CONTEMPORARY ARTS REVIEWER

ART
➢ Use of skill and imagination in creation of aesthetic objects, environment/experiences that can be shared
w/ others
➢ “ar” in Aryan, which means “to put together”
➢ It is “artezin” in Greek, meaning “to prepare”
➢ It is “ar” or “artis” in Latin, which means ability/skills

TWO TYPES OF ART

Traditional Art
▫ Encompasses arts produced from an indigenous culture
▫ Represents reality/realism through narrative
Contemporary Art
▫ “Happening/beginning now/in recent times”
▫ The art of today produced by artists who are living in the 21st century
▫ Using new techniques and materials; video and multimedia technology

CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTEMPORARY ART

✓ Bold strokes, bright color abstract
✓ Expressionist and surrealist
✓ Arts become public
✓ Some artists are self-taught
✓ Diff. Materials were used instead of the traditional ones
✓ Originality is not an issue in contemporary art
✓ Process is important
TIMELINE OF PHILIPPINE ARTS
• Ethnic Art (Integral to life)
• Islamic Art (Geometric Designs)
• Spanish Era (Faith & Catechism)
• American Era (Secular Form of Art)
• Japanese Era (Orientalizing)
• Modern Era (National Identity)
• Contemporary Art (Social Realism)
VISUAL ARTS
➢ Used to describe a wide array of artistic disciplines that are appreciated primarily through sight
➢ Includes: fine arts, decorative arts, and contemporary arts
FINE ARTS
➢ primarily created for its appearance rather than its practical use.
Drawing
▫ Uses various drawing instruments to mark paper or another two-dimensional medium.
Painting
▫ Created using pigments (color) on a surface (ground) such as paper or canvas.
Sculpture
▫ Operates in three-dimensional
▫ Made of wood, ice, metal paper and cement
Print
▫ Manually printed by the artist.
▫ The artist will have created an image on block, stone, plate, or screen from which the final print is
produced.
Graphic Art
▫ Based on the use of line and tone rather than three-dimensional work or the use of color.
Calligraphy
▫ Art giving form to sign in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner.
Architecture
▫ Describe buildings and other physical structures.
DECORATIVE ARTS
➢ Both aesthetically pleasing and functional
Textile Art
▫ Use plants, animals or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects.
Glassware
▫ Articles of glass are designed primarily for decorative purposes.
Jewelry
▫ Emphasizes creative expression and design and characterized by the use of a variety of materials
Furniture
▫ Movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., chair, stools, sofa)
eating (tables) and sleeping (beds).
Earthenware
▫ Pottery made of clay fired to a porous state that can be made impervious to liquids by the use of a glaze.
Metal Craft
▫ The art of executing artistic design in metal.\

Interior Design
▫ Process of designing the interior decoration of a room or building.
PERFORMING ARTS
➢ When artist use their voices and/or their body movements to communicate artistic expression
➢ Enacted in front of live audience

3 TYPES OF PERFORMING ARTS

MUSIC
➢ Manipulation of sound and silence
➢ Blends different elements such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, timbre and texture to create sound
TYPES OF MUSIC
Art Music
▫ Umbrella term used to refer to music that stems from Western Classical Music
▫ Preserved through written musical notations that were developed in Europe
Pop Music
▫ Accessible and commercially available to the public
▫ Played and disseminated through different mass media outlets such as radios, TV, and the Internet.
Traditional Music
▫ Community and culturally based
DANCE
➢ Regulated and deliberated order of body movements
TYPES OF DANCES
Ballet
▫ Originated during the Italian Renaissance in the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form
in France
Belly Dance
 ▫ Originating in the Middle East
▫ Performed by a woman and involving undulating movements of the belly and rapid gyration of the hips
Break Dance
▫ A style of acrobatic dancing
▫ Performed to rap music usually by teenage males in the streets
Improvisational Dance
▫ Process spontaneously creating movements

Hip Hop
▫ Street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hp hop culture.
Modern Dance
▫ Broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance
Contemporary Dance
▫ Style of expressive dance that combines elements of several dance genres including modern, jazz, lyrical
and classical ballet
Traditional Dance
▫ Folk dances are dances that develop by people that reflect the life of the people of a certain country or
region
▫
THEATER
➢ Involves the integration and combination of the visual and performing arts
➢ Fine art where actors or actresses performed experiences, whether real or imagined, in front of a live
audience.
Mime
▫ Acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech
▫ Mummer – performer
Puppetry
▫ Involves the manipulation of puppets-inanimate objects
Musical
▫ Form of theater combining music, songs, spoken dialog, and dance.

