Art Fair Philippines 2024 Opens To The Public This Weekend
Art Fair Philippines 2024 is now open to the public from February 16 to 18. The fair features a collection of local and international exhibitors and galleries coming together to show off the best art that the world has to offer.
Happening in the Link at Ayala Center in Makati, the fair reformatted five floors of the parking lot to create a comfortable and unique experience of looking for and finding art. The Art Fair has shops galore to sell you food, books, and different options of wine and alcohol. There’s also free WiFi provided all over the facility courtesy of Globe.
It’s truly a show of great extravagance. And yet its bustling set-up really immerses you into the great contemporary art of today.
Making Art Accessible To All
The big exhibits this year show off the ways the organization made strides to better art’s accessibility to the public. Art Fair Philippines’s concern with ensuring that emerging and unsung artists are given a platform to shine continues to be relevant even today.
This year is the end of the Karen H. Montinola Selection, which gave artists grant funding. This year’s artist selection is Gean Brix Garcia. Alongside them, an exhibition of the past decade of artists who were selected for the grant is being shown to the public. The Selection’s exhibition is being shown on the 7th floor of the fair.
Art Fair Residencies, meanwhile, is smack dab on the 4th floor of the fair. It features the work of artists who were able to get residencies from different places around the Philippines. The spotlight given to these artists allows us to encourage the discovery process of residencies, and publicize their results to a broader public.
Meanwhile, Tuklas Collab, the year-long mentorship program with Eskinita Art Farm, premiered two murals collectively called “The Mythic Tablado Paru-Paro.” The art is a commentary on our country’s political and social situation and the chaos inherent in it. It also shows off what Eskinita Art Farm’s resident curator Renato Habulan calls “collective action in art.”
The two murals were so big that they were separated from each other. The first mural, “Paru-Paro,” is viewable in the 5th floor; the second, “Tablado,” is viewable on the 6th floor.
The Past Made Present
Beyond the contemporary art shown, the Art Fair is showing some great works of the past. It’s a way of reveling in our strong history of artistic excellence and showcasing their continued relevance even in our changing contemporary landscape today.
Pambabae: Exploring Abstraction by Women Artists 1969-1989 showcases the great women abstractists. 1969 was chosen as the start point because that was when the Cultural Center of the Philippines first opened. It contains artists overlooked at their time due to their gender, and giving them and their works the spotlight.
The works of esteemed art critic Rod Paras-Perez is also being shown off. The exhibit includes some never-before-seen paintings and sculptures from the artist. Part of those paintings are a group of nude sketches of women that Paras-Perez created. The Art Fair curators partitioned them away from his other works with a curtain.
It’s an excellent look into one of the premier art critics of our country. It doesn’t just show off his art, but also the personal side that he kept from his writing.
Both exhibits are viewable on the 7th floor of the Art Fair.
Finding Community in Art Fair
The Art Fair has a menagerie of different exhibitors, both local and international. It’s a great time for buyers, collectors, and art appreciators to get a sense of where contemporary art is today.
Pinto Museum showcased their interest this year on a more provincial perspective on the country. Their chief curator Carlomar Daoana said that the art was about the “archipelagic identity of the Philippines,” which is “a counter to the chaotic world.”
The Art Fair contains new and emerging projects as well. Tarzeer Pictures, for example, have an exhibit called “When Comets Land.” It has photographs from fourteen local artists photographing different parts of the world. The exhibit portrays our world in a dizzying display of unique perspectives. The places varies from the highest mountains of Switzerland to the seafoam of the ocean to the highways of Maharlika.
Art Fair Philippines 2024 is truly a spectacle of the best artists in the country and beyond. If you have time to spare this weekend, make sure to see some of our world’s best and unique art.
Related reading: 10-Day Art Walk 2024 Opens Exhibition to the Public
