CATALOGUE
HEIGHTS 9th Ateneo Heights Artists Workshop Catalogue Copyright 2019 HEIGHTS is the official literary and artistic publication and organization of the Ateneo de Manila University. Copyright reverts to the respective authors and artists whose works appear in this issue. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced in any means whatsoever without the written permission of the copyright holder. This publication is not for sale. Correspondence may be addressed to: HEIGHTS, Publications Room, MVP 202 Ateneo de Manila University PO Box 154, 1099 Manila, Philippines Tel. no. (632) 426-6001 loc. 5448 heights-ateneo.org Cover by Jana Codera, Pilar Gonzalez, Justine Daquioag Layout by Justine Daquioag, Valerie Cobankiat, and Moira Swann Typeset Circular STD, Freight Text
9th Ateneo Heights Artists Workshop October 27-28, 2018 Altaroca Mountain Resort and Convention Center, Antipolo
Panelists
Fellows
Aldy Aguirre
Frances de Guzman
Karl Castro
Zelle Diaz
Mich Cervantes Regine David Raxenne Maniquiz
Digital Ink
Geri Gonzales
Acrylic on canvas
Fran de Guzman
Hikaru Murakami
Zelle Diaz
Videography
Meneer Marcelo Kitkat Pajaro Tokwa PeĂąaflorida Luigi Singson Jel Suarez
Table of Contents
China Palanas Watercolor
Tamia Reodica
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Geri Gonzales Hikaru Murakami
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18
24
Film and Digital Photography
China Palanas
Kathryn Rodriguez
Tamia Reodica
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Kathryn Rodriguez
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Conceptual Art
Yuri Tan
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Frances To Digital
Frances To
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Dyan Villegas
Dyan Villegas
Watercolor
Yuri Tan
Digital Photography
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Fran de Guzman 3 BFA Information Design Hi! I’m Fran. I am currently studying Information Design, but I tend to focus on illustration. My works usually are very stylized, and I tend to focus on making my subjects look cartoon-like in order express facial movement. I mostly use Adobe Illustrator because I think that it helps me create better shapes. I often use limited and satured color palettes. Most of my work is posted on behance.net/FrancesDeGuzman.
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Butler
Faighto
Bata 1
Bata 2
Digital illustration
Digital illustration
Digital illustration
Digital illustration
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Morning Ceremony Digital illustration
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Zelle Diaz 4 AB Social Sciences Initially, journaling had been a way to cope with boredom—I had a lot of free time in between classes and during classes and hours wasted on commute and in cafes while trying to study. Essentially, I had a lot of free time and not much else to do. As it began to become a habit, however, I’ve gone from drawing what I feel, i.e. my current state at a particular point in time, to drawing what I see, i.e. my immediate surroundings. While I cannot truly separate my point of view from the subject and its reflections on my work, there was a noticeable shift from a prevailing individual narrative to a commentary more involved with its surroundings even if it’s just to vent out frustrations or say something mundane. As an artist now, I feel more interested in illustrating these observations and reactions to portray life—well, mine at least. With that said, I am thankful for the workshop, with its mentors, fellows, and organizing members, as it helped and made me realize this perspective on my work.
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Free cut
Uwi
Biyahe
Pen and highlighter on paper. (2017).
Pen and highlighter on paper. (2019).
Pen and highlighter on paper. (2017).
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“San aabot vacant mo?�
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2
Pen, highlighter, and ink on paper
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“Sis tama na” Pen and highlighter on paper. (2019).
