True to its word: bigger, bolder Art Fair opens to public

By
Luigie Hadap
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0

Running out of creative juices? Or maybe you’d like one powerful piece of art to adorn that bleak headroom above the sala set? Well, lucky you—the Art Fair Philippines 2017 is now open for public viewing!

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The three-floor exhibition space plus the roof deck in The Link Car Park echoes what the Art Fair Ladies previously promised in the media launch: bigger and bolder. Bigger: the fifth to seventh floors house 46 booths with paintings, sculptures, and sounds. There’s also an auxiliary event happening around Makati in cooperation with museums and commercial establishments to further drive home the message. Bolder: the art pieces on display evoke deep, sometimes dark, sentiments that will make you say, “Hey, I didn’t think of it that way before.”

A tour around the Fair

Just a day before the official unveiling to the public, I was invited for a vernissage—a private viewing ahead of the public one (and a highfaluting word connected to often mass-detached biennales).

The first thing I noticed upon entering the fifth floor, which functions as a reception area, is the Volkswagen Beetle painted by Indonesian artist Arkiv Vilmansa. A sweeping glance to the left revealed more commercial brand sponsors: Bench and Don Papa Rum.  The main attraction here, however, seems to be the booth flanked by the former labels. This is Ronald Ventura’s Shadow Forest: Encounters and Explorations, a mix of anthropomorphic painting, shattered sculpture, and a glowing installation. A few paces inside the booth leads to a simulation of a ship in sea.

The other two floors, sixth and seventh, hold the real gems of the Art Fair. There is Jose Tence Ruiz’s Langue Lounge featuring a red room-esque installation, thanks to the draperies adorning various chairs gathered around.

Maria Jeona Zoleta’s chaotic setup in hot pink and glowing neon bears a chaotic name as well: Forced Farts, Cartoon Pain and Daddy Issues or Accident by Voodoo while I Masturbate Underwater with My Adult Baby Diaper Rash until Hell Freezes Over is a Freak Show. CANVAS’s Humani Machina mixed-metal assembly is thought-provoking, along with other art pieces in the area.

Up the seventh floor is a rather bizarre installation by a group called WSK (read as wasak, which means “shattered” in English). Shielded by metal sheets, the installation features cybernetic sounds and robotic voices conversing with one another in a variety of contexts (although it always led to sex despite that I visited thrice).

What hooked me the most, however, was Agnes Arellano’s feminist Project Pleiades featuring four deities—a cow goddess, a Tantric sky dancer, a war and time goddess, and Mary Magdalene (obviously deified here). These life-sized, tea-stained sculptures, cast from Arellano’s own naked body, celebrates womanhood across regions and religions. This space is separated from the other booths by large black curtains; the inside resembles a cult area of worship, what with the setup and kneeling pillow presented below the description.

 

The Art Fair Philippines 2017 runs from February 16 (Thursday) to 19 (Sunday) at The Link carpark from 10AM to 9PM. Regular tickets cost P250 while students with valid IDs can avail them at P50. Makati students with valid IDs can enter for free.

This year’s Art Fair is complemented by “10 Days of Art,” an auxiliary event happening around Makati—in public spaces, in museums, and even in commercial establishments. For a complete list of the out-of-The-Link events and partnerships, click here.

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