MISO 09.29.2014
In its bid to support the National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ (NCCA) duty to carry out activities in the spirit of this celebration of art, culture, and heritage, SMX Convention Center-Taguig and SM Aura Premier is home once more to ManilArt, the country’s longest-standing art fair, this October.
Now on its sixth run, the annual art fair aims to diversify through this year’s visual spread themed “Crossing Borders.” ManilArt 2014 also continues to foster solidarity between the private and the public sectors by bridging the two in its line-up of events, which shall run from October 16 to 19, 2014.
With support from the local government of Taguig City, Lifestyle Asia, SMX Convention Center-Taguig, SM Aura Premier, the Department of Industry’s Center for International Trade Expromosition and Missions (CITEM), JeepneyTours.Com, King Sue, Coconuts Manila, FaberCastell, Robinsons Luxuria, Ladder Events Production, and Museo Orlina, Manilart 2014 is not only a venue for established names in the industry, but also serves as a platform for introduction.
Through its I Love Taguig Campaign, Mayor Lani Cayetano has been very supportive of ManilArt. “As I have said before, artworks are not just for pleasurable appreciation. Their more important function is that they can be forms of communication between the artist and the viewing public. They may inspire, change views, and touch lives. They can reflect culture and people’s aspirations. Art has a big role to play in progress and thus, the City of Taguig supports the National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ (NCCA) ManilArt,” said Mayor Cayetano.
Fair highlights ‘cross borders’
Among Manilart 2014’s highlights is a partnership with CITEM for its annual Manila Fame to be held at the SMX Convention Center – Mall of Asia from October 16 to 19. “The synchronized show dates and co-promotion of Manila FAME and ManilArt is a move to create a more vibrant trade fair atmosphere in The country. This will give foreign and local buyers and guests visiting both shows a feast of the best products ranging from home and fashion lifestyle to visual arts, and for our people, a source of pride in our crafts and in our creative heritage,” Manila FAME Project Director Leah Ocampo explained.
CITEM’s MANILA FAME
Works of Tacloban artists shall be featured in “Pagla-Um: A Paperclay Art Exhibit,” at the 60th Manila Fame, as a tribute to those who rose from the Typhoon Yolanda catastrophe. The exhibition, according to the organizers, is about art enkindling hope among the artists and people of Tacloban who need a lift beyond the physical.
ManilArt 2014 is also giving the public a sneak peek of acclaimed painter Romulo Galicano’s artistic commentary on the victims and survivors of Typhoon Yolanda with his “The Triumph of Life Over Death” which shall be on show at the SMX Convention Center -Taguig.
Romulo Galicano’s homage to Yolanda victims and survivors.
ManilArt VIP ticket holders shall be granted free entrance to Manila FAME should they wish to attend the event. The same courtesy shall be extended to VIP ticket holders of Manila FAME should they wish to attend ManilArt. ManilArt regular ticket holders, on the other hand, will be entitled to a 50% discount should they wish to attend Manila FAME, and vice versa.
In its effort to improve services for its clientele, ManilArt will now be providing a credit card payment facility for both artwork and ticket purchases.
In observance of Museums and Galleries Month, ManilArt, in partnership with Jeepney Tours, shall make the visual experience more accessible for fair-goers by providing a jeepney that will ferry interested parties to and from SMX Aura and SMX MOA. The huge air-conditioned deluxe jeepney features comfortably upholstered bus-type seating and can accommodate 20 passengers in each trip. It boasts of a TV screen, videoke system with wireless microphones, and a cooler. In line with this, renowned sculptor Ramon Orlina also brings his newly opened Museo Orlina closer to city dwellers as he puts a few of his pieces on loan for the art fair.
SMX Aura Premier shall also co-present an exhibition featuring the works of respected classicist Agustin Goy, which shall run throughout the duration of the art fair.
A featured group exhibition at ManilArt 2014 is an international show titled Endangered Visions curated by Cabanatuan-based artist Gromyko Semper. The exhibit, which shall showcase the works of 23 foreign artists and 18 local artists, will dare to explore the innermost recesses of the mind. Included in the line-up are renowned surrealist artist and Salvador Dali protégé Louis Markoya, Visionary artist stronghold Otto Rapp, contemporary symbolist Danny Malbeouf, Fantastic Realist Painter Maura Holden, and lowbrow popsurrealist artist Jana Brike, among others. New Zealand-based writer, poet, critic, curator, and art historian Andrew Paul Wood, writes Endangered Visions’ exhibition note.