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
➢ It is an art style in which the artist applies paint, for example in a manner that expresses emotions and
feelings in a spontaneous way. The Figured may be heavy in lines and color without solid mass.
KINETIC ART
 ➢ is a sculpture that may be moved by the wind or powered by machine or electricity.
OP ART
➢ Use lines or images repeatedly to create optical illusion.
PERFORMANCE ART
➢ Combines a variety of media and the human body to execute an artistic theatrical expression performed
before a live audience.
ENVIRONMENTAL ART
➢ Involves the artistic creation or manipulation of space such as landscape or architectural design that may
enclose its audience. Earthwork or art using stones, leaves, trees, grass, or other elements are included.
FEMINIST ART
➢ Emerged from concerns of female artists expressed through art. They tackle issues of identity, sexuality,
gender roles, equality and the ways in which the female is treated in society, among others
MINIMALISM
➢ It has a stripped-down, prefabricated look, free of details and often with flat surface, but expresses a
specific content or statement.
VIDEO ART
➢ Consist of images that are recorded through a video and viewed through television, computer or
projection screen.
GRAFITTI ART
➢ Is a drawing, inscription, or sketch done hastily on a wall or other surface made to be seen by the public
POST MODERN ART
➢ It carries modern styles to extreme practices, often expressing an idea through a mix of materials such as
found objects welded together.
BODY ART
➢ Is a form that uses the body as the medium or main material, it can be painted or clothed and used for an
art performance in public. Tattooing and piercing is an example of body art.
DIGITAL ART
➢ Is done with the aid of a computer to create an image or design composed of bits and bytes. The image
can be printed on paper, tarpaulin, or other mediums
NATIONAL ARTISTS
Highest Recognition and Distinction a Filipino Artist Could Receive
1. Pambansang Alagad ng Sining ng Pilipinas (National Artist of the Philippines)
2. Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (National Living Treasures Award)
3. The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award
4. The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Award
5. Thirteen Artists Awards (TAA)
 6. Gawad CCP Para sa Sining
THE ORDER OF NATIONAL ARTIST (ONA)
➢ Also called the Orden ng Pambansang Alagad ng Sining
➢ Highest recognition given by the Republic of the Philippines who have made significant contributions to
the development of the Philippine arts.
➢ Bestowed by the President of the Philippines upon the joint recommendations of the National Commission
for Culture and the Arts (NCAA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines
INSIGNIA OF THE ORDER OF NATIONAL ARTISTS
➢ Composed of a Grand Collar that features circular links portraying the arts, and eight-pointed
conventionalized sunburst suspended from a sampaguita wreath in green and white enamel.

