LOCAL REPORT
MEANINGFUL ART
Yasmin Sison believes that “art in general doesn’t have to have a message.”
Into the Woods (Rabbit), 2008, oil on canvas
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PINAY ART Discover the Philippine art scene by getting to know some of Manila’s top female artists. By Lian Ladia with Owen L. Santos. Photographs by Jun Sabayton
here’s a famed photograph of artists Juan Luna, Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo, Felix Pardo de Tavera and Jose Rizal posing for posterity at Luna’s studio in Paris. This made us ask: Where were the women artists? Though they didn’t get much press, they were very much around. In the 1890s, sculptor Pelagia Mendoza and painter Carmen Zaragoza, graduates of the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura in Manila, an art school that Luna and Hidalgo went to, bagged awards in international art expositions and were among 10 Filipina artists who joined art competitions regularly. These days, Pinay artists are making a strong showing in the art scene here and abroad. Local commercial galleries are expanding, thanks to a thriving business in the sale of local art. Other Asian cities are taking notice. The auction market has become the latest, and probably most exciting, venue for purchasing art in the Southeast Asian region.
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“It’s quite an interesting time for Filipino artists,” says Mok Kim Chuan, deputy director for Southeast Asian paintings at Sotheby’s. “They are becoming visually more interesting, branching out in new directions, and collectors are taking a closer look.” “At our most recent auction, the young contemporary artists actually outperformed some of the more senior artists. Filipino artists are actually some of the hottest artists for Southeast Asian art.”
YASMIN SISON, 35 painter
At the Borobodur Auction in Singapore last May, Yasmin Sison’s work, Into the Woods (Bear) sold more than five times its estimated price. While monetary gains are not what primarily drives Sison and many artists like her to paint, some see them as indicators of something good—people like her work. Settled in Silang Cavite, Sison shares her studio with husband Mariano Ching, another
established artist. Their home environment is a large compound nestled in lush greenery shared with extended family, the ideal “homeoffice” for artists like Sison and her husband. “I was a quiet child, much like I am now, preferring to draw or read rather than be with a large group of people. I preferred creative activities more than academic ones.” Sison is the only artist in a family of teachers and social workers. But far from the stereotype some people have of artists as moody, brooding individuals, Sison comes across as friendly, welcoming new acquaintances to her homestudio with a ready, if cautious, smile. A key point in her life as a budding artist was when she witnessed the 13 Artists Award, a triennial event by the Cultural Center of the Philippines that recognizes young local talents in contemporary art. “I was blown away,” Sison, then 16 years old, recalls. “I wanted to make art like them. So I took up art studies and fine arts.” After earning her bachelor’s degree in Humanities in 1992 and Fine Arts in 1997
NARRATIVE ART
Geraldine Javier shares that stories are important elements of her work.
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from the University of the Philippines, she joined Surrounded by Water, a collective of young artists in Angono, Rizal. The creative energy of the group only strengthened her desire to make art, and she hasn’t stopped creating since. Sison’s works deal with images encountered in popular movies, fashion magazines and pulp romances, which she interprets according to how she sees them. Her works in progress, for instance, the Blotted Out the Sun series, are distinct in a way that the human figures are distorted, melted or erased. She mentions that her process involves painting a photo from a magazine then erasing the image. Sison says what images like this mean is entirely up to the beholder. “Art in general doesn’t necessarily have to have a message,” Sison explains. “My work does have meaning because it means something to me. And as someone who views my art, it may mean something else to you. But when I paint something, I don’t necessarily intend to make a statement or have a ‘message.’” In 2006, Sison was recognized by the CCP with her own 13 Artists Award, an
achievement that has brought her full circle from her younger days when she dreamed of becoming an accomplished artist. “Art is never a one-way thing,” she says. “It’s a form of communication. I wouldn’t want to make art or paintings if there was nobody to see it…As for my current works, I feel they still have some ways to go, and I’m still interested in pushing them further until I feel I should move on.”