Anniversary of Sculpture Review
Another must-see is Gallery Nine’s 10th Sculpture Review, where over 80 sculptural works are gathered in one visual feast. Known to be the biggest sculptural event in the country, the Sculpture Review has showcased the brightest talents in three-dimensional art since 2005.
“Entwined” by Ramon Orlina at the 10th Annual Sculpture Review
The much-awaited sculptural meet opened September 23, 2014 at the Art Center in SM Megamall. This year, the exhibition is showcasing works of all shapes and sizes, from both established and emerging artists including Ramon Orlina, Michael Cacnio, Chris Murillo, Carlito Ortega, Jinggoy Salcedo, and Omi Reyes. A number of big works shall then be transferred to SM Aura Premier to coincide with ManilArt 2014. Various larger-than-life pieces created by the country’s most sought-after sculptors shall adorn the establishment for the art fair’s entire duration.
This year’s Manilart Walking Tours shall also include the participation of the local government of Taguig City as it co-sponsors “A Day at the Art Fair,” a special field trip that shall expose a number of Taguig’s public school students to contemporary Philippine art. Faber-Castell, in its global effort to make art more accessible, shall be sponsoring art workshops also for a selected group of public school students from Taguig.
Mayor Lani Cayetano at a children’s art exhibition
Emmanuel “Manny” Garibay will be one of the speakers in this year’s series of lectures. He will be talking about the responsibility of artists to the environment. Previously executed by the NCCA and the ManilArt team, and related to the art fair was this year’s ManilArt Caravan, which was held in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental. It launched a cultural immersion endeavor titled “Salpung” that was later brought to Manila and exhibited at the NCCA Gallery featuring Guest Egyptian artist Ibrahim Ghazala, director of Luxor International Art Studios, and general commissar of Luxor International Symposium for Painting. He was joined by various Filipino artists around the country at the NCCA leg of “Salpung.”
“Kritika/Critique” book launching at ManilArt 2014
An academic linkage is spotlighted with book launches by UST Publishing House, National Book Award’s 2013 publisher of the year. To be presented are “Kritik/Critique: Essays from the J. Elizalde Navarro National Workshop in the Criticism of the Arts and Humanities, 2009-2012,” edited by Dr. Oscar V. Campomanes, and “From The Major Arcana,” by Ralph Semino Galán, an intersemiotic translation of the 22 cards of the Tarot pack into a suite of poems, with pen and ink drawings by Wilfredo Offemaria, Jr.
Jonathan Olazo shall head this year’s curatorial team which shall oversee the exhibitions at the artfair.
Participating galleries are 371 Art Space, AltroMondo, Archivo 1984, Artepintura, Artery Manila, Artes Orientes, Bag-ong Hinan-aw, City Art Gallery, Finale Art File, Galerie Anna, Galerie Francesca, Galerie Joaquin, Galerie Stephanie, Galery Y, Galleria Duemila, Galleria Quattrocento, Galerie Artes, Gallery Big, Gallery Nine, L’arc en Ciel, Leon Gallery, Qube Gallery, Renaissance Art Gallery, Secret Fresh, Transwing Art Gallery, Viewing Room, Vmeme Contemporary Art Gallery, and Ysobel Art Gallery.
This year’s ManilArt is presented by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), BAGO, I Love Taguig, LifestyleAsia, SM Aura Premier, SMX Aura Convention Center-Taguig, CITEM, Manila Fame, JeepneyTours.Com, Coconuts Manila, King Sue, FaberCastell, Robinsons Luxuria, Ladder Events Production, and Museo Orlina.
ManilArt shall be held at SMX Aura Convention Center, SM Aura, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. The by-invitation gala shall be on October 15 followed by regular art fair days shall from October 16 to 19, 2014. For details regarding ManilArt 2014, call or text 0917.327.2925 or email info.manilart@gmail.com. You may also visit www.manilart.com or see ManilArt on facebook for further announcements.
