MANILA, Philippines - Two video artworks and one sculptural piece caught the eyes of the judges of the Ateneo Art Awards this year –– perhaps a foreshadowing of what we can expect from the new generation of players in the Philippine arts scene. The works of Martha Atienza, Maria Taniguchi and Riel Hilario, all on different levels, dig deep into the recesses of Filipino culture without imposing a singular experience on the viewer, not even alluding to patriotism. Simple but far from simplistic, their works allow us to discover alternate endings with every inspection.
Martha Atienza’s exhibit, “Gilubong ang Akon Pusod sa Dagat (My Navel is Buried in the Sea),” is a portrait of the lives of fishermen in Cebu, told through three different screens. One documents interactions with water-bound workers, another shows the almost obscene relationship between the pristine deep blue and heavy machinery, and the third depicts a constant horizon cradling a sea in flux. Her work, first shown in Madridejos, Bantayan Island, as a project of The Office of Culture and Design, then Gallery Orange, Bacolod and Pablo X, Makati, earned her residencies in La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre in Australia, The Creative Campus in Liverpool, UK, and Artesan Gallery in Singapore.
“Vincent Alessi (curator at La Trobe University) and I have reviewed the work and are pleased to award the 2013 VAC residency to Martha Atienza,” said Paul Northam of La Trobe University. “We feel that the community-based nature of her practice would open up exciting opportunities in Bendigo.”
Maria Taniguchi’s “Untitled (Celestial Motors)” was also a video piece, showing a stripped-down jeepney, guiding the viewer with the lethargic lens of an advertising camera to various angles of the cultural symbol. Here we appreciate the jeepney in its naked glory –– disrobed of its usual color and witticisms –– in whatever way we wish.
Riel Hilario’s “Perro Amoroso/It was a Paradisiacal State: The Body was Allowed to be a Body” is an installation of two commissioned sculptural pieces previously exhibited at Art Informal. Hilario draws his subjects from a dream journal he has kept since he was five years old, rendering his pieces with a surreal yet familiar quality. “Perro Amoroso” is a portrait of a dog named Frida, a figure with a human head affixed to a canine’s body. “It was a Paradisiacal State: The Body was Allowed to be a Body” is a cast of disjointed characters in an enchanted paradise –– almarios (pillow racks) from his hometown, foliage in perpetual motion and human-faced avians perched on a tree. “It’s interesting to me what dreams say about the dreamer. For the past 20 years, I’ve been trying to find something in common with other people. So far, based on other people’s reactions towards my work –– they find something familiar in it –– that made me realize that I might not be just plunging into my subconscious, but I might be tapping into a collective dream,” said Riel.
Over the past months, YStyle has featured artists shortlisted for the awards, which include Zean Cabangis (“Shade My Eyes and I Can See You”), Vermont Coronel (“Spirit of a Place”), Kawayan de Guia (“A Lot of Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing”), Patricia Eustacquio (“Cloud Country”), Dina Gadia (“Regal Discomforts”), Goldie Poblador (“Ghost in the Machine”), Mervy Pueblo (“Project: Stone Meditation”), Mark Valenzuela (“Zugzwang”), and MM Yu (“Inventory”).
Stephen Lillie, Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Andrew Byrne, deputy head of Mission Australian Embassy, presented the Ateneo Art Gallery-Liverpool Hope University residency grant and Ateneo Art Gallery-La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre residency grant to Martha Atienza. Later this year, the recipient of the Ateneo-Art Omi New York Art Project residency grand and the Ateneo Art Gallery-Common Room Networks Foundation residency grant will be announced this year. The New York Art Project is made possible through a grant by art patron Marcel Crespo.
The jurors for this year’s awards include Ramon E.S. Lerma, director and chief curator of the Ateneo Art Gallery; Leo Abaya, visual artist and associate professor, College of Fine Arts, UP Diliman; Dindin Araneta, former executive director of the Museum Foundation of the Philippines; Annie Cabigting, visual artist and 2005 Ateneo Art Awards winner; Dr. Cecilia de la Paz, Department of Art Studies chairman, UP Diliman; Fr. Rene Javellana, S.J., associate professor, Fine Arts program, Ateneo de Manila University; and Ahmad Mashado, head of National University of Singapore Museum.
The Ateneo Art Awards is presented by the Ateneo Art Gallery, YStyle, Shangri-La Plaza, Metro Society, and the New York Art Project, funded by Marcel Crespo. The Ateneo Art Awards 2012: "Sneak Peak" exhibition will continue at the Ateneo Art Gallery from Aug. 22 to Sept. 22.