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Art Fair Philippines is now on its eighth year and its mission to provide a platform for Filipino artists and expand the audience for Philippine visual arts continues.

This year, there will be 61 participants in the fair, 70% of which are Filipino artists and 30% are international exhibitors.

Here are the new things you can look forward to in this year's Art Fair Philippines:

Open Studios

It's a series of workshops and demos which aim to let people in on the creative process of artists. These will make them better appreciate art works and learn different skills at the same time.

These are the artists who will be part of Art Fair PH's Open Studios and the art forms they specialize in:

• Paco Guerrero - Photography
• Neal Oshima, Mark Nicdao & Boy Yniguez - Photography
• Benji Reyes - Woodwork
• Claude Tayag - Visual arts
• Alexis Oshima and Angela Silva - Visual arts
• Association of Pinoy Printmakers of the Philippines - Print
• Rita Gudiño - Pottery

Cultural Exchange Project with the Embassy of Italy

This is a collaborative effort with the Embassy of Italy which aims to educate the Filipino audience about what is happening in the art scene on the other side of the world.

A contemporary art gallery from Naples called Galleria Tiziana di Cara will be showcased in this event. Artists and art enthusiasts from Italy will likewise learn from the art works of the Filipino artists featured in Art Fair PH 2020.

Incubators

These are creative spaces outside the mainstream gallery format where there will be performances and regional works featured.

These are the participants in Art Fair PH 2020's Incubators section:

• Art/23 - Virtual reality work by Issay Rodriguez
• Giatay - Performances and wall-bound works by Cebuano artists
• LIMBO
• Loadnadito projects
• Project 20 Gallery
• Signum

Projects

This has been an Art Fair PH staple since the fair began. It features new commissions by under-the-radar artists and is also the most-curated section of the fair. But this year, they'll be doing things differently.

Norman Crisologo, the art consultant for this section, explains. “With these projects I plan to put it all together in one space. All the artists mentioned, they'll all be in one space, all intertwined.

"Hindi parang group show. Solo show pa rin silang lahat pero everything is visible to one another.”

These are the artists participating in the Projects section:

• Jaime de Guzman - Expressionist art works from the 70s and 80s
• Onib Olmedo - Figurative expressionist drawings
• Perry Argel - Art works made from scraps or rubbish
• Gene Paul Martin - Paintings
• Roedil Joe Geraldo - Expressionist terracotta
  • Salvador Joel Alonday - Sculptures
• Anton Belardo/Jellyfish Kisses - Colorful installations and environments
• Neil Pasilan - Drawings
• Norberto “Peewee” Roldan - Assembled art
• Carlo Villafuerte - Textile art/tapestries

Film screenings

This year, Art Fair PH is hosting film screenings for the first time. It coincides with the celebration of 100 years of Philippine cinema initiated by the Film Development Council of the Philippines.

They will be showing a selection of feature-length and short films curated by Philbert Dy, Erwin Romulo, and Teddie Co.

Sol LeWitt's wall drawings

Photo by: Cathy Maris

Sol LeWitt is a celebrated American conceptual artist who once said that art is not just about the art object, but also about the idea behind it. He believed that art was for everybody and can be done anywhere at any time. He created formulas called wall drawings, and two of them will be featured in Art Fair PH 2020.

Aside from the exciting new features mentioned above, Art Fair Philippines will also have a Photo section featuring these seven artists:

• art/n23 - Dumaguete-based art collective
• bio|trans|forms - a group show organized by Neil Oshima, featuring artists who use alternative photography processes
• Denise Weldon | Tom Epperson Photographs - still life photography
• LUZVIMINDA - archive of photos by local photographers and cinematographers
• Silverlens Photo - one of the leading contemporary art galleries in Southeast Asia
• Strange Fruit - group of photojournalists
• Tarzeer Pictures - photos by up-and-coming young photographers

Plus, there will also be daily talks about some of the artwork featured, and an event called 10 Days of Art starting February 14, where there will be an outdoor cinema and projections at the facade of The Link.

Art Fair Philippines 2020 will be held on February 21 to 23, from 10 AM to 9 PM, at The Link Carpark in Makati City.

Tickets are now available online. Regular tickets are priced at PhP 350 and concession tickets for students, PWD, and senior citizens will only be available on-site.

For more info on the tickets, exhibitors, and schedule, visit the official website of Art Fair Philippines.