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Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Art and culture in soil
No more burning of paintings this time around. A more sedate local art scene greets Kara Mae Muga Noveda.
“Anti-commercialism is a hypocrisy,” says Leopoldo Aguilar Jr., quite surpisingly.
He speaks with the economically-enlightened candor of a struggling artist leading a struggling art group. As chairperson of the more than a decade old Neo-tribalism Movement Inc., Leopoldo looks back to what he calls his (and the group’s) “idealistic” beginnings.
“Kani-adto, kusog kaayo mi mag-sunog-sunog ug artwork as a sign of protest sa old-school Cebuano art,” Leopoldo recalls.
But at this calm exhibit opening, there are no signs of burnt canvases. What would have been slated as an alternative “live action” painting was cancelled when the hotel management stopped them before it could disrupt the ambient music at the lobby. Obviously, the group has tamed their rebellious spirit over the years and has now concentrated on the accepted class of art that actually sells.
With their Dado-like phase over, the group looks up on local bankable contemporaries like Andrew Barba and Vidal Alcoseba for the future of their art. This does not mean that they have all together sold out their interests in the indigenous. Quite contrary, Japamela Arnaldo, a younger member, relates, “our artistic mode is to immerse and then, create.” On a per project basis, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts sponsors the SEC-registered group in their tribe immersions in Mindanao.
As tribute to the Indigenous Peoples’ Week, the Neo-Tribe showcases its more unique lot of soil paintings inspired by the Talaandig tribe of Bukidnon. The soil pigments vary from yellow chrome to a darker clayish red, allowing their portrayals to pull off the look of ancient cave paintings quite successfully.
Still going against the traditional media, this group likewise prefers to dye on wood, use scavenged materials for mixed media, and recently, consume over-the-counter fabric paints for run-of-the-mill subjects. The key, continues Japamala, is that, “we don’t stick to canvas and oil.”
Thus, bearing the fruit of their resourcefulness is this collection of large paintings united in subdued earth tones. Modern paintings done in fabric paints depict a more colorful weaving of patterns and dominance of lines that are still unique to tribal art.
(November 23, 2004 issue)
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