GERALDINE JAVIER, 38 painter
At Christie’s’ Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art auction in Hong Kong, Geraldine Javier’s painting, The Absurdity of Being sold at 25 times more than its pre-sale price. At an art gallery in Manila, Javier’s show called The Most Beautiful Memories Are Those of Childhood, sold out before the exhibit opened. The gallery owner said she had 60 potential buyers on a waiting list. Not bad for someone who didn’t intend to pursue art as a career. Not too long ago, Javier wanted to become a nurse. However, after graduating from UP Manila in 1992 and taking the nursing board exams that same year, she
took a slight detour and decided to enroll in a basic drawing and painting workshop at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Growing up, she was an active child who was fond of the outdoors, often fashioning toys out of materials from nature. This desire to create things stayed with her through nursing school. “(That summer after board exams), I felt I needed to get [my art] out of my system before doing full-time work as a nurse.” Fortunately for the art world, her workshop teacher, Jay Lozada, believed enough in her talent to actually encourage and inspire her to get into the UP College of Fine Arts. Javier has since been a full-time artist for 10 years now. “I work 10 to 12 hours a day. I paint almost every day,” she reveals. “When (my fellow artists and I) were just starting, we found ourselves bothered by the thought that we’d given our best and yet no one seemed to notice. There were a few brave souls who showed their appreciation by buying our works. Times have changed. Now, people come to us to view and even buy our works,” she adds. Javier belongs to a breed of Filipino artists whose interests pursue the personal and the
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Photographs of artists by Jun Sabaytyon; Images of art works courtesy of the artists; Hair and Makeup by Omar Ermita.
Blackbird Singing, 2008, oil on canvas
“When I paint, I don’t necessarily intend to make a statement.” SEPTEMBER 2008 57
LOCAL REPORT idiosyncratic. Her images lock you in. Her works have been described as explorations of human culture and the individual’s soul. Filmmakers Ingmar Bergman, Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, and the kind of cinema that evoke old, moody European films greatly influence Javier. “I love working in a narrative style because stories are very important parts of my work.” She recognizes that not everyone will like what she does. “To me, creating without thinking of the audience is like the sound of one hand clapping…But it’s also impossible to please everybody. I’m thankful I have the opportunity to do what I love and get paid for it. “I think there’s a developing sophistication in terms of art appreciation here,” she adds. “Though still largely conservative and traditional, I find collectors becoming more demanding in terms of quality and substance—a welcome development, as it could further push the level of art-making here to a higher standard that is hopefully at par with what’s being produced outside the country.”
NONA GARCIA, 29 painter
Artist Nona Garcia is confident of her artistic vision. “There is really no universal way of looking at art,” she says. “I think what matters is how art can be purposeful to others.” Garcia spent her teenage years at the Philippine High School for the Arts in Mt. Makiling, in Los Baños, Laguna. “I took a class under the artist Freddie Aquilizan,” she
Sitting Still, 2007, oil on canvas
says. “I had no exposure to artists prior to this, coming from a family of doctors. I observed [Aquilizan’s] art practice. The hours spent in his studio made me realize that becoming an artist can be a profession.” In those four years, Garcia says she developed an interest in visual arts. She had already enrolled in a medicine program, but the pull of arts was so strong that she pursued fine arts at the University of the Philippines, a move she has never regretted. Garcia’s works have gained much acclaim from art lovers and collectors alike. Her photo-realistic paintings, with hues that seem to enhance the frail and rustic details of light, space and age, are common poetic images of our everyday lives. Her images are simple, but her use of large canvases gives them a grandeur that many find awe-inspiring. Apart from being an award-winning artist, Garcia’s works easily find themselves in the hands of avid art enthusiasts and collectors. She is among the young artists whose works have fetched outstanding prices in Sotheby’s or Christie’s auctions in Hong Kong early this year (up to six-figure-peso amounts), with some equaling the closing
bids for works such as those of Fernando Amorsolo’s, Vicente Manansala’s or Fernando Zobel’s. She is glad that more Filipinos appreciate art these days. “I’m doing what I love to do and I am happy that people value it as well.”
LENA COBANGBANG, 32 visual artist
Conceptual art is motivated by an idea, not by an image. It is the artistic idea or the process by which it is presented that is considered art. Such is the work of Lena Cobangbang. One of her shows at the Finale art gallery in Mandaluyong was called All that heaven allows (Terrible Landscapes), featuring images of reconstructed scenarios taken from disaster photos in magazines. A closer look at one of the works revealed that Cobangbang recreated a scene using vegetables, cakes and several kinds of food. While some may find the use of food as an art medium strange, Cobangbang believes it makes perfect sense. “Delectability is also a quality much desired in the paint-
“I’m thankful I have the opportunity to do what I love and get paid for it.” PHOTOREALIST
Nona Garcia says what matters is how art can be purposeful to others.
