Pinto Art Museum: A Wonderland through the "Door"

- July 28, 2018, Saturday.

- If you ever watched or read Alice in Wonderland you'd know the strange and colorful world she find herself in after going down the rabbit hole. In that world, Alice encounters various unusual creatures, eccentric people, otherworldly rooms, and other things beyond what the normal world can comprehend. If this world fancies you, then you'd be happy to know that there is something close to this wonderland in the Philippines - the Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo, Rizal.

- Around an hour away from Manila in quiet Grand Heights Subdivision lies Pinto Art Museum (1 Sierra Madre St.). The museum is named after its door, or "pinto" in Filipino, which has a little old bell above it. The narrow entrance makes visitors think that the place is small, but after paying the 200php entrance fee (with discounts for students, children, PWDs, and senior citizens,) a 1.3-hectare world - complete with its own restaurant - welcomes its guests. Is is open from 9am-6pm, Tuesdays to Sundays.   

This is supposed to be Icarus. Imagine seeing this above you. I thought it was a manananggal trying to eat a fat kid like me.

- After having lunch, my friends and I went around the huge place. The museum is owned by art collector Dr. Joven Cuanang, the former director of St. Lucke's Medical Center. He started the idea for this museum in 2000 and became a full-blown museum with more than a thousand pieces of art since 2010. The museum's 6 main galleries and some special rooms and halls mainly showcase contemporary Filipino art. Apart from the larger-than-life paintings, a huge part of the museum's collection is also the collection of wooden sculptures that remind me of the weird creatures in Alice's Wonderland.

Zack, pay attention to your girlfriend. Hahahaha.

Casually admiring art, while Zack is still on his phone.

A heavenly creature, one of the sculptures that reminded me of Alice in Wonderland.

We can't thug for our dear lives.

Oh hello Zuma, nice to see you here.

- I noticed that more than the works of art exhibited, most people come to Pinto Art Museum for the "Instagram-worthy" buildings that house the artworks, function halls, and other rooms. They are works of art themselves - so much so that the museum charges a hefty price for formal photoshoots, and there are rules such as no changing of clothes and using props. This actually made me frustrated because I brought a bunch of costumes and props in my bag and found out upon arriving that I couldn't use any of them after all. I had to ask and make sure that their rule meant because I did not want to get in conflict with the management like what happened in Bang Pa-In Palace in Thailand a few years ago (click here) after a small miscommunication with the rules regarding clothing. Oh well, I'm just glad that I was able to wear a theme-appropriate casual "costume" for the day - casual Latin-American ensemble with authentic Latin-American textiles. While the general architecture of the place is mostly described as being based on Santorini because of its low white-colored buildings and outdoor stairs, I saw from photos online that some of its buildings resembled Mexican pueblo-style architecture. In short, I found this place a mix of Mamma Mia and Pixar's Coco. I guess what gave me the pueblo feel was that the museum's space was far from the sea and it lacked the signature "Aegean blue" domes, doors, and window shutters of Cycladic architecture like the ones in Santorini or Mykonos (click here). In some places, it even had the "hacienda" feel, making me feel like I'm in the middle of a Latin-American telenovela. (I had no regrets with my last-minute decision to wear something Latino inspired instead of my Greek ensemble.)

Looks like a set for telenovelas.

One of my favorite shots of the day.

This reminds me a lot of Tangled, when Rapunzel was singing "When Will My Life Begin."

The main bell tower of the museum.

Charmaine as the Latina Tita.

Danica and her hacienda.

I'm tiny.

Telenovela material.

Peek-a-boo!!

- One of my favorite galleries was an installation called "Kawayan Forest,' which was a dark room filled with tall green bamboo plants and eerily-lit pools with suspended boulders. The room has some ambient nature sounds as well.

In the bamboo forest.

El brujo.

Si Malakas (....Matangkad rather) at si Maganda.

- Despite it being a weekend, the museum's area was so huge that it can easily disperse people. My main worry before going was that there would probably be a lot of people and taking Instagram-worthy photos would be difficult. It won't take too long to find an Instagrammable spot, but the problem is that there's just simply too many photo-worthy places!! Best if you go early (and if possible, on a weekday,) to avoid big crowds, and so you'll be able to maximize all the ups and downs, and ins and outs of the amazing wonderland.

United Colors of Benetton. HAHA.

My colors went well with the stained-glass windows.

Tired from posing.

In one of the Greek-inspired halls.

They were laughing at what I was making them do. Took the photo at the right moment.

Who dares tresspass my hacienda?? HAHA. (Also, this church reminded me of the Monastery of Panagia Tourliana in Ano Mera, Mykonos.)

Stairs everywhere.

This little fake-church (yes, it's not a real church,) reminded me of the church in the Mamma Mia movie.

It was raining.

Inside the fake church.

This looks very Cycladic.

This is near the entrance.

A colorful parrot!!

- We left around 4pm, missing the Indigenous Art gallery (which gives me an excuse to go back to Pinto!!) because it started to rain really hard, and we had dinner plans that night. Although we weren't able to explore every corner of this quiet wonderland, I am pretty sure that I'd still want to go back to Pinto Art Museum. I am not really into contemporary art (I am more of an ancient arts kind of guy,) but I love how Pinto Art Museum is more than just a "roof over art" - the museum itself is a giant piece of art, and the food in the restaurant was amazing. When I go back next time, I'll really have to make sure that I'll have more time to explore and take photos of this lovely and cozy place!!