Pinoy art shines at Art Basel HK

MANILA, Philippines - The superpowers of the art world flew from New York, London, Beijing, and many other cities to attend the first edition of Art Basel Hong Kong last week, which opened on May 23 and ended May 26, at the HK Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Art fairs are a market place for art. It is a meeting place for galleries, collectors, art dealers, and curators to buy and sell art. Besides monetary exchange, however, art fairs provide a venue for social and intellectual exchange as well. Forums and talks were available for people to sit and listen to the most renowned members of the art world discuss and debate on art criticism, building new museums, and others. The Philippines’ very own Marcel Crespo, for example, gave a talk together with other major collectors entitled “Collector’s Focus, The Asia-Pacific Region.”

 Besides being part of the Basel “brand,” the event marks Asia as being a top player in the global art circuit. Some 67,000 visitors attended the fair, with major VIPs flying in, including big names such as Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and partner Dasha Zhukova, Wendi Murdoch, American art dealer and curator Jeffrey Deitch, and even Kate Moss, proving the Asian art market to be just as important as that of the Western world’s.

Two hundred sixty-six galleries participated, including four of the Philippines’ top galleries. There were also international galleries showing works by Philippine artists like Geraldine Javier at Arario Gallery (Seoul) and Manuel Ocampo at Nathalie Obadia Gallery (Paris and Brussels).

Philippine galleries in Art Basel HK

Winner Jumalon’s larger-than-life portraits garnered much attention, specifically to those of collectors as his works sold out at the Manila Contemporary booth. His series entitled “Against The Tide” presents to us the artist enraptured in an anxious struggle within himself, his subject matter, and his painting method. In what seems to be Jumalon’s self-portrait, the body twists and squirms, caught in a mesh of his own artistic material.

Silver Lens continued to show celebrated artists such as Gary-Ross Pastrana, Maria Taniguchi, Patricia Perez-Eustaquio, Rachel Rillo and Mariano Ching. Undoubtedly, Taniguchi’s “News IX” (acrylic on archival paper) dominates one’s attention without requiring the frivolities of expressionism and figuration. One is persuaded to inspect and meditate on the confluence of ideas in her work such as precision and imprecision, form and non-form, movement and stasis, proving to the spectator that there is power found in the minimal.

Drawing Room showed works by artists such as Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, Kawayan de Guia, Jose Legaspi, Mark Salvatus, and Gaston Damag. Damag, whose work entitled “Idol 1,” a bulol fixed within a modern grid, made it to The Art Newspaper’s top picks. This particular piece unveils Damag’s cunning and clever use of ethnographic symbols, calling to mind perhaps his most stunning work yet (which was not at the art fair) — an installation of melting bulols under a red spotlight entitled “Conversion 2.”

Art Informal boldly showed two works in their booth — a diptych by Marina Cruz, and an installation by Pam Yan Santos. Santos’ work entitled “Check What You Can Eat” requires the viewer’s participation — to tick on a sheet of paper which of the lot seems appetizing. The viewer, who sits in front of the painting, is confronted with a table containing an excessive pile of comfort food, that when shoved in one heap may not look so comforting after all.

It was indeed exciting to see Filipino artists brought to the forefront in a major platform such as Art Basel Hong Kong. Not only did it provide international exposure, but as Margarita Villanueva of the Lopez Museum remarked, “At the fair, one could certainly feel the increasing momentum of the Philippine art scene.”

What was also very thrilling is to be able to see works by local artists in the same environment as international ones. It was fun to get lost in the maze, where your focus goes from a Manuel Ocampo, then a few minutes later to a Basquiat.

Beyond the art fair

While one gets easily caught up in the energy and excitement an art fair brings, it is important to note that there is life beyond the art fair, the auction house or the art market for that matter.

I found reprieve away from the crowds, and had the option of attending a forum, or quietly viewing high quality shows in galleries such as Basquiat at Gagosian, the Chapman Brothers at White Cube, and Zhu Jinshi at Pearl Lam Galleries.

People are saying that art fairs are the new biennales. This may be true in terms of popularity and attendance; however, one must be wary that art fairs satisfy the market — it is a marketplace for sellers and buyers. While some galleries do put on a good show, the main goals are sales and promotion.

It is important for visitors to distinguish the experience of a museum or institutional show as opposed to art fairs or commercial exhibitions. Museums need to step it up a bit and get the funding they need, if they want to grab the same kind of attention as art fairs get. Perhaps museums and institutions could use the same strategy that art fairs use to seduce the crowd — which is hype. We already have good curators, we just need more non-commercial shows. Because if the public’s main source of contemporary art education is the art fair or the gallery, then who and what will shape the critical discourse in contemporary art?

While the Philippine art market grows and our artists mature and develop, one can only hope that an interest in the non-commercial side of art comes with it. Let us hope that we can have the best of both worlds — look forward to not just the next Art Basel Hong Kong, but also start thinking about the main event… Perhaps Venice 2015?