OKAY MOUNTAIN'S 'BAYANIHAN'

Building a sense of community from around the globe

A DIY plan, and dedication, bring a show of emerging Filipino artists to Austin

By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN ARTS WRITER
Thursday, May 07, 2009

Perhaps the most important plan is not to have a plan. Or at least not an all-defining strategy with grandiose expectations.

A kind of strategy of nonstrategy has proved key to the ongoing verve — and sheer existence — of Okay Mountain, the East Austin artist-run gallery.

For the Okay Mountain collective — which numbers 11 artists, all of whom contribute financially to the expenses of the gallery — their goal is simply to provide a place for the work of artists who have common aesthetic concerns. Beyond that, there's no agenda, but there is plenty of passion to do right by the artists they show. A strategy of minimal intent — but maximum dedication — is certainly the crux behind the current 'Bayanihan: Work from Manila' which features the work of nine artists from the Philippine capital.

'Bayanihan' is the fourth in Okay Mountain's international 'No American Talent' exhibit series that started in 2007 and has featured artists from Argentina, Egypt and Japan. ('No American Talent' is a riff on Arthouse's long-standing 'New American Talent' annual exhibit of emerging artists.)

When Tim Brown, one of Okay Mountain's founders, was planning a monthlong trip to Manila, where his work was being featured in an exhibit, he thought it might be a good idea to maximize the trip and bring back an exhibit.

'Really, I just wanted to meet as many artists as I could,' Brown says. That would not be hard for him when he landed in Manila. After all, he was exhibiting, along with Austin artist Heyd Fontenot, at Green Papaya Art Projects, an artist-run initiative much like Okay Mountain. And the social connectivity inherent in artists collectives meant Brown stepped into a wide circle of Filipino artists.

Brown's investigation into Manila's indie art scene also meant a crash course in Filipino history and the country's long and tangled relationship with the United States. Perhaps not surprisingly, Brown found many of his peer artists in Manila to be engaged in essentially the same dialogue with American pop culture as many artists in the U.S.

Lena Cobangbang, for example, found 140 Hollywood film titles with the word 'man' in them and put them on manufactured plastic name tags, which then cover a women's overcoat. Hanging in a corner of the Okay Mountain gallery, the garment laden with name tags seems weighed down and weary.

Brown found something distinct, though, in the work of his Filipino peers: A deep sense of belonging to — and longing for — a specific place. It's perhaps not surprising from a people with a long history of immigration and emigration. Bea Camacho's 'Portrait Series' of hand-made flip books find faces of the artist's family appearing or disappearing from detailed photos to delicate drawings depending on which way you flip through the pages.

Brown named his exhibit 'Bayanihan,' a Filipino term that means town, place or community and also the spirit of the town, place or community. And it's a term that's perhaps not just indicative of the Filipino culture, but the wide-reaching idea of community that Okay Mountain espouses. Brown has spent $550 of his own money on the exhibit so far, but he'll spend more to ship back whatever artworks don't sell to the Philippines. And he doesn't expect that neither he nor Okay Mountain will even break even on the endeavor.

But it's all good. It's all a part of the nonplan plan of Okay Mountain.

'I don't know what this all means in the long run,' Brown says. 'But for right now — hey, it can happen. We can do exhibits like this.'

'Bayanihan: Work from Manila'

When: 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays, noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays through May 23

Where:Okay Mountain, 1302 E. Cesar Chavez St.

Cost: Free

Information: www.okaymountain.com