Art Fair Philippines 2017
I’ve never been into an art fair before, so I don’t expect much from the art exhibit that I will see in the art fair Philippines but I am really looking forward on how the fair will present various artworks to us. The moment that we entered the art fair Philippines, I was stunned by a lot of various artworks inside. Art fair Philippines is a scaffold for displaying or exhibiting and selling contemporary Philippine artworks made by our very own, Filipino modern and contemporary artists. This year’s art fair was held on February 16 to 19 at The Link.
My friends and I went there on Saturday afternoon; since it’s a weekend we already expect that there will be a lot of people there. We paid the entrance fee and we were given a wristband which will serve as our ticket. After that, we went up and started to roam around and observe the artworks.
The whole exhibit was divided into different galleries, depending on the artists and the theme of the artworks. There were more than 40 galleries in the art fair (e.g., Archivo 1984, Blanc, Finale Art File, Gajah Gallery, Tin-aw Art Gallery, Secret Fresh, Vinyl on vinyl, etc.). As I walk around different galleries, one exhibit really caught my attention, the Tin-aw Art gallery.
The Tin-aw Art Gallery showcased artworks of various Filipino artists; namely, Charlie Co, Ambie Abaño, Leo Abaya, Anton Del Castillo, Mark Justiniani, Joy Mallari, Francis Commeyne, Riel Hilario, Pauline Abayon and Leeroy New. Tin-aw Art Gallery’s theme is called ‘The Walls’. The approach of their exhibition wants the audience to imagine and interact with art in the basest platform which is an empty white wall. Almost all the artworks inside the gallery are posted or affixed on a wall. The gallery wants us to look artworks through an empty white wall and to look deeper into artworks, consuming and displaying art based on our imagination.
The reason why Tin-aw gallery is my most favorite booth in the art fair is because, it displayed a unique form of art not like the other galleries. It just doesn’t display paintings and sculptures but it exhibits artworks that are far more different than the others. And the mere fact that the artworks are affixed or drawn on a wall, it makes the audience wonder why and what’s the message behind those artworks. Audiences were amazed of the artworks inside and a lot of them stare more than a minute in each of the artworks- maybe because they are curious of it and they wanted to look closely on how each artworks were made.
Below are the artworks featured in the Tin-aw Art Gallery during our visit:
There are specific artworks in Tin-aw art gallery that I liked the most. The first artwork that caught my attention is “Enigma” by Mark Justiniani. The moment I saw this work, there were a lot of people encircling it and I got curious. I was amazed when I saw the shadow that read, “imagine”. I really got curious with this work so I researched what enigma means. Enigma is something that you cannot explain or is mysterious. This artwork wants to tell the audience that when things get a little rough and when your ideas are a little bit vague and different to explain, all you have to do is to imagine and think of something to better explain what your idea is. Broaden your imagination and think of something that you will be able to present with confidence and no doubt.
Another artwork that captured my interest is “…no way out..?!” by Ambie Abaño. It is a drawer that once you look inside, you’ll see a person that is scared of the cockroaches and a mirror on the side of the drawer. If you will to look at this artwork, you will just think that maybe the artist has ‘Katsaridaphobia’ (fear of cockroaches) but it has deeper meaning than that. People tend to fear a lot of things and it’s a bit harder to overcome those fears. The mirror represents how you look at yourself and the more you think and see that you fear something, the more that you will be scared of it. Abaño wants the audience to overcome our fears by thinking that you’re not scared with such things because our mind has greater power that can make our fears away.
Another artwork that caught my curiosity is “Rhizomatic Discord” by Leeroy New. This is an artwork affixed on a wall; at first when you saw it, it looks like veins in the human body. But rhizomatic are the stem of plants that produces the roots and discord is a dispute. If I will to interpret this artwork, Leeroy New might want to interact with the audience about the miscommunication or disagreement between persons. When conflict arises, the roots are slowly stopping you to perform what you want to do. It’s either because you don’t want to cause more trouble or is because you’re limited to whatever you’re doing because there’s a dispute. The more the roots are tangled, the more it will be harder for you to move knowing that conflicts and disagreements are happening and currently occurring.
This artwork caught my attention because it reminds of the Russian Sleep Experiment- though I know that this doesn’t have any relation with the experiment. This is an artwork made by Anton Del Castillo, titled “Silence”. It says a lot about people nowadays. If you’ll look at it, you can see a person covering his ears and wearing something like a mask- maybe to prevent him from speaking.
Some people have voices in their head telling them to do things they are afraid of, and telling them to say thing they don’t want to. This artwork represents the inferior ones in our society, they tend to be silent even though they have a lot of thoughts inside their head because they know, that others won’t believe or hear them out- given that they are inferior. They rather hide things and be swallowed by the ‘wall’ (people who has control over them or are superior) than to let themselves be exposed with the harsh society.
And the last artwork that’s one of my favorite in Tin-aw Art Gallery is “Hanging” by Charlie Co. I liked how this artwork looks so simple but pictures a lot about how our society looks like today. People always wanted to be on top even if they know that they will be able to step on people- they will not care, as long as they will win and will be on top.
This issue in the society will always be present because of the greediness of some people. This is the main reason why the gap between the rich and the poor is still widening. The society needs to give way to everyone in order for us to achieve the equality that everyone wants to attain. Charlie Co wanted to tell the audience that no matter how you like to be on top, you still have to strive harder and keep on climbing and to not let anyone step unto you.
