PAINTING THE ITGH THAT NEEDS TO BE SCRATCHED

Raul G. Rodriguez, artist and curator of the exhibit "Scratch To An Itch," walks me through the Galleria Duemila space and mentions how hard it is to choose background music for a group show: you've got to pick a sweet spot between The Clash and Fleetwood Mac.

- SCOTT GARCEAU

Maybe Wilco, I suggest, because one artist’s canvas (Eric Sausa’s “The Order of Disappearance”) reminds me of them. He pauses and shrugs: “Maybe some Steely Dan.”

Curating a disparate group show is probably more complicated than settling on background music, even if you're trying to integrate punk and ‘70s easy rock. The 12 artists involved — Al Cruz, Alvin Villaruel, Argie Bandoy, Dan Raralio, Don Djerassi Dalmacio, Erik Sausa, Joe Bautista, Jonathan Olazo, Jose Naval, Raul G. Rodriguez, Ronald Achacoso and RM De Leon — were simply told by Rodriguez: “Just do what you like to do, or things you want to do but haven't done before; just dive into that.” The show’s title comes from de Leon, whose mentor Roberto Chabet would say something like, “What is art? Anything that you want to scratch, like an itch, so that it will feel relieved.”

So let the scratching begin.