City Slicker

Finally, after all the teasing, it's time to put out...

In an effort to stylize the Filipino script of Baybayin while expressing my American upbringing, I needed to focus on the form of the Baybayin characters and translate them to something I can identify with.  It wasn't just enough to simply write an English word into Baybayin, because the esoteric form of the Baybayin characters simply isn't identifiable to a large mass audience.  Taking from communication design aspects, the concept became apparent: to create an identifiable image using the Baybayin characters.

Combining calligraphy, graffiti handstyling, typography techniques and letter theory, I’ve been able to translate the Baybayin characters into English-like letter forms, while still retaining most of the distinguishing key elements of their Baybayin forms.  Spelling out city names, the cities highlighted are home to a high population of Filipinos, and I felt that this would help represent Filipino Americans in two ways: the bold imagery of the uniquely Filipino script of Baybayin, and the pride of city-claiming, popular among American youths.  This first series concentrates on a few California cities, but will eventually include more American cities as well as other countries aside from the Philippines.

Finally, I am pleased present to you all, the Baybayin City Series - California









The Baybayin characters spell out the city name phonetically (or a translation thereof), for example, the San Francisco Baybayin characters read “San Pdansesko” and Los Angeles characters read "Los Ang-he-les".  Each city piece was a puzzle, trying to figure out how to form these characters into English letters while still retaining the unique traits of each character. I attribute much of my character understanding to my old graffiti days when understanding letter formation theory was a necessity to express your style... among other things.

BITERS FALL BACK OR GET YOUR TEETH CRACKED!

Have a great weekend, and stay up.

~cyph

City Slicker

Taste the Rainbow

I recall Kanye West saying on the Ellen show that the rainbow is such a great visual that can be used artistically in so many interesting and creative ways, but because it's stapled into everyone's head as the standard symbol for homosexuality, many are afraid to utilize and appreciate such a wonderful and colorful aesthetic.

I hear ya Mr. West...

The Tagalog word for "Rainbow" is "Bahaghari", which according to TagalogWords literally translates to "King's Loincloth." Go figure.



Baybayin (Alibata) characters used are "Ba-Ha-G-Ha-Di." Acrylic and Deco paint markers on 8" x 24" canvas. Click for full size.



Quite excited about the current project going on... don't want to show too much, but here's a little flavor...



Graffiti writers aim to go all city.
I'm trying to write all cities.

Stay up.

~cyph

Taste the Rainbow

You can't see the tears rollin down my eyes...

...so I gotta make this piece cry.  (ala Jay-Z)

This week's piece was heavily inspired by KR's drip style.  Many attribute to him the drip style of graffiti, but in reality, drippy and juicy tags have existed since the first over-loaded brush hit the wall; long before KR was ever considered a thought.  To pay homage to the graffiti roots however, I show in this video how to make a classic home-made mop of the most finest quality.  Be sure to follow the link if you want to watch in HD:

Baybayin Canvas: Luha (Tears) from cyphaflip on Vimeo.

Written in Baybayin (alibata) is "Luha", the Tagalog word for "Tears".  

The drips... silver is sorrow, gold is for joy. Joy runs thin while sorrow runs thick; it'd be nice if we cry out of joy more often, but chances are, you're crying for reasons of sorrow... or you're yawning a lot. Click the picture for full size.

Copyright reserved.  Biters fall back or get your teeth cracked.

~cyph

You can't see the tears rollin down my eyes...

God Loves Ugly

If you walk into the supermarket isle in a Filipino grocery store, or any market place in the Philippines, you’ll find a product that I’ve always found upsetting; skin bleaching products. Skin bleaching is one of the biggest makeup products sold in the Philippines, in an effort to obtain that foreign, fair skinned complexion. The Filipino people are naturally darker, are naturally brown, bronzed, and tanned, so why try to change this? It actually comes from a mindset instilled by the Spanish colonization. Over 300 years, the Spaniards subjugated the Philippine people and effectively made the people third class citizens in their own country. Malcolm X had similar sentiments when saying that the man has been teaching the colored that their culture and aesthetic are wrong and ugly, while the foreign white men and their Christ are pure and good, as a means to keep the coloreds in check.

The Spaniards had effectively made the Filipino people believe that their native culture is obsolete, their gods false, and their own natural skin tone ugly. But before the Spanish came, none of these foreign concepts were taken to heart.

I chose to paint on masks, because the look of a man’s face is only a mask, but the reason as to why the man makes the face is as deep as the mind. Dark tones were first applied, then layered with brighter colors, as if to conflict with what was originally underneathe. Eyes and lips are accented on each mask, as if each mask was seeing and expressing themselves in what they should look like. Each mask is highlighted with a gold section: One mask’s chin, the other’s forehead, and the last their left side of the face. This, I felt was either the true soul of the mask trying to shine, or the true mask that their face wears, all depending on how you want to see it.

