CHAPTER 2

Book Source: Sining Rehiyon: Contemporary

Philippine Arts in the Regions
 OBJECTIVES:
✓ Discuss the importance of understanding the context
of contemporary arts.
✓ Identify and discuss the fundamental components of
an art, its foundational disciplines and how they are
used in understanding an art.
✓ Explain how society, culture and history influence the
creation of arts highlighting Philippines’ arts in its
regional context.
✓ Discuss the practical aspects of art exhibition,
dissemination and display.
✓ Explain the need to support contemporary arts.
Chapter 2: Contexts of Contemporary Art

• The art of our time mirrors contemporary culture

and society.

• Every work of art was created within its own

historical, political, social, or religious context.

• Context refers to factors that surround a work of

art. (ex: historical events, economic trends,
contemporary cultural developments, religion
attitudes, social norms)
Inquiries about the context of an artwork
1. What relevant historical events occurred at the time the work was
created?
2. What scientific discoveries or technological innovations may have
influenced the artist?
3. What were the philosophical idea of the time that informed the
artwork?
4. What were the cultural influences?
5. Who was the intended audience?
6. Is the artist identified with a particular movements, school, or
style?
7. What was the original purpose of the artwork?
• Factors that surrounds the work of art, includes
the following;
➢ Historical events
➢ Economic trends
➢ Contemporary cultural developments
➢ Religious attitudes
➢ Social norms
 Classification
of
Context

Primary Secondary

Internal factors (attitude, External condition (function

beliefs, interest, values, of the work, religious and
education philosophical convictions,
socio-political and economic
➢Aesthetic experience
➢Consensus of the art world
➢Cultural practice and shared meaning
➢contexts are arbitrarily created

➢these contexts establish conventions, rules, norms, hierarchies,

classifications, assumptions, presumptions, and notions regarding art;
➢these contexts establish the value and the criteria of valuation in
which labor and capital are invested in works designated as art

➢that all of these are not a natural given nor should remain unchanged. It
should be questioned in light of critical thinking
• The Philippines is shaped from a mosaic of regional identities. In
studying and appreciating art produced in one’s own region, regional
contemporary art is no longer relegated to a marginal status.

• Negros is one of the areas where there is a strong regional art

tradition.
• Bacolod and Dumaguete are both hailed as center in the local
industry, many galleries and artists’ groups are found.
• Baguio City – Cordillera Region
• Davao City – Mindanao
 “Panahi: New Works on Visayan Contemporary
The Promdi Project is a survey of contemporary art Textile Art”— exhibition held in 2016 at the Negros
practices in Dumaguete and surrounding areas. Promdi, Museum in Bacolod City, spotlighted traditional
short for “from the province,” is often used as a textiles, particularly the Visayan ones, as used in
derogatory term for people living outside Metro Manila. contemporary artworks.
 1. Form – is made up of formal elements, overall
composition, materials and techniques
To appreciate the form of art, creativity and imagination must be taken into
account.
• Creativity - the generation of new ideas, insights, and previously
unimagined images and artifacts

• Imagination- is a faculty that allows us to generate mental pictures,

ideas, and sensations that do not exist in the world
2. Language -is a medium by which cultural meanings
are formed and communicated
Language is the content or the mass of ideas
communicated through;

▪ the image it creates

▪ the icons and their symbolic meanings
▪ the environment where it is used, displayed, or performed
▪ the traditions, beliefs, and values of the culture that produced it and utilizes it
▪ writings and intellectual ideas that help explain the work
1. Art production -the presentation of ideas and feelings by creating
expressive images through the application of tools and mastery of
techniques to a material

2. Art Criticism - describing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating

works of art for the purpose of understanding and appreciating art
Four Steps in Art Criticism

3. Interpretation 4. Judgment
1.Description 2. Analysis
3. Art history -the study of art, past and present, and
its contributions to cultures and society. It provides
answers to the questions who, what, when, where,
and why.
FORMS OF HISTORICAL INQUIRY

➢Attribution ➢Function
➢Authenticity ➢Style
➢Iconography ➢Psychology
➢Provenance ➢Connoisseurship
4. Aesthetics- the nature, beauty, and value of a
work of art.
Three Aesthetic Theories of Art Criticism

➢Imitationalism and Literal Qualities

➢Formalism and Formal Qualities.

➢ Emotionalism and Expressive Qualities.

1. Core Activities
➢ Production of art
➢Exhibition of art galleries

2. Collateral Activities
➢Facilitation of production and exhibition

➢Dissemination of art and art discourse

➢National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)
overall policy making, coordinating, and grants-giving agency for the preservation,
development and promotion of Philippine arts and culture

The National Commission for Culture and the

Arts (NCCA) office in Intramuros, Manila.
➢Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP or Sentrong Pangkultura ng
Pilipinas)

the national center for the performing arts

The Cultural Center of the Philippines

(CCP)
➢National Museum (NM)
tasked with the preservation, conservation, and protection of
movable and immovable cultural properties for the enjoyment
of present and future generations.

The National Museum (NM)

➢National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP)
responsible for the conservation and preservation of the
country’s historical legacies

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP)

➢ The mouseion of the Greeks laid the fundamental concept for a “museum” as a
place for education and enjoyment since its first creation in their society long
ago.

➢ The first government museum in the Philippines was established under the
American colonial policy of public education.

➢ Contemporary forms of art have started to explore the possibilities of engaging

audiences outside the context of a museum or gallery.
White Cube
term that originated from the manner in which
contemporary museums exhibit their collections on plain,
usually white walls in order to focus on a work on display.

Curator
deals with setting out the physical space for the
exhibition and display of art works
 Ioilo Museum of Contemporary Art (ILOMOCA)
the first museum in the Visayas region dedicated to modern and contemporary art. It aims
to enrich the community life of Iloilo province by way of exhibitions and outreach programs
 BENCAB MUSEUM (Baguio City)
The museum is composed of several galleries that house the permanent
collection of Philippine National Artist Benedicto Cabrera (BenCab), his
paintings, his collections of indigenous Cordillera art and the works of
Filipino masters and contemporary artists.
Art Portal Gallery for Contemporary Art ( Davao City)

Art Portal is a platform for artist exchanges and

other creative explorations in the Davao art
scene. The space was established by Alfred
Galvez.
Section 15 of Article XIV of the 1987 Philippine
Constitution establishes the role of the Philippine
government in supporting the arts and creative
practices of the nation: “Arts and letters shall enjoy
the patronage of the State.
 Private and Corporate Patronage

➢Patron, in Latin, means father

➢Patron of the arts is one who “begets” and protects the arts.

➢Art is sometimes funded by private donations and corporate

sponsorship.
 State Grants and Tax-Supported Art
➢ Grant - sum of money awarded to an artist by a government agency
or private corporation to enable him/her to produce art
➢ National Endowment Fund for Culture and the Arts (NEFCA) established by Sec.
20 of Republic Act. No. 7356 to support Philippine art and culture programs and
projects, allocates a portion of public funds for art work, subventions to art
institutions.
➢Endowment fund is an investment fund set up by the institution in which regular
withdrawals from the invested capital are used for ongoing operations and grant
programs.
➢National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) grant-giving
government agency which administers the NEFCA
The Art Market
➢The soaring prices of the works of Filipino artists are the result of the entry
into the scene of art buyers with varying intentions:

1. those who can finance a hobby of competing to collect market-popular

artworks
2. those who consider artworks as investments that can be sold for higher
prices in the future
3. those who want to hang on their walls sought-after paintings as visual
evidence of financial success
4. those who are motivated by a combination of two or more of the earlier
mentioned intentions.