A growing art village: Art in the Park returns

Jaime Velasquez Park in Makati’s Salcedo Village — that lush green spot of a pocket park best known for its weekend market — played host to a one-day-only affordable art event last Feb. 19.

A project of the Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Art in the Park brought together “galleries, artist groups, and creative collectives in the relaxed, friendly atmosphere of a neighborhood park, (making) art accessible and art buying a less intimidating affair.”

So far, since premiering one sunny weekend in 2006 on the trees-and-grass spread amid Makati high-rise buildings, it’s been a successful tack in dispelling the notion that art collecting is the territory of the old and spectacularly moneyed, or that art appreciation is strictly reserved for the confines of an imposing, marble-floored museum.

At Art in the Park, creativity went into full casual mode: artworks were housed in white-topped canopies, or stacked in boxes for buyers to rummage through. Trickie Lopa, the assiduous art blogger and one of the art fair organizers, described Art in the Park as “a treasure hunt” where you never know what you’re going to find. Buyers scoured through the fair with a fervent wish to chance upon a work by a favorite artist whose works are hard to come by, or to fish out a long-forgotten sketch by a famous name from a pile.

Affordable Art

For budding collectors, here’s why the Park deal was even sweeter: nothing was priced over P20,000, and you could walk home with a piece of art for much, much less.

Dawn Atienza of Tin-Aw Gallery (www.tin-aw.com), one of the event’s pioneering participants who has been pitching tent since the second Art in the Park, believes that the fair is a community effort that raises the profile of Philippine art in a logical and necessary sequence — first among ourselves, and then internationally.

“It’s a very good opportunity for new artists to show their works,” said Dawn, “because they’ll be speaking an audience that’s as open as they can get: budding collectors looking for something new and getting a feel of what they will take to.”

She has built relationships with first-time buyers who have become full-blown collectors, thanks to her stint at the park with for-Art-in-the-Park-only works by artists such as Mark Justiniani, Joy Mallari and Alfredo Esquillo.

Art in the Park has become such a well-known venue for new talent that news of it has reached foreign soil. According to Dawn, a delegation of Singaporean collectors planned a trip to Manila around the Art in the Park weekend.

Proceeds of the community effort, that is Art in the Park — the Museum Foundation, an all-volunteer group of art-inclined patriots, gets a helping hand from Barangay Bel-Air, Security Bank and Rubert James Exhibit Masters Corp — went to the foundation’s programs that are geared toward raising awareness and appreciation for the National Museum and its network.

More specifically, over the past years, proceeds have gone into the building of a large room in the National Museum that is set to house four to six murals by National Artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco currently at the Philippine General Hospital.

Bigger and Better

This year’s installment of the annual affordable art event stepped out of the park perimeter and spilled into the neighborhood. Apartment 1B, a popular dining destination in Salcedo Village specializing in gourmet comfort food, has been showing works of art on its walls — by artists such as Jonathan Olazo, Bernard Paquing, MM Yu and, most recently, Lea Lim — features a collaborative show by photographer At Maculangan, conceptual artist Katya Guerrero, and contemporary poets from a collective known as High Chair.

Caliph8 for Art in House at The Picasso

One turn and a block away from Apartment 1B is The Picasso Boutique Serviced Residences, which took part in all the fun with a group show by Leeroy New, Dan Matutina, Caliph8, Brendale Tadeo and Jonathan Ching.

Leeroy New, who provided the large sculptures of spindly-legged alien life forms at last year’s Art in the Park (a huge hit with the kids), bourght back the weird with Balete — first seen at the Ateneo Art Gallery’s frontage — bright orange works made of affordable and recyclable materials to be installed on The Picasso’s façade.

Graphic artist Dan Matutina, a festival first-timer, played it small and personal with prints, illustrations and 3-D wall pieces made of resin exhibited at The Picasso’s fourth floor gallery.

The coverage area wasn’t the only telling sign that Art in the Park has become a bigger affair; participants — galleries, organizations and individual artists — now number close to 40, up from last year’s 30 drew over 3,000 people to the park.

The list of art fair attractions wasn’t just longer, it also became more interesting. First-time participant Gaby dela Merced brought her one-year-old gallery Vinyl on Vinyl — based in the warehouse-y haven of street culture called the Collective along Malugay St — that sold what are essentially byproducts of a subculture (of a subculture, she adds). These include band posters by Tara McPherson (whom they flew in for the last Manila Design Week) and Audrey Kawasaki prints, along with works by Arkiv Vilmansa of Indonesia and Buff Monster. Gaby dela Merced is better known as racecar driver whose interest in contemporary and popular art took root at the 2008 San Diego ComiCon — and that should clue you in on the kind of art wares she’ll be displaying.

On what would seem like the other end of the spectrum, Amarela (www.amarelaresort.com), a luxury boutique resort in Panglao, Bohol, returned with traditional wooden handcrafts that looked like weather-worn antiques that somehow survived in grandma’s ancestral home’s attic, and that proved very popular when it debuted at the Park last year. According to Museum Foundation trustee and Art in the Park organizer Lisa Periquet, it was during a cultural tour of the province that the Museum Foundation discovered local Boholano artistry beautifully preserved and showcased at Amarela Resort. They figured it would make an intriguing addition to the Park’s art fair attractions.