Art Fair Philippines 2018

ART FAIR PHILIPPINES IS THE PREMIER PLATFORM FOR LOCAL VISUAL ART

Founded in 2013, Art Fair Philippines is the premier platform for exhibiting and selling the best in modern and contemporary Philippine visual art.

The fair aims to mirror the vibrant local art scene and continue to generate support for Filipino art practitioners. Set in an alternative urban venue outside museums in Manila, Art Fair Philippines makes art accessible to enthusiasts and to those who want to discover one of Southeast Asia’s most exciting art landscapes.

One of the missions of Art Fair Philippines is to develop audiences for contemporary art. Besides the projects and various types of visual art, Art Fair Philippines presents a multi-layered experience to art enthusiasts. It provides multiple pursuits to showcase Philippine art and how it is one of the works to watch out for in Southeast Asia.

In partnership with two of the famous museums in Manila, Ateneo Art Gallery and Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Art Fair Philippines presents daily talks about Art Practices, ArtWorlds, Directions in Contemporary Art and Philippine Contemporary Art: In Museums, Biennials and the Community. ArtFairPH/Talks tackles curation, education, and promotion of arts. The series of lecture features renowned creators in their field. Whether its film or photography, ArtFairPH covers different mediums of art delighting audiences with new information to inspire their pursuit of the arts.

Art Fair Philippines is managed by the Philippine Art Events, Inc.

ART FAIR PHILIPPINES 2018

Art Fair Philippines 2018 opened on March 1. The four-day celebration of the arts happened at The Link Ayala Center in Makati City. However, patrons and visitors enjoyed the various events scheduled from February 27. The installations, photographs, and sculptures covered six levels of The Link to cater to its growing audience.

For this year, Art Fair Philippines amassed a total of 4,965 guests. The guests had access to guided tours on selected museum exhibits and art events. Art Fair Philippines has four components: ArtFairPH/Photos, ArtFairPH/Projects, ArtFairPH/Talks, and ArtFairPH/Tours. The organized exhibitions and lectures aim to enhance appreciation for Philippine visual arts while providing art historical context among contemporary art audiences. The fair also integrates education into the mix by bringing back ArtFairPH/Tours into its lineup. The tour involves taking a trip to the museums in Metro Manila.

During the #ArtFairPH Media Launch at the Raffles Salon, Art Fair Philippines 2018 announced the “10 Days of Art.” The event celebrates local contemporary art with the help of partners all over the city. Museum openings, food and beverages partnerships, and public art installations conclude the 10 Days of Art. Series of events ran throughout the week in support to Art Fair Philippines’ initiative of extending art appreciation beyond the confines of the Link.

ARTISTS AND CREATORS IN ART FAIR PHILIPPINES 2018

Art Fair Philippines 2018 showcased the talent of almost 40 prominent artists and creators in the local scene. The exhibit also included the works of Weegee, loaned by International Center of Photography in New York. Arthur (Usher) Fellig,1899-1968 who was known as ‘Weegee’ captured life’s most intense and intimate moments. From the aftermath of street crime to the heat of kissing couples, his graphic stills depict the thrum and beat of life.

Here’s the list of artists featured in Art Fair Philippines 2018:

Alfredo Aquilizan & Isabel Aquilizan
Alfredo Esquillo
Allain Hablo
Anton Del Castillo
Ambie Abaño
Arturo Luz
Chikako Motoyama
Daniel Dela Cruz
Dedy Sufriadi
Emmanuel Garibay
Fernando Zóbel
Francis Commeyne
Hadrian Mendoza
Jill Paz
Kadin Tiu
Kidlat Tahimik
Lao Lianben
Lec Cruz
Marcel Antonio
Marina Cruz
Maya Hewitt
Michelle Perez
Miguel Paulo Borja
Poklong Anading
Rey Aurelio
Roberto Chabet
Rodel Tapaya
Winner Humalon

ArtFairPH/Photo

ArtFairPH/Photo is a new section of Art Fair Philippines. It focused on photographs to encourage audiences to indulge in various visual art practices.

Eduardo Masferrè

Masferrè, a proud Filipino-Catalan photographer, took images of the lives of indigenous people in the Cordillera Mountains. He photographed the tribes such as the  Bontok, Kankana-ey, Kalinga, Gaddang, and Ifugao and their way of life.

