The art of winning

In developing nations, art is typically polarized to exist as either of two extremes. It is perceived as a luxury, an activity and a commodity for the idle rich. Beautiful pictures and objects are fashioned to adorn the inner sanctums of the privileged elite. At the other extreme, art is seen as a medium to express the savageness of life in the third world. Depictions of injustice, hopelessness and sorrow are portrayed by angry young artists bent on changing the world. But beyond these simplistic categories is a wide spectrum of highly talented young artists that are producing great work that transcends these facile definitions. The Ateneo Art Gallery (AAG), led by its ardent curator, Ramon Lerma, has taken the initiative to identify these artists by its establishment of the Ateneo Art Awards. Now in its second year, the Ateneo Art Awards was instituted to honor the memory of its founding benefactor, Fernando Zobel. The AAG presents an annual award to recognize young Filipino artists who exemplify innovation, enlightenment and commitment to the visual arts. Each year, nominations are culled from the jury and from art gallery owners throughout the nation, searching for exceptional artists who have exhibited at a gallery in the past year and are 35 years of age and below.

This year’s jury includes the AAG curator Ramon Lerma, art critics Dr. Alice Guillermo and Cid Reyes, academic Ma. Victoria Herrera, interior designer Miguel Rosales, CCP visual arts director Sid Hildawa, art collector and former NCCA chair Dr. Jaime Laya, Ateneo fine arts program director Fr. Rene Javellana and this writer and architect. From these nominations, the jury selects a shortlist of 12 candidates for the award. This year’s nominees are a fresh crop of enormously talented artists with an impressive body of work behind them. The 2005 nominees for the Ateneo Art Awards are Annie Cabigting, Mariano Ching, Luisito Cordero, Norman Dreo, Rodel Tapaya Garcia, Isa Lorenzo, Jayson Oliveria, Elmer Roslin, Carlo Angelo Saavedra, Mac Valdezco, Ronald Ventura and Eric Zamuco. The recipient of the award will be decided after the jury visits each of the artists’ galleries to view their respective works. In addition to the award, the winner will be receiving the AAG Studio Residency Grant in Sydney, Australia. This will coincide with the opening of "Cross Encounters: The 2005 Ateneo Art Awards Exhibition" at the South Court of the Power Plant Mall, which will feature the works of the 12 short-listed artists. The show will run alongside two other exhibitions inside Power Plant Mall including "Whitewash" at the North Court. The show explores notions of minimalism vis-a-vis the baroque through works from the museum’s permanent collection by Lee Aguinaldo, Fernando Zobel, Roberto Chabet, et al. Another exhibit entitled "A Fine Impression" at the Ground Level Bridgeway, features original graphic works by international masters Edouard Manet, Salvador Dali, Eugene Delacroix and Rembrandt van Rijn, among others, which have never before been exhibited outside the Ateneo.

In addition, the AAG is launching the Ateneo Art Gallery Store, which will feature, in addition to art reproductions and museum gift items, functional art objects created by Ateneo alumni-entrepreneurs: shoes by Brian Tenorio of Tenorium, jewellery by Alexandra Faustmann of Michelis, bags by Christine Aguiluz of c2m2, and shirts by magazine editor and fashion stylist Cherry Pacheco-Uy.

For inquiries regarding the 2005 Art Awards and the AAG Store, please contact Francesca Tañada at 426-6488 or at 0922-3011791. You can also visit the AAG’s website at http://decode.ateneo.edu.