Lui, Grace Anne Ericka G.

February 2, 2018
ABM 12-O CPAR

A Rock that is the Diamond

Having seen films where the characters go to a museum filled with people- tourists and
locals taking pictures inside and conversing about the artworks, there was an expectation that
Metropolitan Museum would give me the same sight when I step inside. However, there were
actually more artworks than there were people.
The museum had two floors with the first floor dedicated to the exhibit of Elmer
Borlongan's artworks and the second floor to an artwork collection of different Philippine
contemporary artists. I went straight to Second floor since the museum would be closing in about
an hour. At the edge of the stairs, I was welcomed with a board with the words "The Philippine
Contemporary" written on it. After reading the introduction, I then started my museum tour. It
took me almost an hour to finish looking at all the artworks placed in Floor 2. Despite the
caretaker having given me a couple of side eyes since I caused him to over time, I still strolled
down the first floor to take a brief look at Elmer Borlongan's works. After almost thirty minutes,
I decided to give the staff some rest and went home.
What I saw in the Metropolitan Museum made me see the Philippine contemporary arts
in a new light. Before, I have this picture in my mind that when art is classified as a
contemporary one, it is more on installation art and on things that look chaotic and messy but are
actually meaningful. However, the mighty 2nd floor of the MET museum proved me wrong.
What I first saw in there was a sculpture by Guillermo Tolentino called “Venus”. It looks like it
came out straight from the Renaissance period, but it turns out that it is a contemporary artwork.
This became one of the catalysts to a new insight- Philippine contemporary arts encompasses all
the artistic periods from start to now. It is not confined to unifying the artworks under one theme
which can help people identify it from traditional art. Instead, it integrates the arts from the past
with the modern art and it is what makes it contemporary.
Furthermore, I think that Philippine contemporary art is a vocal and transparent
expression of the artists’ take on an issue. Let’s take for example Alfredo Esquillo Jr.’s
Pasyonista I. It is a painting of a priest/archbishop carrying a donation box that is shaped like a
human torso. It may seem plainly fascinating at first, but if we look at the eyes of the priest and
take a further perspective on the painting, it looks as if it is criticizing the church’s practice of
asking donations from Catholics. This is only one of the many artworks that showed outward
messages that hint on the authors’ stand on a certain tradition, culture, or social agenda.
Lui, Grace Anne Ericka G. February 2, 2018
ABM 12-O CPAR

The museum tour also opened my eyes to a new idea that Philippine contemporary art
takes a free form in terms of kind of output the artists make. The second floor was mainly
comprised of paintings and sculptures, but videos, photographs, artifacts, etc. were also present
and classified as a contemporary art. Unlike the past periods where art is generally viewed as
paintings and sculptures, contemporary art has a new addition to the scope of artworks- which
can expand even to artwork styles that may not even exist now. From this, it is also valid to say
that

Underrated 4
- More vocal about how the Philippines is right now 1
- Integration of art from before to now 2 free form, diverse
- Unique 3