Julius Baer

For the first time, the Philippines hosted selected photographs from the Julius Baer Art Collection. Following the theme ‘Nature,’ the selection included the artworks of Julian Charrière (*1987), Uriel Orlow (*1973) and Florian Graf (*1980).

WEEGEE

Art Fair Philippines 2018 included photographs by Arthur Fellig. Known as Weegee, his work came from a loan from the International Center of Photography in New York. His exhibit covered a chapter of photojournalism due to his powerful graphic stills.

ArtFairPH/Projects

Part of Art Fair Philippines are displays of commisioned work from internationally established art practitioners. The art heavyweights showed off their creations in various fields—film, photography, and installation art.

This year, ArtFairPH/Projects featured the following artists.

Alvin Zafra

Zafra is the recipient of this year’s Karen H. Montinola Selection. His exhibit centered on a video with the title “Revolver.” The two-hour video documented the artist destroying a gun with a steel grinder touching society’s unspoken issues—violence and power.

Antipas Delotavo, Renato Habulan, and Pablo Baen Santos

Delotavo, Habulan, and Santos were members of the social realist collective known as the Kaisahan. They made art that articulated the conflict and social changes from the Marcos regime. The idea that art and museums in Manila bring to light society’s open wound urged Delotavo, Habulan, and Santos to expose the country’s conflict while exposing the layers of debris in society.

Leonard Aguinaldo

Aguinaldo is a recipient of CCP’s Thirteen Artists Award in 2003 and a champion of ethnographic art. He skillfully depicts the Cordillera life and highland traditions. He used rubber cut medium to present the beliefs and rituals of ordinary Filipinos. Part of his work for the ArtFairPH is a tapestry with dreams and numbers representing jueteng. All in all, Aguinaldo intertwines contrasting elements such as vices and magic, science and superstition as well as faith and chance.

Lyra Garcellano

Garcellano is highly versatile as she covers painting, installation, video, and photography. She plays with words and weaves the world and its territories through the power of language. This year, her installation brought the text into the forefront of her artwork.

Neal Oshima

Oshima has four decades of experience capturing indigenous tribes and their traditions. Though his work encompasses advertising, editorial and documentary photography, he sticks with the belief that photographs are the best when it comes to revealing cultural practices. This year, his work entitled “Kin” showed the tribes of Bukidnon, Batanes, and Cotabato. It is a tribute to tribes across places and generations seen through one man’s lens.

Nilo Ilarde

Ilarde’s concept hails from an era where artists explore the dematerialization of art. He used thousands of die-cast cars to signify society’s compulsion to create, commodify, and collect. However, it can also pertain to the spectator’s part in influencing the traffic and the terrain of the art world.

ArtFairPH also exhibits Sponsors Projects presented by AC Automotive. The Sponsors Projects included the work of Pete Jimenez, Art Lozano, Dan Raralio, and Reg Yuson. Their works of art highlighted the fusion of science and art by creating machines and interpreting human expression.

Yuson‘s ‘Fear or Desire‘ presented Honda as the perennial toy for speed enthusiasts. The front fascia hood and grille of the new Civic depicted a full-scale toy model kit in a box, signifying the childlike, albeit ageless, appreciation of the Japanese marque.

Raralio‘s ‘Abstract out of Concrete‘ assembles Isuzu truck parts in concrete blocks. It showed his creative fingerprint traversing the figurative to abstract, interspersed with subtle wordplay.

Lozano translates his 18-year love affair with the Volkswagen Beetle into a depiction of ‘Urban Progress.’ It is a multi-hued 3-dimensional installation that used the original Beetle hood and parts of Volkswagen vehicles which conveyed the essence of an iconic machine.

Jimenez‘s ‘Racing Heart‘ focused on the KTM big bike’s orange frame. The frames were shaped into a heart and encasing motorcycle parts-the sculptor’s visual gem of a pun.

Art Fair Philippines 2018 is one of the events to watch out for when in Manila. This year’s line up is the biggest yet. Who knows what will be in store for #ArtFairPH 2019?

*Photos from Art Fair Philippines Facebook page