The fine print on fine prints

A breath of excitement accompanies the quiet exhibition at the Alliance Française Total Gallery, ongoing until the end of the month. Entitled Mirror-ed Images, it is a group show featuring fine prints done by contemporary Filipino printmakers, bookended by no less than the Father of Philippine Printmaking himself, Manuel Rodriguez Sr., or Mang Maning, as he is fondly referred to, on one hand, and two emergent young printmakers, Tita Rosel and Cha Rodrigo, on the other extreme. In between are staple names in the field, which include Ambie Abaño, Benjamin Torrado Cabrera, Jess Flores and US-based artist, Lenore RS Lim.

The exhibit coincides with another print exhibition, Bakat ng Limbag Sining II, a yearlong traveling show featuring works from the collection of the Philippine Association of Printmakers (PAP), now at the Vargas Museum in UP Diliman and ongoing until Oct. 25.

The seven artists featured in Mirror-ed Images are also members of the PAP. The focus on featuring fine prints in large exhibitions such as the two indicates the solid intention of the PAP to amass public appreciation for the art form that has been observed as wanting since the early years of printmaking in the country. Compared to painting and sculpture, prints are casually regarded as mere handmaiden in the arts. Print shows do not attract as much attendance where viewership is concerned, a phenomenon that can be attributed to the public’s lack of exposure to, if not education in, the art form.

It becomes a contradiction of sorts, since prints are meant to democratize access to art through edition printing, or replicating an image for as many copies as deemed necessary by the artists. Yet, each of these prints is unique and yet affordable to purchase, compared to either a painting or a sculpture.

The yawning gap is made more felt today where print has taken on a new meaning with the onslaught of electronic processes of reproduction, largely through the computer, where issues of originality and authenticity are now challenged.

It is in this regard that print shows play a significant part in providing Filipinos the much needed education on the fine art of printmaking by widening the artistic vocabulary of the viewing public.

Mirror-ed Images consists of 24 prints in varied techniques, 12 of which constitute the limited edition portfolio with the same title. Brought together by their passion for printmaking, these visual artists share a common concern in the need to revitalize the practice of producing "portfolios of fine prints" for its many benefits.

The title signifies the varied individual expressions that reflect the artists’ sensibilities, consciousness and personal concerns. A "mirror image" also connotes the characteristic outcome or effect derived from a direct transfer of an image onto paper, obtained from the techniques used in printmaking; while the expression "ed" is the abbreviation for edition, which is the number of prints pulled from a plate (not counting the trial and artist’s proofs).

All works from the portfolio are limited edition etchings, aquatints, engravings and mezzotints. Other works featured in the exhibition are explorations in other techniques.

Allow me to introduce the exhibiting artists through this column. Abaño, an architect turned visual artist, has taken up a wide range of art-related courses the latest being lithography classes at the Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York City (2000-2001). Presently, she is taking up her Master in Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts (UPCFA). She has participated in over 60 group shows all over the Philippines and abroad and has joined national and international art competitions, at one time representing the Philippines in the Sixth Triennale Mondiale de l’Estampe Petit Format Chamalières 2003 in France. Among the awards she garnered includes the grand prize in the painting category in the 1987 AAP Open Art Competition. She was also a finalist at the 1998 Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards.

Abaño is an active member and officer of PAP, currently the secretary of the Committee on Visual Arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and faculty member at the Philippine Women’s University Institute of Fine Arts and Design and occasionally gives workshops and lectures in printmaking in other institutions. Last month, she won in the print category of the Bantay Kalikasan Foundation’s Save the La Mesa Dam art competition, a joint project with the UPCFA.

Cabrera, a master printmaker, obtained his bachelor’s degree in fine arts in painting at the University of Santo Tómas and is about to finish his Masters Degree in Fine Arts in UP. He is a professor at the St. Scholastica’s College department of fine arts and was a recipient of a grant to study engraving at the Atelier Contre Pointe (formerly Atelier Seventeen) in Paris, France in 1992. As one of the few practitioners of engraving in the country and a master in his own right, Cabrera has participated in national and international print competitions and has won in a number of them, the most recent being the PAP Open Fine Print Competition 2002 where he placed first. He is an officer of PAP and one of the active resource persons in the traveling printmaking workshop in the regions.

Flores, a master printmaker, is a fine arts graduate in advertising from UST. He has been a practitioner of printmaking since the 1970s and has participated in numerous exhibits all over the Philippines. Last year, he mounted a solo exhibit of monoprints at the Drawing Room. He has also participated in national and international competitions. He was a finalist in the recent PAP Open Fine Print Competition.

Rodrigo, a holder of a bachelor’s degree in computer science, is a system developer for an educational website development company and had related occupation in the field. She earned her diploma in fine arts at the Northern Sydney Institute of Technical and Further Education in Australia in 1999 and has since been a practitioner of printmaking. In 1993, she attended the Sharon Turner School of Drawing in Ohio, USA and took drawing and painting classes at the Ayala Museum. She was part of the exhibits, The ID (1998), Treat This Thing Seriously (1999) and 23 Divided (1999) at the Sydney and Kasibulan exhibits in Manila.

Rosel, both an artist and chemist, is presently an instructor at the Adamson University while an active member and officer of the Kasibulan (Kababaihan na may Bagong Sibol na Kamalayan). She has mounted two solo exhibitions: Eskwela and My Journey. She was part of the shows Biyaya, Buod, Women and Peace, Iinom Po ang Tea… and Women Printmakers, among others. She produced Ano ang Trabaho ng Nanay Mo, for which she received two major awards: Best Film for Children and Best Film Animation during the Ninth Gawad CCP para sa Pelikula at Video in 1995. She has also participated in art related workshops and competitions. She was a finalist in the PAP Open Fine Prints Competition 2002, the 1992 Shell Students’ Art Competition and the 1992 Pen Art Competition.

Both Mang Maning and Lim are US-based and have earned the respect of the international community of printmakers. Mang Maning is best remembered for his pioneering role as founder of the PAP. Lim continues to hoist the banner of Filipino artists in international art festivals. In September last year, she represented the Philippines in the Venice Open Sculpture 2002 with her installation "Comfort House," which depicts the violations experienced by the women in Southeast Asia during World War II.