MANILA, Philippines - Selected works by University of the Philippines (UP) alumni-artists and National Artists for the Visual Arts will be featured in “Pag-Asa ng Bayan” to inaugurate Bulwagan ng Dangal, the University Heritage Museum, the newest and biggest exhibition space at UP Diliman.
Slated from July 18 to Dec. 31 at Gonzalez Hall (University Library), the exhibit showcases works by National Artists Napoleon Abueva, Fernando Amorsolo, BenCab, Abdulmari Imao, José Joya, Leandro Locsin, Arturo Luz, Vicente Manansala, Juan Nakpil, Hernando Ocampo, and Guillermo Tolentino.
Also on display are works of V. Artango, Pablo Baens-Santos, Genara Banzon, Santiago Bose, Anastacio Caedo, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya, Dominador Castañeda, Orlando Castillo, Evelyn Collantes, Danilo Dalena, Antonio Daroy, Jaime de Guzman, Leonilo Doloricon, Rock Drilon, Restituto Embuscado, Isaac Eustaquio, Brenda Fajardo, Edgar Fernandez, Virginia Flor-Agbayani, Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi, Ileana Lee, Cocoy Lumbao, Florentino Macabuhay, Ildefonso Marcelo, Nonoy Marcelo, Graciano Nepomuceno, Romulo Olazo, Onib Olmedo, Nonon Padilla, Ramón Peralta, and Nestor Vinluan.
The show also features selected pieces from the University Art Collection, which counts more than 1,000 works scattered over the seven constituent campuses of the UP System. The collection ranges from basic still life to history art — painting, sculpture, and mixed media — expressed in either representational or non-representational idiom.
“The exhibit underscores the rich base where the University Art Collection stands when viewed according to certain determinants, breathing into the collection a sense of the expansive where aesthetic forms and content are brought to fore,” writes Prof. Rubén D. F. Defeo, one of the project’s curator, in the exhibition’s accompanying brochure.
A professor at the Department of Theory, College of Fine Arts, Defeo curates the exhibit with Dr. Patrick D. Flores of the Department of Art Studies, College of Arts and Letters.
The exhibition’s title is taken from the University hymn and speaks of the possibility of change that animates a forever expectant nation and people.
Like the inaugural exhibit, Bulwagan ng Dangal is a phrase taken from the second stanza of the University hymn.
“The appropriation of the phrase, bulwagan ng dangal, as the name of the newest exhibition space on campus honors the importance the University assigns to the role of the arts and culture in molding the lives and minds in the academe,” Defeo said.
The exhibition space is also called the University Heritage Museum.
“Pag-asa ng Bayan” is a centennial project of the UPD Office of the Chancellor through the Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts. Cooperating units include the Office of the Campus Architect and the Designed Environment Committee of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs, the Executive House, College of Business Administration, CFA, College of Law, College of Mass Communication, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, the UP Integrated School and the University Library.