Five important moments in the PHL visual art scene in 2013

Inspired by one of my favorite podcasts (which in turn got the idea from Nick Hornby’s "High Fidelity") I decided to do a top five list of the most important moments in visual arts this year. One is a significant passage, and another is a big series of shows. These felt to me to have made an impact both during 2013 and perhaps in the years to come.

5. The passing of Roberto Chabet. The very influential visual artist died at the end of April, and his last major show was a set of installations that opened in February at Finale Art File.

A mentor to a whole generation of visual artists, Chabet's impact lies in the fact that almost all the major art galleries these days tend to prefer conceptual art to other visual arts genres, and even those who deal with such things as social realism have adopted the kind of language he popularized.

More importantly, this is the art that sells in the regional auction market. Which brings me to…

4. The BusinessWorld Weekender articles on the local auction scene. This two-part investigative series written by young arts reporter Jasmine Cruz (part one here) takes a glimpse at the local auction scene with a focus on some of its key players. It is rare to find such candid but not sensationalist writing on the scene, and the articles do reveal the nature, at least in the local context, of an industry which in many ways is unregulated and free-wheeling.

It continues to be a must-read, because those following the local art scene will have encountered those involved at one time or another. This is especially true of those who are dealing with art by the likes of National Artists, such as the one I will be talking about.

3. The Arturo Luz trilogy (of major exhibitions). One of my favorite exhibitions this year is not one, but a set of three.

It started in April at Manila Contemporary (with his paintings and rare photo prints), continued with an August show featuring his sculptures at Finale Art File, and is just ending with his photography (and photo collages) at Silverlens.

The interesting part about this trilogy is that it highlights both how Luz continues to be active at his age and how broad his work is across mediums. And for three of the major players in the contemporary art scene to give him space within the same year is something which seldom happens. Of course, there are other interesting “spaces” for visual art, such as what’s next.

2. Visual arts in independent cinema. I realized that there were at least a couple of independent Filipino films made outside the studio system that featured work by contemporary visual artists. In large part, these have to do with the way many of the arts circles here intersect, which is always a good thing.

The two examples I can think of were the films "Woman of the Ruins", which featured the work of Ling Quisumbing Ranilo and Nilo Ilarde, and "Puti", which featured among others the work of Geraldine Javier. There are other examples, to be sure, but these are the ones that came to my attention and, in the case of "Ruins", did use these works in an interesting way. I managed to see a few Javier works in my number one item, which is…

1. Art Fair Philippines. If one wants to start, it must be at the beginning. February saw the launch of Art Fair Philippines, which was the second, and in my view far more successful, attempt to create a viable commercial art fair in the manner of Art Basel and Art Stage Singapore. Held during the second weekend of February this year at the Ayala Center Makati’s The Hub building, the fair had a diverse selection of the best the contemporary art scene has to offer. Its success was such that we will definitely have another one next year, and I hope to see you, dear reader, at the fair! — BM, GMA News