TO HONOR the 150th birth centenary of Katipunero Supremo Andres Bonifacio, over 70 visual artists showcased paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works in the annual Looking for Juan: Revolution at the Vargas Museum of the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman. The show runs up to June 18.
Thomasians Mark Salvatus, Sergio Bumatay III, Buen Calubayan, Geloy Concepcion and Dr. Dante Lerma of UST Health Service are among the participating artists in the exhibit.
“Objects Used for Revolution” by Salvatus shows weave-like silhouettes of weapons done in graphite on white canvas.
Salvatus said he drew the concept of the art work from the Occupy Movement, the international protest movement against the global financial system that communications technology like the Internet in its campaigns. The different objects on the canvas include smart phones, knives, grenades and a bolo.
Salvatus said the images zero in on revolution, adding that it was “a revolution that can be small that no one really notices and a big one that can move the world.”
Meanwhile, Bumatay’s “The Calling” is an acrylic and pencil on plywood depicting a deer and a young girl surrounded by nature in autumnal colors. The artist explained that his work’s message is the need for “transmuting passion to a higher purpose.”
Calubayan’s “A Series of Incomplete Landscapes (3D)” features a blurred image of mixed backgrounds with shards of black, yellow, red and white.
Meanwhile, Concepcion’s “Gat” is an intermedia on wood that shows a graffiti-like image of a mother and offspring, painted in bright colors with the word “Supremo” hanging overhead.
Lerma’s “Recuerdos 1896,” done in his trademark trompe l’oeil style, is an acrylic on canvas which features hyperrealistic images of the flags of the Philippine revolution and of Katipunero revolutionaries wrapped in crumpled paper and tied with a string.
Organized by the Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (Canvas), the exhibit stayed true to its tradition of hanging tarpaulin banner reproductions of the artworks throughout the 2.2-kilometer UP Academic Oval and the BenCab Museum in Baguio.
These banner reproductions will be converted into tote bags which will be sold. Proceeds will go to Canvas’ other projects in promoting arts and culture. John Joseph G. Basijan and Romina Louise C. Cunanan
