October 22, 2015, 5:28p.m. – THREE students from the College of Fine Arts and Design are among the finalists in this year’s Shell National Students Art Competition.
The competition’s 48th edition, which has the theme “Highlights: Paint the Best Parts of Life,” selected the paintings of Adrian See, Raniel VIcarez and Kevin Yrin with 60 other finalists in the oil or acrylic painting category.
See’s “Journey to Happiness” is a collage-like artwork featuring a rainbow over a woman wearing a fan-shaped headpiece, gazing upwards. The woman is accompanied by cartoon characters such as Sarah from the “Princess Sarah” animated television show along with a Filipino couple dressed in traditional formal wear.
Yrin captures three Filipino children playing while wearing grass crowns on their heads in “Noong Ako Ay Bata Pa.”
“VTR ni Nene” by Vicarez, a fourth-year Painting student, depicts a group of kids at the seaside, huddled around a photographer taking a photograph of a little girl wearing a silver tiara.
The goal of this year’s contest is for participating students to express their unique backgrounds. “As expressed by the theme ‘Highlights,’ this year’s [competition] encouraged the artists to incorporate their past and their life’s brightest moments with their artworks,” assistant coordinator Gelai Manabat told the Varsitarian.
The finalists’ works are displayed at the Ayala Museum in Makati until Oct. 31.
The competition first ran from 1951 to 1971 and was revived in 1989. National Artists Benedicto Cabrera, Jose Joya, Federico Alcuaz and Thomasian Ang Kiukok joined when they were still budding artists. Amierielle Anne A. Bulan