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BE PO X XA XU XT X YS R PEC I ARLT erly oil paintings such as those of artists like Elaine Navas and Wayne Thiebaud. An oil painting is only good, exceptional when it displays such painterliness. It’s the romance of paint.” And why disasters? “I was trying to make parallelisms between traditional landscape paintings and food styling, as though seesawing between grandeur, awe, wretched wastefulness and utter disgust. It was a process of retrieving wonder and magic for me—like a drug-induced inertia which you wish can go on forever.” Cobangbang didn’t really plan on becoming an innovative artist. “I wanted to be a doctor or an architect or an aviator,”
nate the audience from the equation, though they are not primarily my priority. I’m more concerned if it’s going to come out exactly as I’d imagine it to be. So I have to be happy with it first.” Early this year, Cobangbang won the Silverlens Gallery Acquisition Grant, which now makes her Overland photograph series (miniature landscapes made of food) part of the gallery’s collection. She is preparing for a show to be held in Sydney and Bendigo in Australia this October. So far, so good for the shy, petite girl with an immense artistic talent. “I think enough Filipinos have come to appreciate the art that I do,” Cobangbang says. “I don’t claim
pillows on street corners and photographs them with her own camera, as Sabayton documents the whole thing—a sort of remake of Pillow Talk, a previous photo exhibit of Bunoan’s that had her positioning pillows in various indoor and outdoor locations. It’s an intriguing piece of work—as if Bunoan is inviting the participant to engage, or create her own story, in the space where she has placed the object. Some may find it difficult to understand, but it does provoke some thought: “Who has slept here?” “Who will stumble upon it?” “Who might it be useful or useless to?” Or, for some, “Sayang! What if someone steals the pillows?” Such is the nature of art—whether it’s
MULTIMEDIA
Lena Cobangbang innovates using different art formats.
Making the Pretty Ache, 2007, digital color prints
and don’t aspire to be understood by all. But it would be nice if they come to understand [my art] of their own free will.”
RINGO BUNOAN, 34 conceptual artist, art archivist, curator, artist
When we ask to photograph her in her studio space in Quezon City, Ringo Bunoan instead suggests going out of the compound with photographer and fellow artist Jun Sabayton. On her way out, she carries a cartful of pillows and schemes. She strategically places
sculpture, painting, photography or conceptual work—the message does not end with a work on display. Process also plays an important role in order to experience the concept. Growing up in Antipolo, Bunoan says she had an idyllic childhood. But when she was 11, her mother died and her family moved around a lot. “I think my being nomadic was a big factor in my art and life in general.” Bunoan’s art, though seemingly avantgarde, is really not difficult to digest. “I think about the audience (when I make my art),” she says, but stresses that she is not
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she recalls. “I even wanted to become a ninja after watching a lot of Shoko Sugi b-movies. But then my dad would always tell me that he’d imagine me going to UP Fine Arts in paint-splattered jeans.” And she did. She then flourished into a prolific artist exploring various media like film, painting, installation and digital art. Cobangbang admits that her everchanging formats make her art difficult to market. “But I’m trying to cope and am coming up with ways to market whatever it is I do… In making my art, I don’t elimi-
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LOCAL REPORT
PILLOW TALK
Art 101
Ringo Bunoan says that the process of creating art is part of the concept of her works.
STARTING YOUR OWN
ART COLLECTION Jay Amante, owner of blanc gallery in Makati shares his point of view on stumbling into art, and enjoying it.
