Admirers mob Vice Ganda
Don’t hide yourself in regret/Just love yourself and you’re set... Issued in 2011,
Born This Way, Lady Gaga’s imperative on self-love that Jordan-based prized artist Elmer Dumlao thematically shares in his art piece titled
Inborn (2012). Whether Dumlao hangs it in a corner of the Zara Gallery in Amman, Jordan or Art Center of Megamall in Mandaluyong City, it grabs the attention of Filipinos who mob and end up namecalling her as “Vice Ganda.”
Created after the realworld release of Mother Monster’s boppy charttopper, giving zing how she queered the LGBT community forever, Dumlao re-exhibited Inborn in his
Full Cargo retrospective last April 1 to 11 at the Art Center.
Glimmering of wit with flashes of visual inventiveness, Inborn is a wildly imaginative and delightful depiction of Dumlao’s unconventionality and provocative original man as animal (“animan”) series.
A hanging cutout of a posed one-foot genderless zebra wearing high heel dressed up flamboyantly in paint, silver-colored natural
fibers and industrial hardware, Vice Ganda is in reference to the comedy phenomenon’s equine association and her mindset of acceptance of our nature.
“Wala akong na-encounter na nangutya sa kanyang kakaibang itsura. Darating ang panahon na sino ka man, ano man ang iyong kasarian ay katanggap-tanggap at may
karapatan sa lipunan,” embraced Dumlao who untiringly manned the exhibit.
Dumlao’s first exhibit in the Philippines brimmed with celebrities including Paulina Luz Sotto-Llanes, Fr. Sonny Ramirez, UST Fine Arts masters Cid Reyes, Raul Isidro, Al Perez, Herber Bartolome and Dr. Edinell Calvario as organized by president Marie Pe Yang of beneficiary UST Atelier Alumni Association, Inc. Julius and Tintin Babao sent their best wishes.
Cultural icon Gilda Cordero-Fernando, who visited the showcase and meditated on each otherworldly beauty that brought her misty-eyed, raved in the guest book, Magnificent! Dumlao’s comment betrays the full story, “Pangarap kong maging isang big icon si Inborn.”