THE CENTRAL BADGE

➢ a medallion which divided into three equal portions; red, white, and blue representing the Philippine flag,
with three stylized letter Ks- the “KKK” stands for the CCP’s motto: “katotohanan, kabutihan, at
kagandahan” (the true, the good, and the beautiful”), as coined by then first lady and CCP Founder Mrs.
Imelda Romualdez Marcos.
THE NATIONAL COMISSION FOR CULTURE AND ARTS (NCAA) as well as Gawad Manlilikha ng
Bayan
➢ Identified and supported the art forms done within established schools living traditions
➢ They focused on forms and styles of pottery, musical instruments, making of attire and accessories and
weaving textile and mats, tasks of daily living, dance, oral literature, music and ritual.
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
Neo-Realism
▫ Intimate study of nature, deliberate objective transposition, good craftmanship, and a love of the medium.
NATIONAL ARTISTS FOR PAINTING
Fernando Amorsolo
▫ A portraitist and painter in rural Philippines landscapes
▫ “Grand Old Man of Philippine Art”
▫ First-ever recognized as a National Artist of the Philippines in Painting
Victorio Edades
 ▫ “Father of Modern Art in the Philippines”
▫ Named national artist in 1976, born in Dagupan, Pangasinan
▫ His art is influenced by western cubism where objects and subjects are analyzed and broken down into
geometric structures and shapes viewed from a multiplicity of angles.
Carlos “Botong” Francisco
▫ Dubbed as the “Poet of Angono Rizal”
▫ He singe-handedly brought back the art of mural painting in Philippines
▫ Second Filipino to receive the title of National Artist in Painting
▫ Best known for his historical pieces
▫ Modernist artists together with Galo Ocampo and Victorio Edades known as “The Triumvirate”
▫ Major masterpiece; Mural for Bulwagang Katipunan of the Manila City Hall
Vicente Manansala and Cesar Legaspi
▫ They brought neo-realism to its finest peak
▫ Manansala, refined the method called transparent cubism, while Legaspi imbued with it with human
tension and dynamic movement
Vicente Manansala
▫ One of the first Abstractionists on the country’s art scene
▫ Technique: transparent cubism where the essential tones, shapes and patterns of figure and environment
are faceted and superimposed
▫ In cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form

Jose T. Joya
▫ Filipino abstract artist and a National Artist of the Philippines awardee
▫ He was a printmaker, painter, mixed media, and a former dean of the University of the Philippines’ College
of Fine Arts
▫ Pioneered abstract expressionism in the Philippines
▫ Introduced another technique that has become a common characteristic of folk art- he used rice paper in
creating collages to show a transparent effect
Napoleon Abueva
▫ the Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture
Eduardo Castrillo
▫ Became prolific at it his sculpture and monuments of embossed copper and welded brass.
PHOTOREALISM or HYPERREALISM
▫ When painting is rendered in a meticulously realistic style with accurate details looking like photograph,
▫ Nestor Leynes, Ger Viterbo, Jaime Roque, Joselito Barcelona, and Agustin Goy (these are the
photorealistic during the 70.s)
Photorealism
▫ is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing, and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a
photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium.
▫ In contemporary art, the term ‘’photorealism’, or ‘’photographic realism’, describes a style of highly
detailed 20th century realist painting in which the artist attempts to replicate an image from a photograph
in all its microscopic exactness.
Hyperrealism
▫ Realism in art is characterized by depiction of real life in an unusual or striking manner.
▫ Hyperrealism artists insert narration and feeling into their paintings.
▫ If photorealism tends to depict the picture exactly and precisely as it is, hyperrealism also show what’s
behind it – the flaws of the model and the mood, making realistic painting subject more tangible and real,
creating even more realistic drawing or sculptures
▫ Hyperrealism is a technique that becomes magical realism if unreal or imaginary elements are focused on
their physical presence in the actual material world. Surrealism often use hyperrealist technique, but deals
with psychological and subconscious reality such as irrationality in dreams and hallucinations, although
some surrealists do not employ photorealist techniques
Social Realism in Philippine Art
▫ was an aesthetic and political art movement that emerged in the late 1970’s amidst the country’s conditions
of martial law, Imeda’s grand culture, US Imperialism, the international student movement of the 1970’s,
and socioeconomic disparity.
SOCIAL REALISM
▫ Emphasize that the subject matter should show a keen awareness of conflict arising from the oppressive
condition and events of time.
Pablo Baen Santos (active artist)
▫ Bean Santos’s technique in dynamic figuration has unmasked the ills and inequities in the Philippine
politic.