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Geri Gonzales 2 BFA Information Design Art has always been something that I had in the back of my mind, even as a child, but it was not until high school that I really considered pursuing it. I was lucky to have received education in art to help me develop my skills in painting and drawing, and we were always encouraged to experiment with different materials and styles. Majority of the work that I have done is in acrylic as it was the most accessible and abundant in our school’s art department, so I decided to make the most with what was available to me. I enjoy painting with acrylic because I think that it is a very versatile and simple medium; it also dries faster which helps with building texture and colour. Painting in this way encouraged me to find influence from artists who added dramatic texture in their work, such as German contemporary artist Anselm Kiefer, who had a very expressionist style and added texture to his work using not only paint, but but materials found in the environment like ash and straw. In terms of subject matter, my main influences came from landscape artists and those who closely worked with nature/environment like J.M.W. Turner and other romantic artists. I chose to paint these themes because I have always been drawn to how nature affects everything, even in the most urban places, as well as how natural light transforms an entire landscape. I am particularly drawn to vast landscapes like deserts and beaches because I grew up in that sort of environment in the Middle East. In the work I created for this exhibit, I tried to focus mainly on colour and recreating that environment from memory as a sort of homage to where I spent most of my life. A lot of my memories of where I grew up are always in purple and blue undertones, hence those were the main colours I used for the piece. During the workshop, I was inspired to work
more on this subject as it evoked more emotion and the influence came naturally. The workshop also opened my mind to the idea of combining expressionism and romanticism, despite their clashing styles, which I attempted in this piece by controlling my use of texture to accentuate the colours, rather than it being a dominant and overpowering element in the painting.
Triptych: Richard Serra’s East-West/West-East Mixed-media on board (acrylic and impasto gel)
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Anawangin Acrylic on watercolour paper
A Memory Acrylic and impasto on canvas
Blue and Green Acrylic on watercolour paper
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Hikaru Murakami 3 AB Communication From grief to mental illnesses, the world we live in today is filled with “taboos.” People are afraid to talk about things that create fear among themselves. In these taboos, the opinions and discussions are never only black and white; there’s always a grey area. My films explore the grey area of topics ranging from cold families to hidden illnesses. I aim to approach these theses through honesty and vulnerability, hoping to create a closer connection with the audience to let them know, “you are not alone.” Watch Hikaru’s videos through this link: bit.ly/HikaruMurakamiVideos
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Papa E (Dear Papa) Video. (2019).
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And, Again.
Ma, Okay Lang Ako.
Video. (2017).
Video. (2018).
Debosyon
Overture
Video. (2018).
Video. (2017).
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China Palanas 2 BFA Information Design Nature has always inspired me the most, my main goal for practically every art piece I create to be able to distill the wonder and awe I feel for our wonderful vast world. Because of this I draw a lot of backgrounds like forests, deep seas, deserts, and outer space. I started doing this kind of background oriented work in early 2017 being inspired by the nature I saw on my climbs and dives. Then slowly getting more into watercolor as a medium after doing more and more detailed pieces. I chose watercolor as my primary medium because it brings me so much joy to see the colors blend together and the pigment creeping onto the paper. Working on a piece I usually start with a place I want to paint, then decide how a character would interact with that environment. Then I decide on a color that will determine the mood of the piece. I fill in the entire space with that color and build on layers of washes from there. My creative process is more spontaneous than planned, usually when I’m in the mood to paint I just think of a place and color and go off from there. The work I created “Exploration Observation” is a silent comic with all the pages in one page. It is about the journey of a tree observer and her cat throughout the forest and its many trees. I chose to do something like this because it was suggested as an alternative to creating multiple page comics which I used to do. When all the parts of the comic are in one page, it’s easier and cheaper to reproduce. Other suggestions from the workshop were that it would look impressive if I combined all the color compositions I usually use into one piece, which I did. My main goal in making this piece was being able to fit a story into just one page.
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I used to work really fast and really small because I had a lot of ideas I wanted to just expel and make real. In the end everything looked like sketches and none of it was really “finished.� Since the workshop I’ve taken a lot of meaningful critiques to heart and have started taking more time on my pieces as well as working bigger. Over all the workshop made me realize how much more I could do and the little and big changes it took to get there. When I asked how I could get my work out there more, panelists suggested contests, galleries, and organizations I could join as a student to help broaden my audience and opportunities. The workshop made me realize how much more I could do. From polishing my work even more, working bigger, and exposing me to contests I could participate in and organizations I could join. portfolio catforests.tumblr.com instagram.com/catforests
Exploration Observation (Full) Watercolor and colored pencils
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Exploration Observation (Close-up 1)
Exploration Observation (Close-up 2)
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Forest Asteroid Picnic
Coral Cave
Watercolor
Watercolor
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Swamp Dreams
Do Space Robots Dream of Martian Sheep?
