Sweet travails

Monday, January 31, 2011

YOU wouldn’t think that a parish art gallery can effect a change, would you?

Art projects that were conceived at the Sacred Heart Parish Alternative Art Gallery (SHPAAG) have changed the artistic landscape of the city significantly because the gallery’s main direction is to present contemporary art.

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The gallery has lately tried to gather a selection of contemporary art for the curated exhibition called “Art Traviata.”

Most of the artworks shown were part of the Parish’s art collection. The curatorial team was composed of three senior Ateneo de Manila fine arts program students who are majoring in art management. They were Jon Vincent Castro, Nathania Fong and Gabryle Aguila. Familiar names such as Tito Cuevas, Sio Montera and Vidal Alcoseba Jr. were represented with paintings.

The younger set of up and coming talented artists like Russ Ligtas, Nomar Miano and Beatrix Tan showed works “beaming” with individuality and excitement.

These young artists give us a glimpse of what the future looks and it looks pretty bright. When you look at their works you can almost immediately tell that Cebuano artists aren’t out of ideas. The show bravely brings the underground in the limelight by the inclusion of graffiti artists.

Framed fine art welcomes the ephemeral inside the gallery. Have you ever heard of such names like Kolown, Bart, Kidlat and Flaime? They’re the ones whose art we see in murals around the city, dressing up the streets. Maybe mainstream art circles don’t have the slightest knowledge or perhaps interest in knowing who they are.

Graffitti art in a gallery hasn’t been heard of before. Now this unprecedented development at the SHPAAG is shedding some light on them.

The new year is sure to bring in some more interesting and progressive shows from the gallery. So brace yourselves for more brave ideas and revolutionary surprises.