ABSTRACT ART
▫ Abstract art may be pure beauty, a reason for its own being, it can also be derived, thus it can be expressive,
or it can be suggestive of an idea and can be a metaphor or symbol.
Arturo Luz
▫ Linear hard-edge paintings and sculptures, he brought precision of lines and perfection of form without
having to represent any meaning or story behind it.
Romulo Olazo
▫ Diaphanous series where he layered shapes, one on the top of another, in various tints and shades to
achieve patterns of rich transparencies.
CONCEPTUAL ART
 ▫ art form wherein the idea (concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object.
Roberto Chabet
▫ He was recognized as the father of Philippine conceptual art.
▫ His work is all about playful, endless experimentation. According to him art is all about ideas.
▫ His media are the following, bricks, plywood, calipers, compasses, rules measure and gauges. These create
installations of temporary but precise edifices of planes, triangles, slopes, stairs ruongs and angles. He
mentored the younger conceptual artist.
✓ Waves
▫ We allow ourselves to be in a situation where we quietly observe the different elements it present:
shadows, light, movement and form. This serves as an eye-opener for us to critically examine ordinary
things in our lives and how they can affect us.
✓ Pier Cave
✓ Psychopathology of Everyday Life
Binakul – (twill in Ilocano)
▪ is the common term for the blanket recognizable by abstract patterns which create an optical illusion.
In western art, similar paintings and graphic designs are labelled as "Op Art”
▪ is present in the blankets of the Tinguian and Itneg of Abra, and in Ilocano abel blankets in Vigan.
There is an impression movement, flashing and vibrating, advancing and receding patterns, or of swelling
and shrinking. These signify the rhythms of the universe present in the ripples of water. It also visually
suggests the echoing vibration of kubing.
▪ is just one of the many designs which national living treasure abel weaver Magdalena Gamayo, from
Pinili, Ilocos Norte can expertly do. This is an ancestral contemporary national motif applicable to anay
medium and technique in visual art
Abel weaving
▪ abel is the traditional woven product of the Vigan and the llocos region. The abel cloth is known for
being strong, colorful material. The fabric is so strong and beautiful that some families have them as
heirlooms that last as long as their antique furnishings.

