONE HAND WHILE CORRECTING HIS FAULTS ON THE OTHER. UNDER THEIR SENSUOUS INSTRUCTION, HE HAS LEARNED TO BE IN LOVE WITHOUT SHAME, TO RECEIVE PAIN WITH PLEASURE, AND TO GIVE HOPE WITHOUT RESTRAINT. HE CLAIMS: I REALLY LIKE WOMEN.

“Banal’s project weaves illusion and reality, fantasy and gore, providing a stage for pop culture and the real world to collide in all their glorious madness. Entitled ‘18 Stations to Death & Dementia,’ the eclectic, often quirky show features film stills, photography and installation, as well as text, performance and video, fused together into an extravaganza of ideas, starlets, and suicide notes. Banal has created elaborate shrines for these survivors. The real life stabbing of Imelda Marcos, for example, is placed alongside Kris Aquino’s horrifyingly-acted slasher films. There is an installation on various pop interpretations of ecstasy, from religious highs to sexual depravity - a statement, which was written on a suicide note by a little-known starlet named Stella Strada, sums it all up: “It’s a crazy planets!”

His art isn’t just the random musings of a criminal mind. It exemplifies the refreshing, oftentimes uncomfortable, effect of art that breaks boundaries, pushing ideas beyond their limits, eventually bringing audiences to a deeper, more profound understanding of themselves. It is the joy of art that works best by working against convention.”

A FAIRY TALE


ONCE THERE WAS A PURITA KALAW LEDESMA BOYBAND NAMED CHAKA KHAN. HE WAS THE SON OF AN AGLIPAY WHOSE GI JOE DIED OF ANITA LINDA AND LEFT HER ALL ALONE WITH A BULGING CHANDA ROMERO. WHEN HE WAS STILL LILET, CHAKA'S MOTHER CONFESSED THAT SHE IN FACT GAVE BIRTH TO TWIN TOWERS PRE- 9/11.

Blackhole Camera, Tate Britain, 2007

THE MOST ANTICIPATED REVOLUTIONS IN HISTORY
HAVE ALREADY TAKEN PLACE IN MY FANTASY.