A Symbol Of Patriotism

Like most students from all over the country, I considered attending the University of the Philippines, because the university offers academic excellence at a low cost. It was my first choice. It seemed that my high regard of the state university wasn’t enough to make me an “iskolar ng bayan.” I failed in the UPCAT, the reason why I’m in UST now. On second thought, UST is not bad for a second choice. I’m even grateful that I entered the 397-year-old university, but that’s another story to tell.

Going back to my UP escapades, it was in 2006 when I first went to the Diliman-based campus. At last, I caught sight of the sunken garden and of course, the famous Oblation statue. Whether riding in a jeep or a private car, the Oblation statue would be the first visually-stimulating artwork one would set eyes on upon entering UP.

The Oblation, created by National artist Guillermo Tolentino in 1935, is a piece of art one would directly associate to UP. Seventy-three years ago, Rafael Palma, the first Filipino president of UP, commissioned Guillermo to form monumental landmark that would for the university. He tasked Guillermo to craft a sculpture based on the second stanza of Jose Rizal’s poem, My Last Farewell.

“In barricades embattled, fighting with delirium, others donate you their lives without doubts, without gloom; The site doesn't matter, cypress, laurel or lily, gibbet or open field, combat or cruel martyrdom, are equal if demanded by country and home.”
From the 2nd Stanza of Rizal's "Last Farewell”, (English Translation by Nick Joaquin)

From these historic lines, a great landmark was born.

“In barricades embattled, fighting with delirium,”
The outstretched arms of the statue symbolized every Filipino’s selfless and unconditional service to the country.

“others donate you their lives without doubts, without gloom;”
This line is represented by the sculpture’s human silhouette, recognizing every Filipino hero who risked his life for our nation’s freedom.

“The site doesn't matter, cypress, laurel or lily, gibbet or open field, combat or cruel martyrdom, are equal if demanded by country and home.”
The katakataka binding the nude figure to its base stands for this line. Thriving even in different conditions, the plant signifies that the Filipinos’ nationalism grows anywhere. It is unconditional.

Guillermo, through his artistic excellence, has impeccably translated Rizal’s immortal lines into a bronze human figure depicting our ancestors unwavering patriotism during the Spanish period. - ANA MAE ROA

Photograph Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/northwardnimbus/189997841/

Glaze Craze: Anna Varona’s Sculptures

Diamonds are forever, and so are glazed sculptures. Like the world's precious stones, Anna Varona's sculptures radiate fineness that can only be achieved with the help of high temperature kilns and a distinctive creativity. One of her works is Windang, a two-foot tall ceramic piece double-fired at 1,030 degrees Celsius. The unique style of creating the piece requires the use of furnace to turn it into a glassy and classy piece of artwork.

It represents a distressed figure of a woman's upper body concealed in a glazy covering. The irregular edges and layers were ironically combined with a gleaming coating, providing a very interesting contradiction.

The contradiction seems to display a woman's strength despite life's trials. The sculpture’s title Windang, a Filipino term which means shattered or ruined, connotes the sculpture’s form. Windang’s shape could be a symbol of a woman’s misery and irregularities while its shiny veneer could be a sign of her resilience to life’s struggles and hardships.

The grey color also adds to the sculpture’s gloomy emotion while the horizontal lines creating the layer effects reinforce its slightly odd form.

This sculpture, which embodies tough and strong women of today, also seems to reflect the Philippine society’s respect for women. Our country’s regard for women has been established since the 1980’s, making way for various Filipinas to enter and succeed in different fields such as Politics, Science, and the Arts.

This kind of glazed sculptures, rare as a gem in the Philippine contemporary art scene, deserves attention for the exceptional technique used in its creation and for the Filipino skill it displays. - EDREE ESTAURA

The Elusive Illusion

I chose Merlito Gepte's "Dalawang Mukha ng Pag-Ibig" showcased at Megamall's Art Asia, located at 4th floor. This sculpture, which was made using synthetic bronze, won 1st place in the recently held 60th AAP Annual Art Competition in the Sculpture Category to which Nonoy attributes to his use of "optical illusion". He says, "Pag malayo ang view mo it will look positive (the negative,crucifixion), I painted it to look positive", even suggesting to the writer to "take a picture from about 10 to 12 ft para makita mo yung illusion.. Or better yet video mula harap paikot and you'll see the magic of it".

Indeed, there was a magical quality about the sculpture which surprised me. At first, I thought it was just some giant block of a weeping Christ, but as I went around to inspect some other sculpture, I was surprised to discover that this sculpture had two faces, a weeping and agonized Jesus Christ and a normal-looking Christ without blood and emotion on his face. The usual preacher in Jesus Christ was the other side of the sculpture. What was fascinating about the sculpture was that the suffering Christ was done in a cave-like way, while the benevolent Christ was protruding from the other side of the sculpture

The "other side" of Jesus' face was masterfully done with the details remarkably impeccable and accurate, such as the slope of the nose, its strength magnified ten times; even the gentleness of the eyes was emphasized in the sculpture. These kinds of emotional expression on the face of Christ were already details in its own way, but as a whole, these details never disrupts the unity of the sculpture or even disrupts the message the sculptor wanted to say.

The Illusion

I went back at ArtAsia for the second time to discover what Gepte was telling me about the optical illusion and followed his suggestion to take a picture of it. To the readers, there are two parts of the sculpture, the negative sculpture which is characterized by a weeping Christ done in a concave style and the positive sculpture is the benevolent Christ done in a convex style.

The optical illusion cannot actually be seen without the help of a digital camera and I found myself wondering where the illusion lies. As I took my first picture and then the next, I still had no idea what Mr. Gepte was talking about. Then I looked at my camera screen and to my surprise, the negative sculpture (concave) looked like it was a convex sculpture!

This illusion was especially highlighted by the nose which was originally sculpted inwards and it appeared to be protruding outward. Every facial feature looked they were protruding outward, much to my amazement and surprise. - ALEXIS LAURA FELICIANO