Villacarlos, Jamille Celeste T.

BSN 1-1

“Art in the Philippines”

Art is all around us, and this is especially true in the Philippines. Filipinos are known to be a
creative population and we’ve long studied a vast list of renowned local artists. Amazingly,
Filipinos excel in all types of arts - may it be visual, applied, or performing arts.

Visual art is any form of art that uses any type of platform to express the artists’ idea. The most
common example of visual art is paintings and Filipinos are extremely talented when it comes to
envisioning a picture. Fernando Amorsolo is labelled as our first National Artist in 1972 and is
often called the Grand Old Man of Philippine Art. Many of his famous paintings are on display at
the Vargas Museum, one of which is named The Fruit Gatherer. Sculptures are another type of
visual art and arguably one of the most famous sculptures in the country is UP Diliman’s
Oblation statue. It was sculpted by Guillermo Tolentino and is meant to signify freedom and
selfless offering of oneself to his country, a concept that is
very appropriate to the university’s values and teachings.
Photography is also considered as another form of visual
art, and Eduardo Masferre himself is revered as the
Father of Philippine Photography. He focused on the daily
lives of Cordillera indigenous people as the subject of his
photos, and he soon published it into a book entitled
People of the Philippine Cordillera Photographs 1934-
1956.

Considered as a portion of visual art, applied art is any form of art

that has purpose, function or real-life applications. This can include
architecture, and Ildefonso P. Santos is widely regarded as the
Father of Philippine Landscape Architecture. He was awarded as
the National Artist in Architecture back in 2006, and his mind is
responsible for the design of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Fashion design is also a form of applied art and we can observe the
Filipinos’ talent in this field as recently as 2018. Catriona Gray won
Miss Universe in a wonderfully designed lava gown by Mak Tumang; the designer always
makes sure to incorporate Filipino symbolisms in his work. Wood craft is also categorized as
applied art, and our very own Ifugao Woodcarvers are renowned nationwide as the best in the
Philippines.

Performing arts is another form of art and differs from visual and
applied art as they include dance, music, opera, films, theater,
drama, magic shows and even stand-up comedy. Lisa Macuja is
the country’s most famous ballet dancer and she is also the
Directress of the Ballet Manila School. After making waves in the
Philippines, Rachelle Ann Go is now making Filipinos proud as
Eliza Hamilton in the West End production of Lin Manuel
Miranda’s Hamilton. Every year, the Cinemalaya Foundation
hosts its annual Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film
Festival at Pasay City to celebrate the Filipino’s talents in
filmmaking. This year’s Best Picture winner was Arden Rod
Condez’ “Kung Paano Hinihintay ang Dapithapon”, while
Eduardo Roy Jr. bagged the award for Best Direction.

Filipinos are undoubtedly creative and extremely talented as evidenced by this essay. One can
only hope that the future for Filipino art will grow brighter with the guidance of the people that
will love and care for it; this means that Filipinos must cherish their own art and make strides to
help artists in need. After all, a country that helps its artists is a country worth being proud of.