Thomasians among 12 student-artists in Katipunan Art Festival

October 5, 1:01p.m.- THREE budding visual artists from the College of Fine Arts and Design and the College of Architecture exhibited their “nationalistic” works in the Katipunan Art Festival last Oct. 3.

Marielle Anne Villanueva, Jea Alyssa Gavina and Jappy Agoncillo were among the 12 student-artists invited by Katipunan Kreative, the art festival’s curator.

“Artikulo 1.00” by Villanueva, a third-year Architecture student, is a fierce yet wounded portrait of John Arcilla in character as Heneral Luna. On the background is a stained Philippine flag.

Villanueva also exhibited other works like “The Realist,” “Pusong Bato,” and “Tagos sa Bones.” The last work features a flower and a butterfly perched on a skeletal framework.

“I find the human structure interesting so I incorporate it into my pieces,” Villanueva said. “When people look at my paintings, I want them to see the merging of my two loves: Science and Art.”

“Katip People” by Gavina shows black-and-white ink illustrations of men wearing barong tagalog and red scarves?a representation of the men of the Katipunan revolutionary movement led by Andres Bonifacio. The Katipuneros are modernized–one is holding a monopod and another is using Instagram on a smartphone.

The Katipunan is again shown from a modernized perspective in Gavina’s other work titled “Rebolusyon.” He used ink in creating an Instagram-inspired post with five men in the picture, all tagged “Rebolusyonista.”

Agoncillo’s “Supremo” shows Katipunan leader Bonifacio holding a balisong in one hand and a revolver in the other.

Using watercolor and ink, the artwork fuses the traditional and modern Katipunan, incorporating images of a torn cedula, the KKK flag, Katipuneros holding weapons, and illustrations of a Sarao jeepney with the Katipunan placard.

“I wanted to bring the Katipunan we know from our history books to the present, so I decided to mash both the old and the new Katipunan to allow it to be relatable to our generation and the succeeding ones. My artwork Supremo is a love letter to Katipunan; a tribute to the revolution’s heroes and influence, as well as to the hustle and bustle as we know it today,” Agoncillo said. Amierielle Anne A. Bulan and Ma. Czarina A. Fernandez