Wall, Used Pillows, 2008, installation much influenced by the market. “It would be the death of art when it becomes too commodified.” This was one of the reasons she and fellow artist Katya Guerrero established Big Sky Mind in 1999, a non-profit space for artist exchange and residencies for conceptual, performance and installation artists. Young artists thrived and created works without having to think about whether they would sell or not. Ironically, the work exhibited there garnered more attention
from art enthusiasts. “It was good to see the artists’ work unhampered by market concerns,” she says. “It helped them produce some of their best work.” Big Sky Mind has since closed shop but has spawned similar spaces and groups in the country. As an artist, Bunoan also received the Silverlens Completion Grant last year. Her body of work, Little Deaths, had a recent show at MO_Space in Taguig. It was a well-received retrospective of her past
conceptual work which included video, sound, photography, sculpture and installations. Bunoan is enamored with her work at the Asia Art Archive, where she archives press clippings, works, letters, photographs and manuscripts for one of the country’s foremost independent curators and conceptual artists, Roberto Chabet. This is her most significant project yet. When asked why, she replies: “It’s bigger than any of us, it’s about making history.” ■
Gallery Guide MAKATI/TAGUIG BLANC GALLERY 2E Crown Tower 107 H.V. Dela Costa St. Salcedo Village, Makati, Tel.(02)752-0032 Open Mon-Sat 11am-7pm, Sun by appointment www.blanc.ph THE DRAWING ROOM 1007 Metropolitan Avenue, Metrostar Building, Makati, 1205 Tel. (02)897-7877. Open Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-5pm www.drawingroomgallery.com MO_SPACE 3rd level, Mos Design, Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Tel. (02)856-2745 Open daily 11am to 8pm SILVERLENS GALLERY 232 Pasong Tamo Extension, Warehouse 2, Yupangco Building, Makati Tel.(02)816-0044. Open Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 1pm-6pm www.silverlensphoto.com
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MANDALUYONG/PASIG THE CRUCIBLE GALLERY SM MegaMall 4th Level, Bldg. A Edsa cor. Julia Vargas Ave. Mandaluyong, Tel. (02)635-6061 Open Mon-Sun 10am-9pm FINALE ART GALLERY Artwalk, Level 4, SM Megamall A, EDSA Mandaluyong, Tel.(02)634 2411 Open Mon-Sun 10am-9pm www.finaleartfile.com LOPEZ MEMORIAL MUSEUM G/F Benpres Building, Exchange Road corner Meralco Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig , Tel (02) 631-2417 Open Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, Sat 7:30am-4pm www.lopezmuseum.org.ph WEST GALLERY SM MegaMall, 4th Level, Bldg. A Edsa cor. Julia Vargas, Mandaluyong, Tel. No. (02)634-1284 Open Mon-Sun 10am-9pm www.westgallery.org
QUEZON CITY ATENEO ART GALLERY Ateneo de Manila University Katipunan Road, Loyola Hts, Quezon City Tel. (02)426-6001 loc. 4160-62 Open Mon-Fri 8am-12pm,1pm-5pm Sat 8am-12pm, gallery.ateneo.edu BOSTON GALLERY 2- A Boston cor. Lantana St. Cubao, Quezon City, Tel.(02)722-9205 Open Mon-Sat 9am-6pm www.thebostongallery.com JORGE B. VARGAS MUSEUM AND FILIPINIANA RESEARCH CENTER University of the Philippines Diliman Roxas Avenue, 1101 Quezon City Tel.(02)928-1927 loc. 4021 to 24 Open Tues-Sun 9am-4pm www.vargasmuseum.org MAG:NET KATIPUNAN 335 Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City 1105 Tel. (02)929.3191, Open Mon-Sat 10am-8pm www.magnetgalleries.com
MANILA/PASAY/PARAÑAQUE CCP GALLERY Open Mon-Sat 9am-6pm Cultural Center of the Philippines CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd., Pasay, Tel.(02)832-1125 local 1504, 1505 Open Tues-Sun, 10am-6pm www.culturalcenter.gov.ph GALLERIA DUEMILA 210 Loring Street 1300 Pasay, Tel.(02) 831-9990 Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm www.galleriaduemila.com HIRAYA GALLERY 530 United Nations Avenue Ermita, Manila Tel. No 523-3331 Open Mon-Sat 9am-4pm www.hiraya.com KULAY-DIWA GALLERY 25 Lopez Avenue, Lopez Village, Sucat Parañaque, Tel (02)826-0574, by appointment www.kulay-diwa.com NATIONAL ART GALLERY P. Burgos St., Manila Tel.(02) 527-1219 Open Tues-Sun 9am-5pm
What’s the best way to familiarize ourselves with contemporary art? Attend shows. Look. Research. There are a lot of galleries around Manila that organize shows monthly. Art is all over. Look at art pieces and list down the artists that somehow appeal to you, touch you, move you. Which artist or artwork is worth investing in? Once you buy art you can afford and like, it’s all worth it. If the art piece you acquired appreciates in terms of monetary value, that’s icing on the cake. Gallery owners, artists, and collectors will be more that willing to give you their opinions about artists. Are Filipinos becoming more aware of art and the art market? The Filipino artist is definitely doing something right. Artists are creating beautiful art while collectors are responding to these creations quite positively.