Conclusion: All bark and no bite for Philippine Art 1988
Conclusion:
All bark and no bite for Philippine Art 1988
By Cesare A.X. Syjuco
Published in: The Manila Times, January 11, 1989
BECAUSE it derives its character from a mythical beast - a creature of pomp and magic - the Dragon Year is said to be illusory in nature, more mirage than real. And sure enough for Philippine Art, the ferocity of the previous year proved to be all cackle and no peck. A feathery carcass running headless in ever-widening circles, our art failed again and again in its furious efforts at self renewal, spiralling deeper into the black hole of ignominy and neglect.
Knowing that the failure of communities can often be traced to the failure of their institutions, everyone and his uncle openly cursed at the administrative bodies that had been pledged to safeguard and uphold their interests.
The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) - a Marcos brainchild long rooted in elitism but supposedly purged and democratized with the advent of a new order - had more than ever become synonymous with dark malevolence, hypocrisy, gross ineptitude and chronic indifference. Indeed, to many of our committed visual artists, the CCP and its blundering, faithless corps of would-be administrators were more concerned with preserving and flaunting their petty positions than with servicing the vital needs of the Filipino artist.
By the same token, the 40-year-old Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) - a once-influential umbrella organization whose venerable history ran parallel with developmental tendencies in our contemporary art - fared no better in the minds and hearts of our artists. For some time, the AAP had been reduced to little more than a "caretaker" body for its annual competition, a traditional event eagerly awaited by all sectors of the creative community. And with its failure to produce such a competition in 1988 - a year of relative political calm and economic stability - the association itself had virtually ceased to exist.
Small wonder, then, that foreign participants enamored with our contemporary art should decide to do their own shopping firsthand. Organizers from a number of countries were known to have skirted protocol in the past year, communicating their respective invitations directly to our artists instead of coursing these through local governing bodies as is customary.
Cuba, in particular, sent its roving art scout, Senor Jose Luis Ayala, to visit the homes and ateliers of the artists that interested him, and all through the second quarter of 1988, talk was centered on the forthcoming art biennial in Havana - a comparatively small event made larger than life by Ayala's intrepid showmanship and diligence.
It should have been a breeze for the Cuban. To be sure, even notoriously-lean years have their share of stand-outs, with a few earning marks of distinction made no more dubious by the lack of opposition than in productive times. Looking back on the year that wasn't, we can think of the substantial gains made by artists like Ramon Orlina, Renato Ong, Claude Tayag, Fil Delacruz, Roderico Jose Daroy, Jose Legaspi, and the young Ronald Achacoso, to name only a few. In another sense, we remember also the Adamses' macabre and frightfully expensive labyrinth, the CCP's "13 Artists" fiasco, CAMP's flooded storerooms, and the exceedingly controversial Mano-Mano series of "abrasive art performances"- prime candidates all for Ripley's roster of the bizarre. They, too, helped make 1988 more memorable.
This year of grief also saw the passing of at least two veritable artworld fixtures. Poet, fictionist, journalist and critic Alfredo Navarro Salanga died at the tender age of 40, a great man of remarkable charm, insight and conviction. And printmaker/curator Adiel Arevalo passed away after a long battle with failing health, a vital community leader of no small creative talent.
In the meantime, 1989 rears its serpentine head and hisses. With the dragon's toothless roar behind us, the snake's notorious venom seems at once more urgent.
Other "deaths" are imminent. Even as we welcome sparkling new venues into the fold, Hiraya Gallery in Ermita appears, for all intents and purposes, to be knocking on heaven's gate. The glamorous Pinaglabanan Galleries in San Juan - an Araw Ng Maynila awardee for 1988 - is even now scheduled to close its doors forever in May or June of this year, quite conceivable the victim of massive financial losses.
For its part, the embattled Cultural Center may still escape the hangman a while longer. A projected "festival of the arts" in this country, with no less than 40 consultants and a span of 20 years in retrospect for the visual arts alone, may be just what the CCP needs to both divert and pacify us. And while the festival itself could well be another Trojan Horse, it is hoped that, like a dying star, the CCP may finally shower us with the great resources at its disposal, if only by way of its own attempts at self-preservation.
Our friend, the playwright cum-astrologist Ed "Essay" Cabagnot, likes to point out that snake is but the tail of the dragon. Let's hope its sting is better than its wag.
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Cesare A.X. Syjuco, “Conclusion: All bark and no bite for Philippine Art 1988” (page 1 of 1), The Manila Times, January 11, 1989
