Philippine Art Awards launches 2011 visual arts competition

Manila, Philippines - The much-awaited visual arts competition is now officially on. Philippine Art Awards (PAA), the only two-tiered arts competition in the country today, shall hold its regional selection this year for Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and Metro Manila, and shall award 10 winners from each of these regions, all of whom will receive P40,000 each. Next year, all these 40 regional winners will compete for the National component and vie for a grand prize and seven Jurors Choice awards to win a larger pool of cash prizes. The competition will accept multi-dimensional artworks, not just paintings, as it had expanded the entry categories in its last regional competition in 2009.

This year, the awarding ceremonies for Visayas Art Awards will be held in Iloilo, and the Mindanao Art Awards will be held in Davao while the Luzon and Metro Manila Art Awards will be held in Manila. Aside from the cash prizes, the winners will receive a trophy designed by National Artist Napoleon Abueva, and each   winner will also get to keep his winning work.

This prestigious art competition is jointly organized by the National Museum, Asian Tigers Philippines and PMFTC Inc. “We believe that the Philippine Art Awards do not only enliven the visual arts community, but also contribute to the discovery and recognition of emerging or sometimes hidden artistic talents of Filipinos” says Chris J. Nelson, president of PMFTC Inc.

 PAA is likewise supported by the following regional partners in Luzon : Baguio Mt. Provinces Museum, Museo ng Hiyas ng Bulacan, JDN Center of Holy Angel University, Developmental Intitute for Bicolano Artists in Naga, Legaspi City Museum, Atelier Tiamson of Angono. For the Visayas region, it is supported by The Negros Museum in Bacolod, Dagyaw Institute for the Arts of Iloilo, Humanities Division of UP Tacloban and Asian Tigers Philippines-Cebu. In Mindanao, it has Museo de Oro of Xavier University, Gallery of the Peninsula and the Archipelago of the Ateneo de Zamboanga and University of Mindanao as regional partners.

Alfredo Esquillo continues his winning streak capturing the Jurors’ Choice Award in the ASEAN Art Awards 1996 with his oil on wood entry titled “Daang Ligid-Krus.”

“Philippine Art Awards has, over the years, consistently put together outstanding panels of judges composed of experts in the field of visual arts such as museum directors and curators, authors on Philippine art and artists, art professors and renowned Filipino artists,” assures Bayen Elero, corporate affairs director of PMFTC. PAA is proud of the distinguished roster of top winners for the last 15 years, which includes Gabriel Barredo (1994), Alfredo Esquillo and Ferdinand Doctolero (1995), Alfredo Esquillo (1996), Daniel Coquilla (1997), Nona Garcia and Norman Dreo (2000) Benjamin Elayda (2001), Leonard Aguinaldo and Kawayan de Guia (2003), Crispin Villanueva (2005), Amby Abaño (2006), Marina Cruz (2008) and Augusto Elopre (2010).

Starting in 2000, the ASEAN Art Awards became a biennial competition. In its next staging in 2002, Benjamin Dayrit Elayda III won Jurors’ Choice Award with his work entitled “Valorized and Commodified Curio.”