There are also other galleries that are fascinating to look at. Like the Artesan Gallery, where Raoul “Iggy” Rodriguez’s works were featured and where he displayed artworks with the title of “In Capital we Trust”. This gallery exhibited hideous and repugnant creatures, recreating magnificent creatures, leaving the audience the curiosity of what his works means. If you’ll read the title of his artworks, you will realize that it came from the statement “In God we trust”, so why do you think he changed it to capital? And if you will also look at his works, it looks like religious paintings where the holy characters were changed into monsters. Rodriguez wanted to show the audience of what our society looks like now. A lot of us are more focused on money and we’re slowly turning into monsters that are greedy and vicious. People are now more driven to work because of the money they will earn from it and it seems like money is our basis now for living- without money you won’t be able to survive. His works depicts how people were changed by money and how people let themselves to be controlled by it.
Art fair Philippines did not only exhibit private galleries of artworks for potential buyers and audiences but, it also featured special projects of various Filipino contemporary artists. It has featured more than 10 Filipino contemporary artists (e.g., Jose Tence Ruiz, WSK, Mark Valenzuela, Dex Fernandez, etc.), each having a special exhibition and booth. We went to different galleries of various artists and there are 2 artists that I liked the most- Jose Tence Ruiz and WSK.
The exhibit of Jose Tence Ruiz was the first gallery we saw as we enter in the 6th floor. Most of the works inside his gallery are red chairs- like the ones that are used for torturing and a big brown tongue that looks like an ice cream. His project, “Langue Lounge” was centered on displaying the attitude of complacency. He wanted to emphasize on being possessed or chained by some kind of a voice that’s controlling us. The ‘us’ refers to the nation and the society we have now, people nowadays tend to speak more, before thinking clearly what will they say.
If you will look at the exhibit, it looks like a resting place for those that are tired from looking around the fair because there are a lot of comfortable chairs. But each chair has a deeper meaning than just being a resting place. The red chairs have different designs- some looks like an electric chair, while others looks like a throne. The chairs represent different status of people (from poor to rich, from slave to ruler, etc.) and the big tongue refers to rumors and to people who will always talk about you. A person may come from a poor family and become rich, but afterwards people will still be judging and talking about you. The big tongue will always be there- that no matter what idea or explanation you’ll say, they won’t hear it out so you better keep and maintain whatever idea or explanation you have.
By the way, the chairs are open for everyone to relax and sit down and also to strap yourselves in, during the art fair.
The second special exhibition that I liked the most is the WSK’s “All watched over by machines” installation. WSK’s installation is covered by a metal wall of sound that if once touched, it will create a sound and a vibration. WSK is a group of eight sound artists that made machines that will create different types of sound and will need the audience to control or operate it before they make sounds. Their name WSK is actually a Filipino word “wasak” which means ruined.
There are two machines inside that really amazed me. One of them is the “Self- control” by Ian Carlo Jaucian and Pow Martinez. This machine is composed of bongos, snare drum, amplified string coil, cinder blocks and a programmable wheel. The person just need to turn the programmable wheel and the instruments will create different sounds.
The other machine that I liked in WSK’s exhibit is, “Come closer to me”. This is made of glass blinds that whenever a person comes closer to it, it will close and when a person goes farther to it, it will open. The first time that I saw this, I thought it’s just glass blinds with a picture coming from the projector but then I moved closer to it in order to see the title of the work then the blinds immediately closed. I tried it again to see if that’s how it works and yes I was right.
WSK’s exhibit wants to show the audiences how new instruments can be made just by using old records, cassettes and broken tapes, all you need to do is to make new patterns for it until it can create sound again. All you need to do is to become innovative and widen your idea on how you’ll create things from other things. Also, WSK wanted to show the evolution of sound, how machines are before and what do they look like now. According to them, “Music is dead. Long live sound.”, this statement wanted the audience to realize that we can create sounds from just doing simple acts and that’s far more important because without sound, we cannot create music.
After we went around the exhibits in the art fair, it seems like I want to see more and I want to stay much longer to go through all the artworks once more. And it also seems like a lot of people has the same sentiments as I am because there were so many people in each exhibits- that makes it harder for us to take selfies and pictures inside. It’s good to see how people are so much into art and how they really wanted to be involved with this kind of fairs and exhibits.
If I were to compare my experience with my visit to the National Museum of the Philippines and my visit to the Art Fair Philippines, they’re similar and different in many ways. Yes, they both displays Philippine artworks and interact with the audience but National Museum is more of exhibiting artworks that are preserved and safeguarded while in the Art fair, it is open to all and is open to potential buyers. National Museum displays not just artworks made by Filipino artists, but it displays art that shows how our culture and somehow shows to us the history of the Philippines. People guarding it are stricter and people there are more formal- given that we have the notion that those kinds of art should be respected. While in art fair, it shows the contemporary side of the Philippine art. It is modern and likely to catch the attention of today’s generation. And the purpose of the art fair is not just to showcase how beautiful Philippine contemporary art is, but it is also opening their artworks for anyone who wants to buy and support it.
The local contemporary artworks that are featured in art fair are unusual and are unique. The Filipino artists showcased their artworks in the ways they know that the future generation would likely to appreciate. Most of the works are also in line with the issues that are relevant with our country. The local art scene is not being left behind by foreign works and they’re something in our art that is way different and unique. Looking at the Philippine contemporary artworks, makes me realize one thing: ‘we have so much more to be proud of’.
To summarize my over-all experience in the art fair Philippines, all I can say is it’s “extraordinary”.