Since my internship for the Metropolitan Museum of Manila is about to reach its end, I decided that my first entry for this blog should feature something that involves my experiences as an intern. Basically, my work revolved around researching and writing about the current exhibition entitled Brave New Worlds which was curated by Manuel Ocampo. Inspired by the Brave New World Movement which was a Punk Concert in the 80’s and the novel by Aldous Huxley entitled Brave New World, it features Filipino and French artists. The artworks found are the artists’ response to the current deteriorating society and they way in which they respond shows a diversity among their temperaments. The galleries were filled with bright neon colors, dark shades, abstract shapes and a juxtaposition of different found objects. Some showed a playful or childish side while others showed a more mature or dark side in their work. It defeated the common notion that all artists are the same, being moody and erratic.
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| Entrance Signage |
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| Maria Cruz's Work |
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| Myriam Mechita, Valeria Cavestany, Damien Deroubaix & Pow Martinez's work |
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| Gaston Damag's Work, Kultur Natur |
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| Gerry Tan's Painting |
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| Louie Cordero, Valeria Cavestany and Maria Jeona Zoleta's Work |
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| Carlo Ricafort's Art Dumpster |
Among the artists in this exhibition, I developed an interest in Filipino artist Romeo Lee and French artist Fabrice Hyber. Lee’s work consists of dark smudges of color and cartoonish monsters which contain elements of punk (as he is the King of Pinoy Punk). With his very playful character, I would say his work very much reflects his personality.
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| FamiLEE by Romeo Lee |
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| Romeo Lee's mural |
Hyber’s work on the other hand is more on installations. He is known for his Prototypes d’Objets Functionnement (POF) which is a series of installations of objects that change their original function and invites its audience to interact with the art. For this exhibition, his works featured are POF 73, 49 and 139 which are Gigognes (Nest of Bowls), Double Mask and the MIT Man respectively.
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| Fabrice Hyber books |
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| POF 49 Double Mask |
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| Fabrice Hyber's Writings on the Wall |
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| POF 73 Gigognes |
Honestly, I am not a big fan of installations. I prefer traditional mediums like painting but it was his artist talk that really inspired me. I was impressed by how he explained the way he works with the materials that are available in the country in which he will be exhibiting his work making each of his installations unique. I noticed that he is very playful and interactive with his different installations and he often collaborates with people from different fields to come up with his work. But what really sparked my interest was that he spoke of having a school for both art and business because having this kind of environment would enable both to collaborate and thus supporting art. This immediately made me think of my course, Arts Management which caters to this kind of work. During the opening of the exhibit, he was very accommodating when asked if he could take a photo with me.
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| With Fabrice Hyber |
Seeing all the different artworks that were part of this exhibit, I realized that this really was made up of the brave new worlds of these artists. Each work represented something out of their own comfort zones and at the same time represented them as a person.
On another note, this is all a brave exhibition for the Philippines since our society is used to the traditional aesthetics which is something beautiful and ideal. This exhibition show that the art scene in our country is alive because it doesn't remain consistent all throughout. Somehow, the creative industry manages to keep itself alive with the support of donors and patrons coming from the private sector.
Taking part in this exhibit gave me an even stronger conviction to pursue my dream of being an arts manager, even though I played a small role in its coming about. We all have to start somewhere and this is the first footstep towards bigger strides.
