Bullish about the arts
MANILA, Philippines - The recently concluded “My Bullish Art” competition, ran by The Philippine STAR and Swatch to honor the year of the Ox, had a great variety of major entries. Today, we present the finalists who didn’t quite earn the judges’ final nod. One can still see that the participating artists went beyond the confines of the canvas to play with other means of expression. Augustin Utrillo, for example, made a kind of diorama that reminds one of the figures inside a 19th century virina, Mar de la Cruz painted on a paddle while Marvin Franco Quencel worked on shoes.
Found objects and recycled materials came into prominent play. Enrique Voltaire Garcia employed discarded cans to great effect in his sculpture of a bull. Ivan Valerio used rubber pieces and scrap metal for his futuristic space suit that now delights passersby who chance upon it outside the Swatch store in Greenbelt 5.
The horns of Gerry Jorge’s steer were fashioned from watches while those of Mark Gerald Cruz were made from a wirehanger which grew out of a clothes iron masquerading as a skull. Diana Rose Chua’s animal was confectioned from small plastic pellets. A number of artists chose to turn in creative wire sculptures of the competition’s mascot.
Kathleen Sacluti’s entry was very dense; almost basket-like while that of Anara Chiongbian had a more airy, more playful quality, integrating other materials like an old newspaper.
The participating artists’ innovative take on the proposed subject ultimately reveals the vast store of creativity at play in the Philippines. In this time of global crisis, this can only be a signal of hope, a reminder for everyone to remain bullish about the power of the arts to renew, transform and reinvent in the face of adversity.
