by JOHN PATRICK MAGNO RANARA and THEA ANDREA MAGUERIANO
A TOTAL of ten galleries showcased a vast array of artful gems in the ALT Philippines 2020: The Art Show Reframed last Feb. 14 to 16.
From traditional paintings to innovative sculptures, the collaborative art show was made possible through the hands of over 150 artists, each unique with their own styles and techniques.
Art enthusiasts filled the hall of the SMX Convention Center at SM Aura Premier as they roamed and marveled at the various handiwork of creative minds and calloused hands. ALT Philippines showed that though art is a personal and intimate experience of an artist, it doesn’t mean that it could not unite them for a singular cause; to show that art could be reframed despite changing times.
Heart Flows/ Heart Grows by Raffy Napay
Love blooms from Napay’s work which is made entirely out of thick, white thread carefully and intricately woven on a large canvas. The artist took embroidery to a new level as he formed two figures joined together by hand as a maze of leafy branches grows from their hearts, symbolizing their lush feelings for one another that has withstood even the harshest of weathers.
Flower Market Set16 by Winnie Go
Whimsically fashioned to appear as if they had come from a fanciful, fairy tail dream, Go made use of white stoneware with vintage glass to create flowers of varying petals and pigments. Wild, warm, zany, and vivid, Go’s flower market would surely make for a joy-inducing Valentine’s gift to send for that special someone.
Apat na Maria by Mimi Tecson
Books have always been valued for being the roots of knowledge and wisdom, but they have also compromised an important gift that Mother Nature has bestowed. Tecson brought a timely issue in her fresh artwork by cutting book pages, ephemera, and woodcuts to take the shape of dangled leaves. Small figures of a tree, a flower, several birds, and a cage are hidden within the four sections of the work. Additionally, the use of book pages perhaps signifies how nature is being abused for human gains and the four figures show what has suffered as a result.
Puting Binhi, Pulang Lupa by Doktor Karayom
Hairs rose and spines chilled as guests encountered a white, lifeless figure staring at them from its bloody enclosure. Karayom, fueled by his love for Pinoy horror films, sculpted a grotesque figure of a man with two heads staring from his burst chest. Adding to the creep factor is the work’s enclosure, which is made of more disfigured heads drawn from red ink. Bulging from the man’s oozing body are what seem to be veins, showcasing Karayom’s love of playing with the human anatomy through grisly and morbid ways.
Blue Field by Brave Singh
Dainty wallpapers schemed gold and silver with undetailed tiny leaves, striped sofas pleated with dirty yellow, a home forgotten. This scenario is where Singh’s oil and frame on canvas artwork could come to life. The colors chosen by Singh to paint his skies made his painting scream antiqueness. His artwork stretched its way out from the frames and actually implied it on the frame itself. The small details on the frame could play a story on the viewer’s mind, an ancestral home forgotten due to a natural disaster.
Orientations (Work in Progress/Details) 2 by Buen Calubayan
A plan to successfully make a plane through mechanics and imagination. Like a grown child’s treasure box opened, Calubayan’s oil pastel on paper and archival materials shared pieces of unfinished plans scribbled on papers. His works were simple yet detailed. He was able to show the innocence of dreaming on building a project and the proud smile a person shows reviewing memories.
Hyped Beast by Ronald Caringal
Something fresh in an art exhibit and minimalist. Hypebeast is a new word in the street wear scene, having a hippie feel. Caringal’s oil on canvas used a puppy and named it as ‘hyped beast’, using the slang word unto a hyped and loving beast. The letters spelled out had a resemblance to Philippine Jeepney signages where in another color is painted over the canvas, building the letters. The technique can be seen on the canvas as some pinks were peeking through the lime green.
AAAAA! By Lynyrd Paras
Paras combines different painting techniques and objects to showcase a concept on his oil on canvas masterpiece. He usually places mouths and eyes in his works presented as a crater for emotional eruptions hunting the minds of its viewers. AAAAA! shows an eerie feminine sound. It presented eyes, ungrateful, undetermined, inviolable- yet it was. It showed tired eyes and mouths screaming, waiting to be looked at and awaits someone to hear. Their scream’s reason would haunt its spectators.
ALT Philippines 2020 was interactive with its spectators both personal and through social media.
“We just want to do something different, change the format, and have a really good show,” said Evita Sarenas of Finale Art File to Philippine Daily Inquirer.
ALT Philippines created an Instagram story filter which their followers loved using. It was not only an art show reframed but an art show reinvented that tried to adapt to every generation’s modernization.F