Written in Baybayin, which is an ancient writing system used by Filipinos and predating Spanish colonization, I wrote "God loves ugly" on them. Or really, the phonetic equivalent of the Tagalog translation, "Mahal ang dios ang mga pangit". I think it’s important to note that the word for "god" used in this one is "Dios", which comes from Jesus (Dios Cristo), the foreign god that the Spaniards introduced. It gives a nice touch of irony to the overall piece in saying that one is loved by a foreign god that was deemed better than their inherent ones, and one is considering himself ugly because they were told so. But the main point is, if the Christ god of the Spaniards was all loving, then the Filipino people didn’t need to stay indoors all day for fear of the sun darkening their skin, or have to bleach themselves. But they did it anyways because they were being taught that the darker native people were beneath the foreign Spaniards in their society. And to this day, the mindset of fairer complexion as a standard of beauty is so embedded into the Filipino culture, that it’s something many of us just accept.

But I don’t. Because if there is a god, then I’m sure he/she/or it wouldn’t be so petty.

God loves ugly, but who told you what ugly is?

Set of 3 masks.
Acrylic, spray paint and paint markers.

The Bathala Project.

God Loves Ugly

Isang Bansa

Acrylic and spray paint on 18" x 24" canvas.

Colors of the Philippine flag. If you're familiar with the culture and the colors of the flag, understand that red-side up meant war. The Philippines has had a turbulent history with different subjugators, leaving the Filipino people in a constant struggle with not only the freedom of their country, but freedom of the mind from colonization.

The reds and the blues I felt were the identities between an individual striving for truth and as a colonized individual, conflicting as to who truly represented what a "Filipino" is. However, all revolve around the one unchanging constant: Bansa (Tagalog for country). In the middle of the bright, glowing sun is the Tagalog word, "Bansa", written in the ancient Filipino script of Baybayin (Alibata) which predated Spanish colonization and influence. Though her children have changed their tongues, their clothing, their last names and their gods, they all take roots from the same mother: The country, Ang Bansa

This piece is for sale, contact me at Bathala1@gmail.com with an offer and I will let you know if you have the best bid.

Biters fall back or get your teeth cracked!

~cyph

Isang Bansa

Just a flavor...

100% hand made.
Limited quantity.
No two are alike...

Coming soon...

~cyph

Just a flavor...

MAFA 2009

Well, it was a fun week and an intense weekend for the Midwest Association of Filipino Americans (MAFA) conference at Chicago!  Chicago is a beautiful, modern metropolis of sky-scraping towers, gorgeous and greasy foods, open-late bars and restaraunts, and is home to many of my second fam, my college friends.

Day 1 (Wednesday)

On the way:

Checking out the local area around my hotel, the Inn of Chicago.  It was a dope spot; right in the middle of the downtown Chicago magnificent mile.  Snapped a few spots:

First taste of Chicago: Uno's Pizza. Fantastic! The crust was perfectly crispy...




It's been 3 years since I last seen snow fall from the sky. It was beautiful, the way the coat of white covered the black night...




Met up with some old alumni friends from my second fam, the Purdue Filipino Association. My homie DJ Rex was spinning at this bar that night. Chicago is the shit! They sell 40 OZ MICKEYS AT A BAR! My god...






Ended up in Chinatown at 3 A.M. to grub. Awesome.





Day 2 (Thursday)

Went street stomping around the University of Illinois Chicago campus to make sure I wouldn't get lost the next day.  Pretty nice campus, it's right on the outskirts of the downtown city.  Not a big fan of the architecture there however... too blocky for my taste.

Leaving the hotel

Scoping out the campus...






Tried some more Chicago pizza, Girodano's. It was good... but the crust wasn't as good as Uno's however. Cheese was fantastic!

Day 3 (Friday)

Friday, the day of the MAFA pre-show.  I would be performing some spoken word that night, but first, some more Chicago flavor!  My friend Christine brought me to Portillo's... I have to say, their dipped Italian beef is by far the BEST thing I've eaten that week!

Got dropped off at the UIC campus for sound check for the pre-show. I was punctual, but all the rest... were on Filipino time unfortunately.


Kapwa modern from Loyola University arrived:




Loungin...


Air Tabigue, stand-up comedian


Elizabeth "Abet" Lardizabal, fellow spoken word artist


Show started well. I was the second act to go. As always, killed that mic and left the crowd cheering! hahahaha... they weren't ready for that aggressive, west coast spoken word steez! Photo courtesy of Gino


Homie Leo rockin it


Air killin it


Kapwa... money shot!


At the end of the preshow, the presenters were trying to show a video but were having some technical difficulties. So, the MC's were trying to crack some really... corny jokes to keep it going. In true EMCEE fashion, I ran up and started busting freestyles to everyone's delight!  Photo courtesy of Paolo Constantino Photography


Met up with the Ethnik Roots Crew...


Hiphoppers representin'


What you see here.. is the new generation of my crew, the Purdue Filipino Association. It was great seeing my fam still growing and going!


Since when was a mailbox a "Postal Station"?

Day 4 (Saturday)

The big day of the conference.  Suited up to facilitate my workshop, I started getting ready by making Baybayin name cards for passer-bys... and ofcourse, when asked "Hey can you make me one too!"  I reply, "Go to my workshop, and we'll see!"  Hahahaha...

