Refiguring artists' 'Visions' in alternative spaces

MANILA, Philippines – The University of Asia and the Pacific Entrepreneurial Management Program recently launched “Visions” through the art classes of professor Laya Boquiren-Gonzales.

“Visions“ is an exhibit of the combined techniques of printmaking and painting featuring Angelo Magno and Surface Wearable Art. This is part of a biannual exhibit series where freshmen students not only organize and manage an exhibit, but also conduct research on local and international art market trends.

“Fillings”

Based on research, the students select Filipino artists with whom they will collaborate. The university not only has a strong Liberal Arts orientation but also teaches social responsibility to its students through art appreciation classes. The launch culminated in a silent auction of works on alternative painting surfaces. This is part of the students’ efforts in supporting Philippine art.

 “Visions” is a collaboration of teacher, students, and artists. While the artists provide their statements to explain the artworks themselves, the students, young as they are, have significant control over the curatorial process as they take part in creating the write-ups for each work, arranging the works into categories, conceptualizing the presentation of the works to the public, and implementing the exhibit design. The university encourages students to develop higher-order thinking skills and this is only one of the many opportunities for training entrepreneurial management majors to be creative. The exhibit concept expounds on the dictum “surface is the new canvas.”

Featured artist Angelo Magno is a member of the Printmaker’s Association of the Philippines (PAP) and is currently finishing his Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of the Philippines, Diliman.

“Isnab”

Surface Wearable Art is an emerging collective of painters and media artists. In the exhibit, visions of artists are refigured in new surfaces, presenting a new approach in painting. Moreover, practices in collecting painting as an enclosed image for visual pleasure are confronted through the act of “framing.”

Seemingly ordinary objects such as hobo, messenger bags, shoulder bags, as well as knapsacks are transformed into unique painting surfaces and framed.

The exhibit design engages the idea of “painting on canvas” head on. Surface Wearable Art renders images in acrylic-on-canvas bags, presented as alternative surfaces.

Angelo Magno renders his visions on cloth. Transforming the everyday T-shirt into a unique object by using it as a painting surface challenges the viewer to confront the works between the boundaries of wearing as a basic necessity and looking as pure aesthetic appreciation.