Watercolor
Watercolor
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Tamia Reodica 2 AB Communication Growing up is a wondrous time. It’s only right to keep something to have, hold, and look at years from now in order to remember. This is why I take photos. It’s a love letter to my favourite days and people, to the ups and downs, to the moments and in-betweens, to the silence and sound. instagram.com/tofuarchive
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Chummy
Freshman year
Photography
Photography
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Hikaru
The Sky for a Table
Photography
Photography
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2000-0200 (series) Photography
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Kathryn Rodriguez 1 BFA Information Design One of my all-time biggest insecurities in making art was my style. I didn’t like showing my more cartoonish art to others and didn’t take too much pride in those works. In the portfolio that I submitted to Heights, I put in mostly traditional watercolor studies of objects and landscapes, I guess to seem “professional” or “mature.” In the 9th Ateneo Heights Artists Workshop, I showed my online portfolio as well and was asked why I omitted a lot of the art I did for fun in the Heights portfolio, so I talked about this insecurity. After listening to a panel of established artists give me their thoughts on my doubts, this workshop taught me how to grow in an art style that I love and find comfort in. When brainstorming plans for this project, my mentor, Tokwa Peñaflorida, introduced a paper craft genre called “paper tole.” Paper tole is a paper craft that involves numerous layers of prints to make a three dimensional artwork. When he showed me examples, I was really excited as I had never tried anything like it before. I like to use a lot of vibrant colors in my art, so color was something I carefully considered in this piece. I wanted to incorporate as many layers into the drawing as I could, so I liked the idea of a crowd and the little interactions and personalities within it. The characters in Rush Hour are called “object heads,” and I wanted each object to symbolize a personality (but a few of them ended up being just for aesthetic). Organizing the crowd and adding elements to make the layering interesting was a challenge I couldn’t face alone. I had help from Tokwa and a few of my friends whom I know would give good advice. My biggest challenge I faced was cutting each layer with precision which proved to be a delicate process.
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I’m proud of what I have produced at the end of this workshop, and I’m very thankful that I had the opportunity to participate. I want to explore this medium more as I actually enjoyed the process a lot. I’m young, passionate, and curious, and I want to continue developing my art and explore it as much as I can. Twitter: www.twitter.com/avaricide
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For Caitlin and Darius Digital
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Rush Hour (Details) Rush Hour Digital prints and paper tole
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A Gas Station to Florence
Interest
Watercolor
Watercolor, ink, holographic tape
Vegetation Watercolor
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Yuri Tan 5 BFA Information Design Yuri Ysabel Tan is a visual artist who works primarily with photography, image-text hybrids, and mixed media as they have a greater affinity for concept rather than form. Central themes in their work include gender politics, domesticity, and memory. Having studied Information Design in Ateneo De Manila University, Yuri is also influenced by design theory—often creating works that are reactionary or participatory in nature. Yuri likes to think that their work sits on the line that lies between the personal and the political. While it is, of course, naive to think that art can change anything they find that we can learn a lot by looking. In the work entitled infertility, they juxtapose scannographs of flowers and their own body with prose that details their experience as a woman with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. This came after the restraining order on contraceptives in the Philippines was issued. In after Rodrigo Duterte, the artist carves the words “shoot the vagina” on a banana after reading news of the president making these remarks about female rebels in Mindanao. In their new work flexion/extension, they reflect on their experience with gender dysphoria. As the artist is already comfortable with scanography, the medium becomes the middleman between them and their constant state of unease. The resulting diptych treads the line between the tender and the tense. The scanner forces them to look at every detail of their body, even when some days they can’t bear to look themself in the mirror. At the same time, it compels the artist to find some kind of synchroneity with it—having to understand how their body moves, how much they can flex or extend at a certain joint, how those actions might throw them off-balance.
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For now, Yuri’s work can be found in the pages of HEIGHTS Ateneo and The GUIDON. They have also been featured in Young STAR and CNN Life.
