Signing of the Constitution by Ireneo Miranda; 1951
Signing of the Constitution by Ireneo Miranda; 1951
Selected works by University of the Philippines alumni-artists and National Artists for the Visual Arts inaugurate Bulwagan ng Dangal, the newest and biggest exhibition space at UP Diliman.
Called Pag-asa ng Bayan, the exhibit features works by eight National Artists namely: Fernando Amorsolo, Napoleon Abueva, Benedicto Cabrera, Abdulmari Asia Imao, José Joya, Vicente Manansala and Hernando Ocampo. Also on exhibition are works of 31 artists, among them Santiago Bose, Anastacio Caedo, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya, Norberto Carating, Dominador Castañeda, Neil Doloricon, Rock Drilon, Nonoy Marcelo and Nestor Vinluan, to name a few.
The exhibition, which opens June 18, 4 p.m. at Gonzalez Hall (University Library) features selected pieces from the University Art Collection, which counts more than 1,000 works scattered over the seven constituent campuses of the UP System. The Collection ranges from basic still life to history art—painting, sculpture and mixed media—expressed in either representational or non-representational idiom.
“The current exhibition underscores the rich base where the University Art Collection stands when viewed according to certain determinants, breathing into the collection a sense of the expansive where aesthetic forms and content are brought to fore,” writes Prof. Rubén D. F. Defeo, one of the project’s curator, in the exhibition’s accompanying brochure.
A professor at the Department of Theory, College of Fine Arts, Defeo curates the exhibit with Dr. Patrick D. Flores of the Department of Art Studies, College of Arts and Letters.
The exhibition’s title is taken from the University hymn and speaks of the possibility of change that animates a forever expectant nation and people.
The Philippine Supreme Court in 1935
by Florentino Macabuhay; 1951
“In keeping with this spirit, the exhibition reveals the strength of the UP trove in the realms of commemorative public art, from portraiture to monumental sculpture. As these points try to mark turning points in the triumph of culture and consciousness, so do other expressions to mark watersheds with a more fearless temper; social realism and abstraction offer equally compelling visions of critique and whimsy, further inflecting the legacy of the University with urgency and imagination,” Flores writes in the same publication.
Like the inaugural exhibit, Bulwagan ng Dangal is a phrase taken from the second stanza of the University hymn.
“The appropriation of the phrase, bulwagan ng dangal, as the name of the newest exhibition space on campus honors the importance the University assigns to the role of the arts and culture in molding the lives and minds in the academe,” Defeo said.
The exhibition space is also called the University Heritage Museum.
The exhibit is a centennial project of the UPD Office of the Chancellor through the Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts. Cooperating units include the Office of the Campus Architect and the Designed Environment Committee of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs, the Executive House, CFA, College of Law and the University Library.
Pag-asa ng Bayan runs until December 31.