Traditional Cordilleran Bulul, Culture of Ancestors in Contemporary Art

Bulul
▪ is a figure representing ancestors who guard both rice agriculture from seed to granary, as well as
the health of the Cordilleran people
▪ may be male or female
▪ normally portrayed squatting on the ground with knees folded up to support its crossed arms
▪ It is commonly carved from a log of narra or ipil, and at times in stone.
▪ The most important element of art to observe in the bulul is form, while the most important principle to
analyze is proportion
Santiago Bose (1949-2002)
▪ an artist with llocano and Igorot roots, underscored his Cordilleran ancestral culture in his life work
▪ brought folk religion, mythology, rituals and tribal traditions into the national and global arena
▪ influenced surrealist painter Roberto Villanueva to pursue this direction through performance and
installations.
▪ He also inspired artists like Alwin Reamillo, Arnell Agawin, Perry Mamaril, and Kawayan de Guia
to become “cultural drifters” like him. These younger artists, who moved from one ancestral abode to
another, refined Bose’s visual style, exploring the most innovative media in re-examining cultural heritage
in the context of the fast-changing global milieu
Botong school of painting in Angono
▪ The painting style of Carlos “Botong Fancisco lives on in his hometown of Angono, where painters who
were his students and followers continue to romanticize their local rural life. They carry on Botong’s
painting approach to subjects like bayanihan, fishing, farming, landscapes with carabaos, the Laguna
Lake,local churches of Rizal province, and cultural festivals such as the Higantes, Viva Kristo Rey, and
Flores de Mayo. They follow the lively composition of robust figures and ornamental landscapes defined
by graceful lines and patterns.
▪ The most notable principles of art to observe in the Botong school of painting are proportion, balance,
symmetry, variety, emphasis, and movement
▪ The most prominent painters of this school are Jose Blanco (1932- 2008) and his family of painters
which include Perdigon Vocalan, Tam Austria (b 1943), Salvador Juban, Pepito Villaluz, Manuel
Unidad, and Nemesio Miranda (b 1949). These artists are committed to keeping alive the painting
tradition of Botong in their canvases, preserve Angono’s rich cultural heritage, and keep their beloved
town in the culture and tourism map of the country.
Colorful Painted Carvings
The brothers Manuel and Angelito Baldemor
▪ are well known for their distinct personal styles of colorfully painted carvings of pastoral landscapes
and scenery.
Manuel
▪ is a painter who has done three-dimensional cubist influenced painted carvings of themes of folk and
rural life.
Angelito
▪ specializes in carving colorful realistic reliefs of still life, flora, and fauna with fine details like those
of santan flowers, rice grains, basket weaves, and mat.
The Anino Shadowplay Collective
▪ founded in 1996,
▪ a group of art practitioners originating from the Philippine High School for the Arts, a government-run
secondary school for artistically gifted students located in the forest reserves of Mt. Makiling in Laguna.
▪ The collective is composed of visual artists, musicians, and multi-disciplinary cultural workers. It grew
out of young students engaging in the game of shadow playing during the time of the energy crisis when
flashlights, candles, and gas lamps were their only source of evening light. Among its pioneering visual
artist members were Don Salubayba, Datu Arellano, and Marc Cosico.
VISAYAS
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)
▪ facilitated the establishment of twenty-two schools of living traditions housed in balayturun-an among the
Panay- Bukidnon in Capiz and Iloilo. The mother school is in Central Panay. The three basic art forms
taught in these schools are 1)epic chanting of Suguidanon about the adventures of the brothers Labow
Donggon and Humadapnon; 2)the art of embroidery called panubok which is used to adorn the
saipang, the traditional red or white blouse for girls and women, with patterns of flowers, stars, water,
vines, birds, and insects rendered in simple, rhythmic, and repeated zigzag, straight lines, triangles and
diamond forms; 3)the binanog, which was originally a courtship dance performed during harvests and
weddings, where dancers vigorously stamp their feet and gracefully outstretch their arms like birds’ wings;
4)making and playing musical instruments such as the tambol and kubing, and 5)making bamboo
handicrafts such as trays and baskets.
Sugidanon (Panay Bukidnon)- (from Kiniray-a Sugid, to tell)
▪ tell a story in ten chapters of powerful noblemen, demi- goddesses, and mythical creatures. It is still
recited and taught to this day, in chanting sessions that can last for hours at a time, but for those of us who
can’t visit a chanter in Iloilo and Capiz Provinces.
Binukot
▪ One startling feature of the sugidanon is that it was primarily chanted by women
▪ who were beautiful usually from high-status and families, secluded from childhood and trained in
domestic arts like panubok (embroidery) and memorization of the epics.
Kubing
▪ a type of Philippine jaw harp from bamboo found among the Maguindanaon and other Muslim and
non-Muslim tribes in the Philippines and Indonesia. It is also called kobing, kolibau, aru-ding.
Aroding, kulaing, ulibaw, korombi, yori or Kulibaw.
▪ The schools of living traditions of the Ati of Antique, Negros Oriental, and Guimaras sustain their nascent
lifestyle, language, and environment as they go about their hunting, foraging, and weaving of baskets from
nito and uway. Mat weaving in Basey, Samar features designs which comprise of a border pattern and a
