MANILA, Philippines – Students from the Philippine High School for the Arts and FEATI University were declared winners in a nationwide sculpture competition sponsored recently by The Museum at De La Salle University, in honor of the university’s centennial in June this year.
The competition was open to all Filipino design and fine arts students presently enrolled in any university or college in Metro Manila. The contest adopted the theme “Remembering the past, living the present, creating the future.?”?The top prize was won by PHSA’s Gabreyel Ferrer with Pagbubunyi, a sculpture that incorporates abstract shapes that reach out to the skies and produce an interesting pattern of shadows.? “Shadows symbolize the past. Wherever we go, we will always have our past with us, like our shadows. The past builds us,” Ferrer explains.
FEATI’s Lance Kirby Laneza came next with A Century of Excellence, which features the likeness of leaves frozen in a spiral movement. Yanez says that his sculpture pays homage to God and represent the dynamism of the institution.
Alia Julia Pablo’s Unzip, a zipper-inspired artwork, won third place. Pablo, also from PHSA, explains her inspiration: “A zipper reveals the past, present, and future and evokes unity and a sense of moving forward.” The winners took home prizes of P150,000, P100,000 and P75,000, respectively. The board of judges was composed of National Artist for Sculpture Napoleon Abueva as chair; DLSU’s Br. Edmundo Fernandez FSC and Jose Mari Magpayo; art critic-artist Cid Reyes; and sculptor Dan Raralio.