Sailing within the soul of a city

As a young boy in Davao, sculptor Gerry Leonardo watched the vintas sail into the great blue watery void. Those Moro boats fascinated him no end. The son of a merchant and an artist started creating toy boats of his own fashioned out of Styrofoam, whatever materials lying around and paint from cans discarded from a nearby printing press. An understatement: Leonardo made such good use of his hands.  

Leonardo teaches sculpture and photography at the Philippine High School for the Arts in Mt. Makiling. His sculptural work has taken him to places such as Kyoto and Vermont; and he has mounted shows at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and Galeria Duemila. And he was one of the winners in the first local public art competition staged by Bonifacio Art Foundation Inc. (BAFI) back in 1996. The winning entry is titled “Balanghai,” which stands eight meters high.

So, in a sense the public art piece which sails (yes, it moves; it’s an amazing piece of kinetic sculpture) mightily at the Padre Gomez Circle of Bonifacio Global City (BGC) with spoon-like oars — amid the high-rises and verdant lawns of this city of creativity — is Gerry Leonardo’s way of going back full circle to his childhood days in Davao.

“(The sculpture) has a very personal dimension,” he explains. “But I made it in a way that it will have a universal (appeal) as well.”

The Bonifacio Global City “My Artwalk” map. BAFI’s Manny Blas says they want people who see Bonifacio Global City as just a place to live in. “We look at art and science as two of the oldest human traditions. That’s why BAFI’s other project is the Mind Museum. We want to encourage people to have a sense of exploration and curiosity. We want them to have a sense of place. We will put up more artworks, more open park areas throughout the city.” The goal is to always give the city more character.

Leonardo goes on a lengthy elucidation of meaning:

“The Balanghai sculpture was inspired by the balanghai, the boat that carried the first wave of Malay migrants (now known as Pinoys) to settle in these islands. These migrants formed a community called the baranggay. In a way, I liken it to the Bonifacio Global City, a new community, a newly established baranggay. This boat, this vessel is profuse with symbolism. The stylized vinta (Moro boat) with its colorful sails represents the sarimanok from Mindanao and stands for cultural diversity. Each sail responds individually to different wind shifts, but reacts communally in an animated fashion, when blessed with a unidirectional wind flow. This can correspond to a host of factors including strong leadership (that the management of the Bonifacio Global City has shown, particularly, in the field of public art). I’ve always loved the allegory of our nation as a boat. There is the spirit of a new community. ’Yan ang hinahanap natin.”

The trinity of sails (representing Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao) is a symbol of diversity moving toward a homogenous goal. BAFI consultant Tina Esguerra agrees. “It’s about celebrating individuality, but when there’s a need to come together — then all the three sails (move in the same direction).” 

Leonardo naughtily calls his work “the second largest kinetic sculpture in the Philippines.” He says, “The largest is the sinking Manila Film Center (laughs).”

The Mind Museum managing director Manny Blas II explains, “Bonifacio Global City is the only development that has a specific organization dedicated to public art. In our case it’s the Bonifacio Art Foundation Inc. with a mandate to ‘develop the soul of the city.’ In a development there is the commercial, the residential, the retail, but we’re the only one with a sustainable public art program.”

 The people at BAFI are encouraging visitors to the Global City to take a walk on the artsy side and see the public art pieces for themselves. Esguerra shares, “We even printed out maps of the sculptures, so that people can do the art walk on their own.”

In creating this monolithic sculpture for BGC, Gerry worked with British structural engineer David Vesey of Arup, the firm responsible for such structural wonders as the Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan, and the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

They faced a lot of challenges in creating “Balanghai,” which was originally a 10-ton structure. The team made quarter-scale models and saw how they would react to wind. At one time, they ordered P400,000 stainless steel tubes to be used as the mainframe of the structure, but Leonardo found them too thick, and after a lot of re-computation they had to place another order. “Balanghai” went through several phases of structural review to ensure its safety and maintain its artistic aesthetic. Some balance had to be struck between design and structure, art had to share vows with science in the church of the imagination. Chains were put for movement with just enough slack to keep the sails from colliding. 

“How do we make it in such a way that it will be able to move with 60-kilogram push (of wind, an ordinary breeze), but be able to resist a 240-kilometer typhoon?”

BAFI recently refurbished the sculpture. It regularly does that for its public art pieces, with each artist involved in the whole process (even with the placement and look of the marker). Esguerra explains, “It’s BAFI’s way of maintaining its relationship with the artists, of being faithful to the artworks.” 

Leonardo happily reports that “Balanghai” has withstood the harrowing winds of Milenyo, Ondoy, and Basyang.

Still standing, still sailing.