The Ateneo Art Gallery (AAG) continues to prepare for the upcoming awarding for Ateneo Art Awards 2018 and the return show of Ateneo Art Awards 2015 – Fernando Zóbel Prizes for Visual Art Winner, Ryan Villamael.
In less than 10 days, the winning artists and writers for the Ateneo Art Awards 2018 will be announced. Three (3) winners will be chosen from a shortlist of twelve (12) for the Ateneo Art Awards 2018 – Fernando Zóbel Prizes for Visual Art while another artist will be picked among the twelve to be the recipient of the Ateneo Art Awards 2018 – Embassy of Italy Purchase Prize.
In alphabetical order, the shortlisted artists for the Ateneo Art Awards 2018 – Fernando Zóbel Prizes for Visual Art are:
- Mars Bugaoan – Becoming (Artinformal)
- Bea Camacho – Memento Obliviscere (MO_space)
- Ronson Culibrina – Talim (Blanc Gallery)
- Dina Gadia – Situation Amongst the Furnishings (Silverlens)
- Johanna Helmuth – Makeshift (Blanc Gallery)
- Ian Carlo Jaucian – Viral Automata (1335 Mabini)
- KoloWn – Low Pressured Area (Cultural Center of the Philippines)
- Robert Langenegger – Only Dog Can Judge Me (MO_Space)
- Issay Rodriguez – … (Silverlens)
- Ciron Señeres – Gray Horizon (Cultural Center of the Philippines)
- Jel Suarez – Traces by Which We Remember (West Gallery)
- Elias Miles Villanueva – What’s Left of It (Pinto Art Museum)
The three (3) main winners who will be selected for this category are eligible to be invited to an international artist residency grants at Ateneo Art Gallery’s partner institutions namely: La Trobe Art Institute in Bendigo, Australia, Artesan Gallery + Studio in Singapore, and Liverpool Hope University in Liverpool, United Kingdom.
AAG in partnership with the Kalaw-Ledesma Foundation will also choose two (2) winners for the Ateneo Art Awards 2018 – Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism. Each writer will contribute to The Philippine Star and ArtAsiaPacific Magazine. In alphabetical order, the six (6) shortlisted writers and special citation for the Ateneo Art Awards 2018 – Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism are:
- Alec Madelene Abarro – An Organized Chaos: Navigating the Looban (On Urban Labyrinthat the Ayala Museum)
- Juan Paolo Colet – Life in the Labyrinth (On Urban Labyrinthat the Ayala Museum)
- Jayvee Del Rosario – Ossifying the Abstract (On Alfonso Ossorio: A Survey 1940 – 1989at the Ayala Museum)
- Mary Jessel Duque – Pacita Abad: A Million Times a Woman, an Artist (On Pacita Abad: A Million Things to Sayat the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design)
- Sabrina Jeongco – Pacita Abad Has a Million Things to Say (On Pacita Abad: A Million Things to Sayat the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design)
- Jose Carlos Joaquin Singson – Bread and Circuses in Time Roiling and Churning (On Vic Delotavo: Posters for Philippine Cinemaat the Vargas Museum)
Special Citation:
- Maria Lourdes Garcellano – Sinehan sa isang museo: Karatula O Obra? (On Vic Delotavo: Posters for Philippine Cinemaat the Vargas Museum)
The two (2) winners of the Ateneo Art Awards 2018 – Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism will also contribute to Perro Berde – an annual publication that provides Filipino and Spanish artists, writers, and cultural researchers a venue for interaction and cultural dialogue. Its 8th edition is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2019 and essays will be published in English or Filipino and translated in Spanish.
In anticipation of the announcement of winners on August 26, guests are invited to visit the Ateneo Art Awards 2018 exhibit that features more works from the shortlisted artists and essay excerpts from the shortlisted writers. A People’s Choice poll at the museum front desk was created to encourage visitors to cast their votes for their favorite exhibition. The artist with the highest number of votes by August 26 will receive an incentive during the awarding ceremony.
The Ateneo Art Awards 2018 exhibit is on view from August 10 to November 4 at the Alicia P Lorenzo Gallery, Ambeth R Ocampo Gallery, Elizabeth Gokongwei Gallery and The Curve Gallery located at 3F Arts Wing, Arete, Ateneo de Manila University.
Meanwhile, preparation is also underway for Ryan Villamael’s upcoming installation at AAG. Titled Locus Amoenus or “pleasant place”, Ryan makes use of geographical maps to create a finely cut latticework of foliage and fronds situated and cascading from the staircase ceiling of the museum. Its first iteration was in 2016 at the Singapore Art Museum for the Singapore Biennale. A recent version is currently on view at the MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Ryan Villamael was a 2015 Ateneo Art Awards – Fernando Zóbel Prizes for Visual Art winner and the recipient of La Trobe University and Liverpool Hope University residency grants.
The launch of Locus Amoenus will coincide with the Ateneo Art Awards 2018 Awarding Ceremony on August 26, Sunday, 4PM at the Suthira B Zalamea Lobby, UGF Arts Wing, Areté, Ateneo de Manila University.
