The place of the regional

in contemporary
Philippine art
FILIPINO artists play a role in presenting and educating the public about our
history and identity.

To support this role, the Philippine Contemporary Art Network (PCAN) was
launched on Dec. 8, 2017.

A project of Senator Loren Legarda, it is meant to recognize and hone the

skills of artists and curators.

Temporarily based at the University of the Philippines’ Vargas Museum in

Diliman, Quezon City, the PCAN’s inaugural project, Place of Region in the
Contemporary, focuses on the regions importance in contemporary art.

During an exhibition walkthrough on Jan. 19, PCAN Director Patrick D. Flores

explained: “It’s meant to actually harness the resources of Philippine
contemporary art. [Of course], we all know that it’s a very active scene. Many
artists are doing work, artist collectives are thriving, and the market is strong.
The discourse is higher. One of the aims of PCAN is to consolidate and
harness the resources of Philippine contemporary art.”

Mr. Flores cited the three nodes around which the inaugural project was built
— knowledge production and circulation; exhibition and curatorial analysis;
public engagement and artistic formation.

The project delves in research on art history, the historical context of

contemporary art, and locating its roots and trajectories, as well as various
sources of its emergence.

“There are many ways to define when the contemporary begins and when the
modern ends — that is a debate among art historians. But one way to do it is
locate some turning points at which expressive practice tried to question
certain conventions or institutions of modernism itself,” Mr. Flores said.
The regional artists highlighted in the exhibit are Jess Ayco from Bacolod
(1916-1982), Santiago Bose from Baguio (1949-2002), Abdulmari Imao from
Sulu (1936-2014), and Junyee from Los Baños, Laguna (b. 1942).

Mr. Flores pointed out that the artists worked in a variety of mediums. Imao
was a photographer, sculptor, and painter; Ayco was a photographer, painter,
and theatrical production costume designer; Bose was a mixed-media artist;
and Junyee is a sculptor and installation artist.

The artists were chosen based in their national prominence and the level of
density produced in their body of work. Santiago Bose, founder of the Baguio
Arts Guild, included Cordillera culture in his works; National Artist of the
Philippines for Sculpture Abdulmari Imao reflected Islamic culture; Jess Ayco
went against the masculine framework of modernism; and Junyee brings the
state of nature and environmental issues to light with his installations.

“The main argument here is geopoetic — meaning the place (where the artists
are from) produces a particular form. The form eventually casts a certain
expression for the place,” Mr. Flores said. “The place also forms a subjectivity,
but the subjectivity has a life of its own.”

PCAN’s Place of Region in the Contemporary can be viewed Tuesdays to

Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., until Jan. 27. For details, call Vargas Museum at
981-8500 loc. 4024, 928-1925, e-mail vargasmuseum@gmail.com, or
visit vargasmuseum.upd.edu.ph. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman