October 25, 2004
Responding to the challenge of the times, and amidst an atmosphere of renewal and rejuvenation, Zero-in, the annual consortium project of the country’s leading private museums, the Ateneo Art Gallery, Ayala Museum, Lopez Memorial Museum and Museo Pambata, enters its third year with the theme “transitions.”
Museo Pambata’s Weaving Lives: The Art of Saori focuses on a unique weaving technique developed in Japan, which has been used by disabled children around the world to create fabrics remarkable for their brilliant hues, and rich textures. Both process and object amplify the important role played by craft in the lives of these children, who develop knowledge and technical skill as they create tangible representations of their newly empowered selves. Cast in this light, Weaving Lives presents a perfect metaphor for the transformative power of art.
The Lopez Memorial Museum explores the germination of artists’ ideas’ and their spontaneous realization with “A Rough Sketch.” Selections from the museum’s collection of drawings and sketches done in preparation for final works will be highlighted. The exhibition seeks to expand the viewer’s understanding and appreciation of unfettered creativity, hand in hand with its delineation of ambiguity and substance.
Beginning in the early 1950s, National Artist Arturo Luz, ventured from the two-dimensional plane of canvas and paper to carve out, weld and forge works in stone, concrete, steel and precious metals – the subject of Arturo Luz Sculptures at the Ateneo Art Gallery. Beginning with Luz’s first sculpture Kristo, which formed part of the initial Zobel bequest to the university, to his most recent works, this retrospective exhibition showcases the modern master’s minimalist mettle from figurative geometry to tensile linearity.
As the Ayala Museum moves to its new premises, a new chapter in its history unfolds with Crossings: Philippine Works from the Singapore Art Museum. Philippine art is seen as a vibrant presence in the visual arts of the Southeast Asian region. Surveying a hundred years of art, from conservatism to modernism to contemporary expression, this exhibition of selected works from the SAM collection, presents a vivisection of the country’s social, economic and political history set against the context of a borderless and increasingly global museum.
Proof of what can be accomplished by shared expertise, resources, will and, most importantly, a profound recognition of the public trust, Zero-in transitions gives a promising outlook for the future of the arts and culture – one that is marked by great enthusiasm, remarkable confidence, and boundless expectation.
Exhibition Dates:
“Weaving Lives: The Art of Saori” at the Museo Pambata, October 13 – January 15, 2005
“A Rough Sketch: Initial Musings” at the Lopez Memorial Museum, October 20
– March 31, 2005
“Arturo Luz Sculptures” at the Ateneo Art Gallery, October 27 – December 14, 2004
“Crossings: Philippine Works from the Singapore Art Museum” at the Ayala Museum, November 8 – June 12, 2005