central motif.
▪ Common images featured in the designs include flowers such as hibiscus and sampaguita, leaves such as
palay, fern, and neem; and plumage such as peacock or rooster feathers. Some weavers include portraits
of famous figures or personalities and exotic landscapes and seascapes. Traditional colors are maroon and
green, although the weavers today have an expansive palette of rainbow colors to work with. There is an
NCCA- supported school of living tradition in Basiao, Basey which propagates mat weaving from tikog.
The Martino Abellana (1914-1988) school of painting
▪ named after the master realist of portraits and landscapes. Abellana’s style is characterized by a
chiaroscuro defined by a unique use of color progression: from warm hues of yellow, to orange, to red, to
cool green, to blue and violet. Bernardo Hermoso, Jose Ybanez, Antonio Ylanan, Siegfredo Galan,
Isabelo Quiles, Arlene Villaver, and Florentino Impas, Jr. are the artists influenced by Abellana who
have excelled in their own personal styles.
Patadyong Colors and Designs from Visayas as National Art Motif
Patadvong
▪ a traditional plaid textile which women weave in Antique, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental, made of
mostly primary colors of red, yellow, blue, and secondary colors of orange, purple, and green. The
cloth is woven in stripes, squares, and rectangles, and is commonly used as a wrap-around skirt in
lowland Christian culture, Including southern Luzon.
▪ The aesthetics of the patadyong have been a strong influence in contemporary art expressions in the region,
notably in the works of the group in Bacolod called Black Artists of Asia. It was founded by Norberto
Roldan, Nunelucio Alvarado, Charlie Co and Dennis Ascalon to explore new styles of expression while
dealing with issues affecting the social and cultural life of local people.
Ilonggo Artist Rock Drilon
▪ Iloilo-born painter Rock Drilon was a protégé of National Artist Jose Joya.
▪ After three decades of an art career in Manila, Drilon returned to Dumangas, Iloilo to live, work, and
enliven the art scene there. He is known for his highly personal style of abstract expressionism. His
canvases are suffused with thin coats of middle tone hues, then scratched in subtraction method to create
overlays of different textures and inscribed planes
▪ He applies audacious brushstrokes of pigment and lets them drip. He would then paint forms of boundless
coils and knots over them like a toddler lost in playing with yarns.
Boy Masculino and Pugad Artist (Oton, Iloilo)
▪ A bronze of Datu Paiburong at the Iloilo River Esplanade. A project of the JCI (Junior Chamber
International) Iloilo llang-llang in partnership with the Iloilo City Government, the warrior statue is
showcased to show Iloilo City’s Dinagyang Festival, just in time for its celebration during January.
▪ The statue which depicts Datu Paiburong as the Iloilo Dinagyang Warrior conceptualized and
designed by local artist Boy Maculino. It stands 15 feet from its base and will be made from cement with
a bronze finishing
MINDANAO
▪ There are various ethnolinguistic communities in Mindanao such as the Blaan, Bagobo, Bukidnon
(Talaandig and Manobo), Higaonon, Mandaya, Maguindanao, Mansaka, and Subanen.
▪ The NCCA supports twenty-two schools of living traditions in Mindanao where subjects taught by elders
include weaving and embroidery of attire, mat weaving, dance, making musical instruments, and crafting
bead accessories. All of these are integrated and kept alive in daily life
Malong
▪ a traditional Filipino-Bangsamoro rectangular or tube-like wraparound skirt bearing a variety of
geometric or okir designs
▪ traditionally used for various purposes. It is used as a skirt for both men and women, a blanket, dressing
cover, hammock, and as a prayer mat. It is also used for rituals and the malong dance.
Okir
▪ the term for rectilinear and curvilinear plant-based designs and folk motifs that can be usually found
among the Moro and Lumad people of the Southern Philippines, as well as parts of Sabah.
 ▪ tradionally used as a garment by both men and women of the numerous ethnic groups in the mainland
Mindanao and parts of the Sulu Archipeago
▪ In Zamboanga del Sur,the Subanen of Sitio Carayagan in Josefina makess notable bead accessories.
Patterns in the bead design called karitis, sabat, and batangyawe are repeated diamonds and zigzags in
colors of yellow, red, blue, and green.

Ukkil from Mindanao as National Symbol

Ukkil or okir
▪ distinct traditional art form representing Mindanao. It is a curvilinear motif representing the mythical
dragon, naga, or serpent, often enhanced with elaborate leaf and vine patterns. It is woven or
embroidered in clothing, sculpted into wooden house beams called panolong, carved on grave markers,
incised on wooden chests, boxes, and bamboo musical instruments, engraved on handles of swords and
blades, and etched into cast brass and silver vessels.
▪ A composite of ukkil forms, the sarimanok is a symbol in the form of a rooster with a hanging fish in
its beak, bringing the naga to a resplendent flourish. The best of these is handcrafted in Tugaya, Lanao
del Sur, a famous heritage center for traditional Maranao.
National Artist Abdulmari Imao
▪ was instrumental in popularizing the ukkil motif and the sarimanok, educating Filipinos to appreciate
these as national symbols. Ligaya Amilbangsa has been largely influential in propagating the pangalay
dance as truly Filipino.
GAMABA mat weaver Haja Amina Appi from Sama
▪ uses ukkil in the wave motifs in her tepo. Despite originating from Filipino Muslim culture, these designs
are recognized and admired by all Filipinos.