after Rodrigo Duterte Carved banana
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*Excerpt from infertility (Printed zine)
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flexion/extension (diptych) Printed zine
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flexion/extension (diptych) (left detail)
flexion/extension (diptych) (right detail)
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Frances To 4 BFA Information Design Frances is a work-in-progress, constantly moulded by her dreams and aspirations. Her digital illustrations are an allegory of her life. She projects her work by playing around with rounded forms, bright pastel colours, and subtle textures, which bring about a happy and vibrant atmosphere. Frances believes that through passion and drive, dreams can happen. But behind all the achievements, all the passion, the happy and inspiring aesthetic her illustrations evoke, there lies a sad story behind her works. Despite achieving her dreams, Frances is trapped in a world full of high expectations that are in conflict with her own aspirations. Being a daughter to a traditional Chinese family, Frances is expected to be an achiever in school, a doctor, and ultimately, a woman who marries and starts a family with a successful Chinese man. Living in a world where such expectations are imposed upon her, Frances is dissatisfied and is in constant struggle with the status quo. Frances shows this in her latest artwork, Wa-wa. Wa-wa, meaning doll in Mandarin, shows a girl portrayed as a paper doll in three significant stages of her life. In each illustration, the girl is surrounded by various accessories, which symbolise the expectations imposed onto the doll. Frances allegorically represented these expectations this way because like a paper doll accessory, these expectations can be superimposed onto the doll. Through this artwork, Frances herself is the Wa-wa; trapped in her own situation, and discontented with the fact she cannot escape it. It represents her her struggle. It represents her identity. You may view more of her works on her Instagram account francescto.
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The Good Student
The Doctor
Digital illustration
Digital illustration
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The Wife Digital illustration
The Nine Types of People You Will Meet in an Exam Digital illustration
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How to Start Your Passion Project and Make Time for It Digital illustration
A Dream Come True Digital illustration
Following the Map Digital illustration
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Dyan Villegas 4 BFA Information Design My interest in photography developed mainly thanks to my family. My dad had photography as his hobby, and because we got to travel often, he used this hobby of his to take our family photos. These two influences—my dad’s hobby and our family’s affinity for travelling—were what led me to be drawn to the themes in my art. In photography, I am often interested in strangers and places as my subjects because of my tendency to peoplewatch; I mostly do travel photography to document my observations, and because of this, a lot of the photos I take are everyday-like images which stem from spontaneous and candid moments. Photographers Nguan, KangHee Kim, and Sam Youkilis are artists that have influenced my work because of how they also pay attention to strangers situated against their environment. Most of my images are rendered in bright and vibrant colors because I want to emphasize the environment the strangers are in. Being in a new environment carries both new possibilities and limits to a travel photographer. Often, one can only be in a place for a short while, and not everyone has enough time to become familiar and close with an environment. However, it is also this sense of unfamiliarity and wonder that allows a travel photographer to explore and see what locals may not. I got to experience both sides of this contrasting experience, as I had the chance to become familiar with a new city for half a year, as well as rediscover new ones during my study term abroad. This experience undoubtedly helped me develop as a photographer. Interestingly, I felt the same contrasting experience once I returned to my hometown in the Philippines. After being gone for almost half a year, I returned to Marikina and observed many changes. Not only did I grow up in
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Marikina, but it is where my mother and her siblings grew up as well. Marikina and our specific neighborhood have changed since their time, and it also definitely changed during the time I was away. Currently it is constantly being developed, with new buildings being constructed, and old establishments getting renovated. Therefore, with this series, I wanted to twist my travel photography practice by focusing on something more local and personal. I wanted to share this observation of change by tracing how a familiar environment was shifting and becoming a little more unfamiliar. Online portfolio: instagram.com/creasedminds
AlbaicĂn Digital photography
Bondi Digital photography
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un/familiar (series)
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2
Digital photography
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One (series)
Las Setas Digital photography
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Versailles 81
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Museo del Prado, Madrid
Plaza Mayor, Madrid
Warhol. Mechanical Art, Madrid
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Cuenca Diary (series)
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2
Digital photography
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3
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Workshop Deliberation Committee John Alexis Balaguer
Corinne Victoria F. Garcia
Ja Cabato
Alfred Marasigan
Workshop Team Sophia Bonoan
Shelby Parlade
Aisha Dominique Q. Causing
Aletha Payawal
Julia Carpio
Arnold Manuel Rillorta
Rich Labao
Sophia Wong
Celline Marge Mercado
Charles Bernard Yuchioco
Elissa Joy C. Ofilada
Design
Finance
Jana Codera
Hazel Lam
Justine Daquioag
Ryan Gabriel C. Molen
Ninna Lebrilla
Workshop Moderator Yael A. Buencamino
Head Moderator Martin V. Villanueva