UNLIKE the previous editions where featured works were found on every floor of The Link carpark in Makati, this year’s Art Fair Philippines will showcase all its ArtFairPH/Projects featured artists and their works on one floor, for better impact and convenient viewing, said one of the fair’s organizers, Lisa Ongpin Periquet, during a press conference on Wednesday.
Some of the works in ArtFairPH/Projects were commissioned especially for the fair.
This year’s edition of Art Fair Philippines — it seventh — will run from Feb. 22 to 24.
ARTFAIRPH/PROJECTS ARTISTS
Internationally acclaimed Filipino artist David Medalla is among the featured Filipino artists, along with Ray Albano, Mauro “Malang” Santos, Liv Vinluan, Ryan Villamael, Oca Villamiel, MM Yu, Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, and Olivia d’Aboville, Ian Fabro.
Also among the featured artists this year is Fernando Botero, a Colombian figurative artist best known for his rotund figures.
Mr. Medalla will present a collaborative work called A Stitch in Time where Art Fair visitors is encouraged to share their experience by sewing a part of themselves into the canvas that will be suspended in the air. Previous iterations of this work have been showcased around the world, including the Venice Biennale in 2017 — this will be the first time that A Stitch in Time will be shown in the Philippines.
Another participative work in the Fair is Ray Albano’s acclaimed 1974 installation Step on the Sand and Make Footprints. As the title suggests, fair goers can step on a box filled with sand to literally leave their footprints behind. The artist, who died in 1985, was the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ director from 1979 until his death, all the time working on his conceptual and collaborative work which has influenced the Philippine art to this day.
There will also be an exhibit of prints and drawings by the late Mauro “Malang” Santos called Malang’s Women, curated by his son, Soler Santos, featuring works from the family collection.
The artists and their works are: Liv Vinluan’s Nung Gambalain Yung Sayawan/The Disruption of Dance, Ryan Villamael’s Behold a City, Oca Villamiel’s Cheap Medicine, Ian Fabro’s Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, and MM Yu’s Subject/Object, who will headline the photography section of the fair.
The Art Fair added a photography section in 2018 to emphasize that photos are forms contemporary art and, just like paintings, can be collected.
Two women artists — Christina Quisumbing Ramilo and Olivia d’Aboville tackle environmental issues in their works, Forest for the Trees and Everything, Everywhere, Everyone respectively.
OTHER FLOORS
On the other carpark floors one will find a plethora of other art in exhibits by 36 Philippine galleries and 16 international galleries from Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, and Taiwan.
The participating galleries are: 1335MABINI, Asian Cultural Council/León Gallery, Affinity Art, Altro Mondo Arte Contemporanea, Archivo 1984, Art Cube, Art Underground, Art Verite, Artemis Art, Artery Art Space, Artinformal, Avellana Art Gallery, Blanc, Botero in Asia, Boston Art Gallery, CANVAS, CLEAR Gallery Tokyo, District Gallery, Edouard Malingue Gallery, Eskinita Art Gallery, Finale Art File, Gajah Gallery, Galerie Roberto, Galerie Stephanie, Galleria Duemila, Gallery Kogure, Gallery Orange, J Studio, Kaida Contemporary, Kobayashi Gallery, La Lanta Fine Arts, Mind Set Art Center, MO_Space, Nunu Fine Art, Paseo Art Gallery, PINTÔ ART GALLERY, Salcedo Auctions, Secret Fresh, Shukado, Silverlens, Soka Art, TAKSU, The Crucible, The Drawing Room, Tin-aw gallery, Underground, Vin Gallery, Vinyl on Vinyl, West Gallery, Yavuz Gallery, YOD Gallery, and Ysobel Art Gallery.
Art education has always been part of the annual art fair, and this year will again feature a number of lectures. In the line upare: “Contemporary art practice: Focusing on the materials they use,” “Tax 101: taxes for artists and creatives,” “Selfies and Celebrities: The portrait from Van Gogh to Warhol,” “Value of Pictures,” and “A Conversation: Domenec and Carlomar Doana,” among others.
One of the speakers is art historian Kathy Galitz from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. An expert on French art of the 18th and 19th centuries, she wrote the book Masterpiece Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and will be sharing her knowledge and insights about art during the fair.
Complementing the fair is the 10 Days of Art initiative, a series of events around the Makati Central Business District that will involve galleries, museums, bars, restaurants, and retail establishments in celebrating art beyond the venue of the fair. For schedule and updates, visit www.10daysofart.com.
Tickets for the fair can be purchased in advance at www.artfairphilippines.com. They will also be available at the venue during the fair. Regular tickets cost P350, P150 for students, and P100 for Makati-based students.
For more information, visit the Art Fair Philippines website www.artfairphilippines.com and follow Art Fair Philippines on Instagram (@artfairph) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/artfairph).
The fair will run from Feb. 22 to 24, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., at The Link carpark between Landmark and the Makati Shangri-La at the Ayala Center, Makati.

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