A THOMASIAN artist took home the Fernando Zobel Prize for Visual Art last Oct. 1 at the Ateneo Arts Awards for his month-long exhibit of silkscreen paintings of acrylic-laden wood patterns and textures.
Constantino Zicarelli, an advertising arts alumnus of UST, received the award for his exhibit “Prelude to a Billion Years” held last year at the Art Informal Gallery in Mandaluyong City, which also won him an artist residency grant from the Liverpool Hope University in England.
“I didn’t really expect this. I knew other artists–friends of mine–who are better than me. I get inspiration from woodworks. [I] wanted to work more on day-to-day materials and construct something abstract out of it,,” Zicarelli told the Varsitarian in an interview.
The last Thomasian to have won the prestigious Ateneo Art Awards was Mark Salvatus, also an advertising alumnus, in 2010.
The Ateneo Art Awards, launched in 2003, recognizes the works of visual artists and art critics. It was established to honor the founding benefactor of the Ateneo Art Gallery, the late artist Fernando Zobel.
This year, twelve artists competed for the Fernando Zobel Prizes for Visual Art while six art critics battled for the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism.
Winners for each category were chosen by a jury based on output and individual interviews.
The Ateneo Art Awards exhibit runs until Dec. 2 at the Ateneo Art Gallery, which is now housed inside Arete, Ateneo de Manila’s new creative hub inside the Loyola campus.
