Monday, November 14, 2005
Featured Artist: Jeff Vergara
Dubai Landmark #9 (Deira City Center)
Photo by Jeff Vergara
The Dubai Chronicles
Photo by Jeff Vergara
The Dubai Chronicles
When Jeff Vergara gave me the permission to feature one of his photographs, I picked out his #9 — from his Dubai landmark series. I did so as inspired by what a friend of mine in New York once told me, “An artist’s soul is often revealed by his abstracts more so than by his sweeping landscapes.”
I feel #9 conveys Jeff Vergara more as an artist as opposed to his other — just as stunning — photographs which highlight where Jeff Vergara is.
And if his intention was to reveal his fondness for modern architecture through his photographs, he has succeeded indeed, because certain elements of his #9, although abstract, remind me of Frank Lloyd Wright, a legendary American architect and proponent of organic architecture.
Other photos from his landmark series expose the immense wealth of Dubai and its receptiveness for modern architectural designs. The Burj Al Arab, for example, shares a striking resemblance to Frank Gehry’s modernistic approach to primal geometry as exemplified by his two Guggenheim Museums; one in New York and the other in Bilbao.
But what I find even more fascinating is that Dubai, with its well-constructed roadways, barely has any traffic. What a dream that is, especially to traffic-battered motorists of Metro Manila and New York.
And from reading Jeff’s regular posts, he seems to enjoy his time away from work by, among other things, attending art and photography classes, as well as trekking to other exotic places with a group of his friends. And in most of their soirées, they feast on sumptuous, mouth-watering Filipino dishes, including lechon kawali. What a fun life!
Now, what most people do not know is Jeff also designed this new template of my blogsite.
In my post of November 4th entitled, The Atari ST, I mentioned how musicians thousands of miles apart during the pre-Internet days used to collaborate by exchanging MIDI files through a bulletin board system (BBS). Now, fast-forward two decades later, and you’re looking at a result of another collaborative effort, this time through the Internet — this blogsite. The client, me, here in Metro Manila while the artists, Tet and Jeff are in Dubai.
I have never met either Tet or Jeff in person although it feels like I have. I’m a frequent visitor to Jeff’s The Dubai Chronicles and Tet Bautista’s Penovate blogsites. One of Tet’s paintings, Tsinelas, I had previously featured on this site. It was Tet who connected me with Jeff.
Since this was a visual project more so than audio, at first I was apprehensive to work with someone thousands of miles away, but then I thought, as long as I know what I want, there shouldn’t be any problem. I was right. Everything went smoothly from the beginning.
In almost all client/designer relations, problems arise only whenever a client has no idea of what he wants and would oblige the designer to do the guessing for him. Unfair to the designer because he could come up with several variations and the client will still have something new to add or delete ad infinitum. At the end, the artist would be left feeling under-compensated for all those time and effort he had allocated for the project.
Now, going back to Jeff’s #9 photograph as featured on this post, I told him that it’s inviting as well — prompting the viewer’s imagination to interplay with it. Personally, I see the circle on top as the sun and the lines its rays of light and energy (forces of life). Reminds me of what I once read somewhere, “The life force within you is the same life force as within me.” That, in essence, we’re all interconnected as one.
Finally, when you take a closer look, you’ll notice the color palette of Jeff’s #9 resembles the colors of my new blogsite. And the uncluttered minimalist approach that Jeff used for its layout reflects Dubai’s sleek and modernistic infrastructure. Thus, this featured photograph is truly a fitting image to celebrate our successful collaborative effort.
Thank you, Jeff and thank you, Tet!
Links
United Arab Emirates
http://guide.theemiratesnetwork.com/
Frank Lloyd Wright
http://www.delmars.com/wright/flwright.htm
Frank Gehry
http://www.arcspace.com/gehry_new/
United Arab Emirates
http://guide.theemiratesnetwork.com/
Frank Lloyd Wright
http://www.delmars.com/wright/flwright.htm
Frank Gehry
http://www.arcspace.com/gehry_new/
posted by Señor Enrique at 5:58 AM
6 Comments:
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Señor Enrique said... Oo nga noh? Hahahahaha!!!!
BTW, I listed all my links sa aking del.icio.us para madali ko kayo lahat madalaw.
Thanks for stopping by Locamama and regards to Papa Ting!-
Unknown said...
Hi Senor Enrique,
Thanks for visiting Manila, My Manila.-
bing said...
hello, senor enrique...
this is very nice... i like the background very much and the header design. jeff is really very good at this. it is a success. congratulations to the new template and enjoy blogging!-
silentmode_v2 said...
@locamama: don't worry po, mahal ka ren namin... in due time you'll have as beautiful as this one.
@señor: thanks for the feature and pointing out the designer/client relations. we experience this a lot and thankfully, our project went very smoothly.
don't thank us, we thank you. :)-
Señor Enrique said...
Hi Bing!
Thank you!-
Señor Enrique said...
Hi silentmode!
I plan to feature postings of this nature based on personal experiences. It's appalling how artists and musicians are often treated, especially when they're starting out.
