Art Fair Philippines 2017
The Gallery-Exhibitor I have chosen is Vinyl on Vinyl. It showcased the following artists: Kris and Frances Abrigo, Agugn, Carlo Ricafort, Pinky Urmaza, Buboy Canafranca, Reen Barrera, Gerry Tan, Bjorn Calleja, Hahan, Manuel Ocampo, Jigger Cruz, Eric Encares, Dr. Karayom, Jayson Oliveria, Brisa Amir, Akira Miyamoto, Chalk Zaldivar, Ren Quinio, Miguel Borja, Gabriel Tiongson, Jan Balquin, Jel Suarez, Blic, Clarence Chun, Arkiv Vilmansa, Van Tuico, Regen Mulingtapang, Timo Roter, Neil Dela Cruz, Joseph Tecson, Jood Clarino, Dennis Bato, Lubin Nepomuceno, and more.
The gallery space reflects the lifestyle and passion of its artists influenced by contemporary, pop surrealism, underground and street art. Its uniqueness lies in selecting artists who delve into various contemporary and cultural interests and immediate experiences through the visual language and techniques of commercial and fine art alike.
This particular space reminds me of the rawness and the richness of music on vinyl that almost went away, but it still seems to be on a lot of people’s radar, and for good reason. It does something different than more accessible means of music playing, like MP3 players and downloads and whatnot. You get in front of these archaic contraptions that go ‘round and ‘round. I also find it fascinating how each record has its own unique colors and patterns. It reminds of that feeling when you’re enjoying the music and really trying to grasp the message and emotions of it, you can almost form visual representations from what your ears are feasting upon. Music does not only feed the soul with the pleasing sounds alone, it also feeds us with its ‘colorful
substance’. A true melody.
Looking at this work, it really has me thinking how meticulous the art making process of combining paint and found objects is just to create this! I’ll be honest that I wasn’t able to uncover the obscurity of this work right off the bat. It definitely left me in such puzzle of what this could mean. However, I truly appreciate this artwork as a coherent whole regardless its accentuation of its individual elements to create this.
I do like the idea of reinventing the found objects into art by combining it with paint. This work by Lubin Nepomuceno indeed serves as an overture to the audience’s own investigation of ‘painting’ as a subject, object and concept.
These are very easy to miss given its sizes! But once you lay your eyes on them, you’ll surely be transfixed. These little “dolls” definitely caused me to conjure stories of children possessing such a peculiar taste in toys. It may be just 3 little dolls sitting on a shelf, but looking at these long enough will really have your brain wandering to dark places. Dolls, perhaps more than any other object, demonstrate just how thin the line between love and fear, comfort and horror, can be.
For the ARTFAIRPH/Projects, I chose the artists Lynyrd Paras and Ronald Ventura.
I’m not sure how to define normal, but I’d guess that it would be the polar opposite to madness. Normal is safe. Normal is accepted and sits next to sanity, whereas madness associates with ‘odd’, ‘weird’, or ‘different’.
Marilyn Monroe famously believed that: “madness is genius, imperfection is beauty and I’d rather be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” I salute you Miss Monroe, the woman desired by all men and envied by all women yet, deep down, a dreamer, a free thinker, a ‘crazy’ just like the rest of us who yearn for so much more than the regularity of life and the expectations that today’s society imposes.
This artist definitely represents the new feisty breed of Filipinos. I really like this painting, I really enjoy the sight of how nonlinear and unpredictable this work is.
I just adore this work by Ronald Ventura.
Woe is the lowly black sheep of the family. She is maligned, misunderstood, and marginalized.
She may also be more creative, sensitive, or risk-seeking than the rest of the family. Her lifestyle and values may set her apart, and she may face personal struggles that others do not. But try as she may, she just doesn’t blend in.
After all, the wool of a black sheep is just as warm. — Ernest Lehman
Art Fair Philippines is truly one of the biggest art festivals in the country. It is a venue where emerging artists could showcase their work and make it accessible to people. The organizers of the fair must have thought about how in general, many Filipinos are quite rarely acquainted with visual arts because we don’t have the time to go to museums or galleries all the time.
The several galleries of the exhibit feature different themes, and what I love the most are the huge art installations that glue together thousands of components to create art that just speaks volumes. Here, there are plenty of paintings, sculptures, installations, video montages, photo exhibits and more!
What’s great about the event is that it makes such beautiful (and very expensive) works of art accessible to the common person who is very much interested in art but doesn’t exactly have the knowledge of where to look for it. Just the fact that it is held in the car park of one of the city’s most popular shopping districts is a telling sign that this fair is for all. And it truly felt like the whole of Metro Manila was there — a good sign perhaps of where local contemporary art is heading.
