By NOEL SALES BARCELONA on October 9, 2018
Since its Inception in 2013, The Artologist has become one of the premier art hubs in the Philippines today. From its humble beginnings as a small art gallery in Eisenhower Street in the busy City of San Juan in Metro Manila. The Artologist has now become the home for budding and mid-career artists in the country, focusing primarily on contemporary and post-modern art.
But The Artologist is more than a gallery. It is also a place of discovery and of development for those individuals who want to hone their craft as an artist. or to rekindle their passion in creating things that entice – and soothe – the senses with the help of brushes, color palette, and canvas. Because of this years after it was founded, The Artologist has gained the reputation of being one of best independent ad learning facilities and showrooms in the country.
Aside from organizing its own exhibits in its main gallery in Xavier Street, while maintaining a branch (Happy Art/ Abstrak Art) in Tiendesitas, a shopping destination in Pasig City, The Artologist also ventured into joining local and international art fairs. It has also exhibited in big shopping malls and prestigious hotels in the country such as Okada Manila.
THE ARTOLOGIST Gallery had had for its theme for the MANILART 2018 the term “Identity.” Human beings do have unique DNAs that set them apart from the rest of the creatures living here on earth and elsewhere. In the art world, each stroke or curve or dent or color that the artist use in creating his or her works, will serve as that identifying mark, that unique artistic DNA strand which will help spectators—both the ordinary folk and the “learned” when it comes to art and culture—easily identify whose work is this painting or that sculpture. Under IDENTITY, eight (8) seasoned artists—painters and sculptors—will approach their audience with their own unique identity as creators, storytellers, advocates of contemporary art in the Philippines, and as people that are part and parcel of the evolving and devolving society. Since these artists come from different backgrounds and had had different experiences as artists and as human beings the theme—and the collection or the set of artworks on display—will also underscore the beauty of particularity, universality, and of course diversity and individuality. Each work tells the audience different “stories”, “narrated” by different voices, using different approach, which resulted to a beautiful and exciting interplay of various experiences, different beliefs and philosophies, and dissimilar approach when it comes to giving meaning to what is art and what is beauty—all condensed in artworks presented in the fair. Monnar Baldemor’s works will be about Life, Love and Religion using his fluid and unique style that involves distortions and interplay of lines, curves and colors. Conneth Amido, on the other hand, will show the lives and the struggles of the ordinary folks, the workers in particular, in his mixed media arts. The only muse of the show, Jo Balbarona but also one of the tougher ones when it comes to doing sculptures, will present a different kind of “pet,” that is often seen in the academe, in the workplace, and of course, in local and international politics. Skulls and dogs, actually, are really going well together in a single set of work. Showing his knowhow in architecture and the arts, Jonathan Dangue’s new series of sculptures will show the audience how an artist can be “a god”—transforming a type of metal (brass), into works that show fluidity and movement. Adam Nacianceno and Francis Von Caro, meanwhile, will show in their works the beauty of the interplay of light and shadow in the paintings painted in black and white. Meanwhile, Eymard Paguiligan’s works of being with colored wings bring into the fore the symbol of the Consciousness, the soul which is eternal, primordial, and indestructible. And lastly, Julmard Vicente, whose works are the combination of winged creatures (birds and butterflies) and human beings, which symbolize the longing of one’s spirit to soar, to be free. Interestingly the works of these eight wonderful and talented people are interrelated to each other, in one or other means. As mentioned earlier, as they are representation of the artists’ collective perception of the reality that surrounds them, which is also same reality that surrounds the ordinary folk. Moreover, the archetypes used are often used to represent the inner longings of each and one of us as human beings, as creatures with higher intelligence and with the concept of freedom, free will, and higher aspirations. To sum it all up, the artworks under IDENTITY show not only the artistic abilities and sensibilities of these eight participating artists but also showcase their own unique style, which make the artworks on show, truly their own and theirs alone.
