A day at the Art Fair Philippines 2020

This year is Art Fair Philippines’ 8th birthday and it didn’t disappoint all the art lovers and enthusiasts who participated the event including myself! I’m wondering if what I hear is true, that this year’s fair was the most interactive and interesting by far. To be honest, this is my first time attending the fair, and it’s now one of the “sayang” moments when I decided to skip the past seven years of it.

Art Fair Philippines is held at The Link in Makati, showcasing arts from different culture in every piece of each exhibition. Each piece has it’s own unique way on expressing emotions and interpreting thoughts. So interesting!

As guests, you can actually view hundreds of art pieces from the building’s fourth floor through the seventh for the whole day. It’s totally worth the P350*! Each floor has its overwhelming displays of art. And these are not your ordinary masterpieces – each costs thousands and even hundreds of thousand pesos. I’m actually not sure if there’s something worth a million but it’s possible, as one of my most-loved painting was worth 500k. Do you think I should change career path?

James Clar

If you have plans on attending the Art Fair Philippines next year, book your tickets online for a cheaper price. Upon entrance to the fair venue, you can purchase a map showing the different exhibits. This will serve as a helpful guide in case you get lost among the crowd. Yes, we went on its first day and as expected, more people are there to be one of the firsts guests to witness the fair, not to mention the art collectors and artists. YES! Some of the artists were there!

One of the art installations we saw was James Clar’s who explores the conceptual and narrative potential of light and technology. In partnership with and support from Silverlens Galleries, the Clar’s booth became one of the most interesting one, inviting many people to take beautiful shots and selfies.

If I heard it correctly, (and one major reason why you shouldn’t miss it,) this year’s fair boasts the most interactive art pieces and installations than ever. Not just in a way of visuals, but also thought-provoking art like this one from Nikki Luna.

Look At Her by Nikki Luna

Luna’s “Look At Her” is a full-body mirror/glass sculpture showing an interpretation on how loathsome rape culture can get. Quoted from some famous and powerful individual, same exact words are embossed to every Filipino’s mind. “As long as there are many beautiful women there will be more rape cases.”

The first time I saw this, I thought, “wtf, so ksalanan pa ba ng babae na maganda sya?” (“Is it women’s fault they’re beautiful?”)I’m with the people who think “as long as men are horny and jerks and pervs, there will be more rape cases.” And I think women should raise their voice on this matter. This is tooo complicated that some women can’t just speak up right away, and they need more time. But people still need to listen and hear them out. *triggered*

Well that’s for another article. Let’s move on to my next favorite: “Crash” by Carlo de Laza. It’s a resin sculpture at almost the size of a short bond paper (sorry I didn’t get the size lol). It’s small enough to display on my study table, or side table.

Crash by Carlo de Laza

Here’s what I love about art: some of them always come with a short (or even long) description or story how the artist came up to that particular idea, some tells the exact meaning of itself, and some leaves you not a single word except from the name they gave it.

The word Crash, by definition, means move or cause to move with force, speed, and sudden loud noise. Without knowing its name, my first thought was the tragic beauty of the collision of words or opinions or beliefs between to lovers made into a sculpture. Reading its label and learning its name validated my thoughts. Well self-validated, though.

Flesh and Needles by Abi Dionisio

Am I too deep or there’s a deeper interpretation of it? Oh, well, that’s my fair share of thoughts. Whatever’s the real meaning behind it. I just have this tendency of overthinking about stuff (parang pag ibig) and go into details.

Speaking of details, Abi Dionisio’s “Flesh and Needles” is an outstanding visual of lines and a quiet palette. Her exhibit, through Ysobel Gallery , feature works that influencing the audience to reflect on the state of society.

What I loved here is the details (of course) of the lines and strokes and its colors. Color blue is such a nice pick to symbolize both silence and noise (air and water), and that’s what I reflected from these pieces.

Screaming Faces by Gabriel Barredo

Now this is probably one of the most admired and most photographed piece during the Art Fair Philippines 2020.

I noticed Silverlens has this expertise on showcasing mix of pieces from a variety of artists. Aside from Jame’s Clar’s, the one I loved from Silverlens was Gabriel Barredo’s “Opera – Screaming Faces”. It’s just so beautiful everyone wouldn’t pass by the exhibition without taking a good look at it and taking pictures of it. The resin sculpture stands almost from floor to ceiling, is an amazing combination of symmetry and “mysterious agony”.

Why do you think they’re screaming? Oh, I would love to think this is still part of what te artist think about our society.

At 14 by Mit Jai Inn

Mit Jai Inn is another great artist supported by Silverlens. This piece, “At 14”, made me realize there’s more to textures of oil and canvas. Oo nga no. It’s made of canvas strips colored with oil paint.

I’m sure the artist see this in a different way, but if I” to interpret it I guess this piece is about life – unique, random, rough, textured, colorful.

Ego by Clan Dayrit

Talking about colors, I never thought this would be the color os semen on paper (not sure of the age). At first I thought it was coffee stains on tissue papers inside a “sex” art gallery because, idk, could be some weird fetish or just following “cigarettes after sex” lol.

Perhaps one of the most interesting pieces in this year’s fair because the title makes total sense – Ego.

Will I go to the fair again next year? Oh, yes! Do I recommend this fair to people who are reading this post? Definitely yes!