Mag-ina. Benjamin Dailo. wood

Since meeting Paete artists who gave me a sculpted duck as a souvenir, I'm joining in a Revive the Art advocacy campaign, if it ever existed. If it hasn't, let my two-part series of posts on the town and its people be the start of it.

Benjamin Dailo, a sculptor from Paete, talks about how their town sees the difference between arts and crafts and the hope of encouraging young people to continue the art that made their town distinct. I edited this video using Adobe Premiere Professional. Clips of works are from the Banhay-Kulay exhibit in UA&P.



Video from UAPChannel on YouTube

After Sweet Home Angono, Paete is perhaps the most fascinating art town in the country because of its local creative folk whose craft has gone from their grandfathers to Gen Yers. And who knew they're also gifted in classical and modern techniques of painting? Say it's inevitable, but for a town more commonly known for its woodworks, it's fascinating to discover a multiplicity of talents in one corner of Luzon.

And to talk of corners (a pun in The Corrs lingo), the men and women of the Paete Artist Guild led by Angelo "Lito" Baldemor exhibit their recent works from Laguna all the way to Pasig City in a university's lovely lobby. There's no uniting artistic theme except that they all hail from a Laguna locale, and I mean, that already says a lot. These artists usually come from creative families who had nurtured their youngsters to grow up surrounded by brushes and chisels.

A wall transformed for the Banhay Art Exhibit at UA&P for the National Arts Month.

Odette and Christine Cagandahan although sharing a last name and similar physical features seem to possess distinct tastes in art. Odette creates paintings of children's faces with all their lines and peculiarities, which easily remind me of photorealistic profile works, but at the same time literally emotional in a cheerful, refreshing way.

And who said this age's paintings should always be emotionally shocking and averse? We are some of the happiest citizens in the planet after all.

Odette Cagandahan. Various paintings.

Christine's abstract works stand out for their simplicity amid the numerous complicated imageries found in the room. Her works explore form, as if balling up Malevich's suprematism. Its gradients are refined and shapes are textured, making me think of culinary plating techniques (yum!) but applied on canvas.

Tin Cagandahan. Black and White. mixed media

Tin Cagandahan. People and Places I. mixed media

But how does she translate this aesthetic on 3D? In the most unexpected manner, methinks. Her religious sculptures of metal and wood are deeply expressionistic. Jesus on the cross is scaled into an anatomy similar to General Grievous', though not sinister, drawn-out in a protracted pose and in terrible suffering.

Tin Cagandahan. Crucifix I. wood metal epoxy.

Felix "Kid" Baldemor does two Santo Niño figures dressed in peasant clothing, one of them varnished and another painted. It's most possibly symbolic that the child has the stance of the priestly Christ with the idiomatic gesture for the sign of the cross and the torn garment suggesting a pierced heart.

Okay, so I just shot that halo into the photo, so don't think it's organically part of the work. Could've been providential.

Felix "Kid" Baldemor. Santo Niño Palaboy. Narra wood

Nilo Valdecantos. Black and White and Life. oil on canvas

Benjamin Dailo. Mag-ina.

A Moses by Lamberto Baldemor.

Museum station by Alex T.

People call Gen Y so many names, but perhaps one of the most likable that also strikes true is "the visual generation."

In fact, a new kind of “literacy” has been identified in digital natives who grew up immersed in visually-dependent, multimedia environments. Young people today respond more to imagery than any other generation before them, perhaps because new technologies have allowed more dynamic graphics on our screens, and these Photoshop amateurs have cultivated a more refined popular taste in design.

And when has photography been more accessible than it is now, when anyone can come up with the best-looking compositions from their Canon digital SLRs? It’s only on rare occasions that we still call hired professionals to snap our precious moments.

Despite this budding golden age in visual communications, the visual arts remain outside the mainstream. A select few spend their Sundays going to contemporary art exhibits, galleries and museums, yet thousands from my country visit DeviantArt daily.

But because this is “the visual generation,” I also think we have more potential to appreciate art, traditional or otherwise, even in its most academic forms, if only we try to explore it. For beginners in the intellectual-creative world of visual arts, here’s a list of some well-written, insightful, bookmark-worthy art blogs for your regular fix.


The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones on Art. Unlike many critics who scorn most art pieces they feature, Mr. Jones, a veteran of the UK daily, persists as the optimistic, laudatory type. He writes about the old masters as frequently as he does up-and-coming artists, and his reflections are accessible and unpretentious--such as when he candidly explains why Pollack is a "rock and roll master" and why Van Gogh couldn’t have won The X Factor. He’s also my personal favorite.

Read full story on TheNextGreatGeneration.com »
#