Art Fair Philippines 2017

Feb 23, 2017 · 10 min read

Art Fair is a premier platform for exhibiting and selling the best in modern and contemporary Philippine visual art. The said fair seeks to showcase the local art scene and, at the same time, be able to provide support for Filipino artists. This year’s Art Fair was held last February 16, Thursday until the 19th, Sunday.

PART I.

This year’s Art Fair featured 46 exhibitors and galleries which showcased several collections to buyers. Out of those 46, my favorite gallery would have to be the one named “Secret Fresh”. This gallery highlighted several works and pieces by artists such as Lynyrd Paras and Yeo Kaa.

For me, this gallery’s theme is about youth. It deals with introspection (act of thinking about your own actions or inner thoughts) and other critical issues that the most youth are facing such as conflicted feelings, sadness and finding strength. Compared to other galleries that are more minimalist and mostly characterized by a sea of greys and passing colors, what made Secret Fresh eye-catching was its vibrant colors. An example is one of my personal favorites in the said gallery — an art piece by Yeo Kaa named “Desolation” — which was mostly made up of colors purple, pink and yellow.

The word “desolation” means a state of complete emptiness or destruction. In the picture of the artwork, we can two dummies with their head cut off and blood flowing like a fountain. The room is messy — clothes are all over the floor and are strewn around the room. There is a sign that says “ALONE” on the wall. However, the girl — the subject of the painting — is seen to be smiling and glowing (which is evident due to the sparkles). I believe that this art piece shows that sometimes, we can find solace in desolation. Beauty is not just in ethereal and exquisite things, there is also beauty in pain and destruction because that is where you know yourself more and learn so you can make more.

Another piece made by Yeo Kaa that caught my interest was the one named “Reborn as a Fighter.” It was placed right by Desolation and also has vibrant colors dominated by purple, pink and red.

In this art piece, we can see a girl looking up on a body hanging and torn apart — with blood pouring out. Similar to another work by Yeo Kaa earlier, we can see a sign that reads “Fight.” I think what the piece tries to convey is that if we want to change, we have to kill our old self and be born anew. As said by Rizal, “It wouldn’t be worthwhile to destroy and try to rebuild with rotten materials.” If we really want to change, we have to get rid of all the rotten aspects of ourselves and rebuild using newer and fresher attributes.

Secret Fresh also has a room dedicated to one of our national artists, Benedicto Cabrera.

His featured work entitled, “Heads”, shows a multitude of heads stuck on the wall. The heads are all seen to have their eyes closed with a serene expression. BenCab’s art style has always been regarded to tackle socio-political issues and various components of the Filipino identity. I think what Heads is trying to say is that we, Filipinos, has this habit of being compliant and unbothered especially with political and social issues. We become with very satisfied and contented with the way things are and tend to turn a blind eye in everything and forget that there are still some things we should and could change.

PART II.

This year’s Art Fair also featured 11 known contemporary artists in the Filipino art industry such as Agnes Arellano, Patricia Perez Eustaquio, Dex Fernandez etc. Out of these 11 artists, my two favorite ones would have to be Maria Jeona Zoleta and Jose Tence Ruiz.

If you walked around the Art Fair, there is no chance that you will miss Zoleta’s corner. Full of neon and vibrant colors, Zoleta’s art was said to be an integration of the millennial culture and feminist takes on sexuality. Her corner on the Art Fair is just the same, full of neon lights and is dominated by pink, purple, blue and green colors and is adorned with colorful confetti.

The art pieces present in her Art Fair corner depicts unashamed and bold illustrations of female sexuality. Using glitters and colors that are often categorized as feminine, Zoleta’s art-women are illustrated to be surfing without clothes, another with stacked women whose legs are apart, and one with buildings with signage saying “PORNO FLESH DIVINE” and a sentence regarding masturbation and such.

For me, Zoleta uses her art as a platform to promote feminism. Her works convey that women can like sex and masturbation and that’s not something that you have to be shy about and hide. In our society today, women are still expected to be all conservative and traditional. But the tides are changing and women should not be classified into categories on what they should or should not like and what they must or must not do. I believe that Zoleta’s art empowers women through telling them that they should learn to embrace and be proud of their sexuality and all that it entails.

Another artist that captured my attention was Jose Tence Ruiz. Once you enter the second floor dedicated to the Art Fair, his art pieces will be the first one to greet you. With a striking red color and a number of chairs surrounding his corner, pretty sure it will make you, force you even, to look at his area. Upon closer inspection, you will see that the chairs present resembles the characteristics of a torture device — with straps to keep occupants constrained.

Ruiz is was known for his wry and compelling political cartoons, so it’s not actually a surprise when his piece for the Art Fair also tackles political issues. The chairs, in my opinion, is his jab on the talks about reinstating the death penalty here in Philippines. I also think that this is his way of reminding people of the Martial Law. This era in Philippine history is a dark age — full of blood, violence, tortures and death. As we all know, there had been huge objections towards the transfer of Marcos’ remains to the Libingan ng mga Bayani. I believe, and I hope, that this is his way to tell us that we shouldn’t forget our history and do the same mistakes all over again.

PART III.

There had been huge debates and conflicts regarding the Art Fair 2017 audience in Twitter. The cause of these discourse is the enormous number of attendees this year compared to the former years. Some people believe it’s unfair for the artists because their hard work was just used as a backdrop for someone’s instagram post and that people spend more time capturing images rather appreciating the art work. For example:

Netizens’ comment about the Art Fair audience

Other people, in contrast, is happy with huge number of audience this year. According to them, people should be happy that more people are appreciating art — even if this “appreciation” is characterized by taking pictures with them. Some individuals also believe that criticizing people who went to the Art Fair “just” to take pictures is a form of elitism (i.e. the belief that society should be governed by a select group of gifted and highly educated individuals) and this attitude should stop.

As a first timer in the attending the Fair and attending it because it’s a requirement, I admit that I am guilty of what some people are saying, especially the one where I took more time to take pictures than to appreciate the artwork. Maybe it is because I became so used in doing the practice so many times that it actually feels so normal to do that and I treat it as a way of appreciating the pieces. However, I believe that, due to the millennial culture today wherein we want people to constantly know where we are and what we are doing, taking pictures of art pieces is our way of appreciating them. It’s also nice to see so many people, whether teens or adults, coming to this event to admire and value the artists’ works whatever way they can.

Contrary to National Museum, Art Fair was a lot more comfortable to tour. The former has guards who constantly scolds us while the latter has ushers who lets you roam around relaxed and at your own pace. National Museum also has strict rules in regards with interacting with the artworks — we shouldn’t touch it, stand too close, or even do a wacky pose (even thumbs up pose is prohibited). On the other hand, Art Fair was more interactive with the audience. For example, you can seat on Ruiz’ chairs and you can pose however you want (but within limits such as respect to the artwork). However, National Museum is much more easier to navigate because there are less people present compared to Art Fair. Also, the former is also more overwhelming and, to some extent, intimidating to roam around since you can actually feel the years of history and heaps of culture present in its halls.

Visiting the Art Fair was another first for me. Overall, it was a good experience. It was nice to see people marveling at artworks present there despite of the age and gender differences. Also, it’s kind of funny to see people bidding for super expensive artworks — some of which are really not that ethereal, in my opinion. I’ll definitely wait and attend next year’s!