School roll call! That dope ass PFA poster in the middle? 4 minutes by 4 men (including myself).


Now THIS was dope. Back in my college hey-day, when our Filipino student-org was at our peak, we would pontificate about creating a midwest-FilAm student org committee, which would unite delegates of all Fil-Am student orgs across the Midwest to communicate and facilitate Midwest-wide events... THIS was their first meeting.


And ofcourse, yours truly doing the Baybayin Writer's workshop! Just like the SCPASA conference workshop, this went great too! Not a single dozed-off or hung-over kid, all seemed quite receptive. And again, overhearing those "That workshop was DOPE" comments always brightens me up! :-D




Keynote speaker, the 2001 America's beauty.. queen. Or whatever her title was.  Giving an inspirational speech by speaking about how great she is...


The hotel crew


Current gen of PFA


Freshman initiation...


Went to go eat with some alumni and the PFA crew. Kimchee and seafood fried rice. Pretty good!


THIS RIGHT HERE... is MY generation of PFA. This is a family photo, straight up.


Went back to the campus for the Battle of the Bamboo show. With my old homie, Derrick (www.theroderick.com)


All schools that performed on stage, and the UofI crew win! Props!


Champs:


Went to the afterset and then some afterwards... 

:-D

Day 5 (Sunday)

Had breakfast at the campus with some of the PFA crew, and then they went home.  It was great seeing them and sharing knowledge about the crew.  That's fam right there...

I was completely exhausted from the conference at this point. Stayed in, watched Malcolm X, walked to Jimmy Johns (best!), ate a Hunter's Club, cried at it's magnificence, and went to bed...

Day 6 (Monday)

I was on a mission for my last day in Chicago to find a great Chicago hotdog, since I already had the deep dish pizza, the sub sandwich, and the italian beef...  So I went street stomping around down town to see wassup.  Stopped by a few spots first... 

Always been a fan of sartorialism

Concept, cut, sew


First place I found was "Downtown Dogs"


This was good... but nothing special. Honestly, I felt like I could've bought everything that was on the dog at a Ralph's or Vons, and replicated the exact same flavors. But the potato chips were excellent!


The second place was recommended by a barber. J's Dawgs 'n Burgers


Presentation... was ass. Honestly, it LOOKS unimpressive, but it TASTES fantastic! The combination of all the topings and the hotdog link itself tasted very unique and culminated into the sum of a great dog! The fries were meh...


Street stompin:










My homegirl Christine called up, seein if I wanted to hang out for a lil bit and too some tourist stuff. So, we went to Navy Pier and what did I see? Another hot dog spot!


As a hotdog, it was good, but the toppings weren't great. The pickle should've been cut up, and same with the peppers, because they were cumbersome to handle.


Blasphemy!


Gangsta pinhole ish


Hotdog head






In a last effort to see some Chicago sights, she brought me to "the bean". Ofcourse had to take some shots!






Got dropped off at the hotel, and night fell. Still, I needed one last flavor of Chicago. Stomped around for a half mile or so and I found...


On the menu, there's all these testimony's from food critics, newspapers, magazines, food blogs talking about how these are the best ribs in town! I got excited and ordered the BBQ sampler, which was a quarter chicken, half slab of baby back ribs, and a THICK ASS porkchop cut. And HONESTLY... it was OK. Actually somewhere between "good" and "meh". *sigh* ...nothing will ever beat the Southstreet Smokehouse in Lafayette Indiana to me...


Tourists


It was 11:45 pm, I had a shuttle to catch to the airport at 10 am, and I haven't packed yet.  I was planning to get a full night of sleep in... Until my friend calls me up and says, "we should go out for at least one more beer..." 4 am, I wind up at some Burrito shack:


The burrito was good. Honestly, it reminded me of La Bambas, an old burrito joint at Purdue that shutdown a year after I graduated...

Day 7 (Tuesday)

Finally packed, headed to the airport... I had a blast to say the least!  Met up with old friends, made alot of new ones, dropped some knowledge on Baybayin, got the word out about The Bathala Project, and ate tons of delicious Chicagoan food!  Chicago is a BEAUTIFUL city, and it's architecture could keep one entertained for days... however, something bothered me about the city.  

It was too... pretty.

Ofcourse, all downtown areas of all citys are going to be pretty because of the high influx of tourists and what not, which would be reason as to constant cleaning and buffing but still.  Even New York City and Los Angeles have their bridge underpasses of bums and used condoms, graffiti scrawls on roof tops, bottles and trash on the sidewalk... maybe it's just being from L.A. where the graffiti culture is so strong, but it didn't seem right without seeing a bit of paint (or even an off color buff mark) on the walls of such a beautiful city...

Airport homies:

Got home, and the first place I hit: Lucky Boy Burgers in Pasadena for the best garden burger ever!


It sure feels good again to not have to wear a jacket for fear of snow, and seeing the diversity of L.A. being just another common accepted thing in the city of Lost Angeles.

C.A. all day.

~cyph WIC

MAFA 2009