MANILA, Philippines — The annual Art Fair Philippines is marking its 11th year by continuing to shed light on female artists and creatives driven by climate awareness.
Last year, the fair saw it return onsite once after two virtual years, and 2024 is no different as Art Fair Philippines will again set up in Makati's The Link Car Park from February 16 to 18.
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This edition, however, will also have an expanded program that spotlights the Philippine visual arts, as the fair fully embraces its identity as "the best in Philippine Contemporary Art."
Galleries from all around the country and from across the seas, including Southeast Asian neighbors, Japan, Taiwan, and Spain, bring the exhibitor count to 55.
Selected residency artists from the Philippines are Mark Salvatus, Anna Miguel Cervantes, Jett Ilagan, Julian Tapales, Renz Baluyot, and from abroad are Iseult Perrault and Petr Hajdyla through Orange Project.
FotomotoPH will be the solo exhibitor of this year's Photos section curated by Sandra Palomar, while filmmaker Moira Lang will helm "No Showing" for the Film section in what will be a communal space for filmmakers and filmgoers to discuss the state of local cinema.
Complementing the fair are the 10 Days of Art headlined by Derek Tumala's "A Warm Orange-Colored Liquid" and Isaiah Cacnio "Prismatic Embrace" in Ayala Triangle Gardens from February 9 to 18, on top of participating galleries inviting guests to first visit their location the weekend before the fair proper.
Special exhibits
Production designer and theater director Ed Lacson Jr., who has worked with Art Fair Philippines for the past three years, will design the Projects section of the fair, which will include works by local artists Jonathan Ching, Jigger Cruz, and Rod Paras-Perez.
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International artists in the Projects section are Taloi Havini from Papua New Guinea, Romanian conceptual artist Andreea Medar, Brooklyn-based multimedia artist Mr. StarCity, and Spanish performance artist Eugenio Ampudia.
The latter's "Be A Tree Now" is a comment on the ongoing climate crisis where moves of fairgoers will be incorporated into the work.
"[It will show there's] not much of a divide between nature and humans," said Art Fair Philippines co-founder Lisa Periquet.
Havini's contribution will be a video on coral spawning coinciding with fish harvest while Medar's "Leftovers From The Future" is a imaginary creation of her grandfather's decaying garden after everyone left for economic reasons.
Mr. StarCity's "One Pedal at a Time" exhibit will feature a saxophonist, velvet wall, and poetry in what Periquet said is the artist's effort to emulate Filipinos' passion.
One special exhibit at this year's Art Fair Philippines "Pambabae" curated by Miguel Rosales will highlight abstractions and by women artists between 1969 and 1989, particularly those largely overshadowed by their male contemporaries.
These include works by Ivi Avellania Cosio, Ileana Lee, Nelfa Querubin, Evelyn Collantes, Phyllis Zaballero, and Lilian Hwang.
Art Fair Philippines marks this year the 10th anniversary of the Karen H. Montinola Section dedicated to emerging artists, where this year will be occupied by visual artist Gean Briz Garcia's "Ceremonials."
In addition to Garcia's exhibit, art consultant Norman Crisologo will curate a retrospective featuring past recipients featured in the section like Pio Abad, Mark Valenzuela, and Liv Vinluan — namely their works featured at the time and their current work.
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