Philippine Contemporary

Visual Arts
The Philippine visual arts encompass a range of forms developed
by Filipinos in the Ethnic, Spanish, American, and contemporary traditions. In
ethnic communities, pottery, weaving, carving, and metalcraft are made for ritual
purposes or for everyday use. The most prominent feature of contemporary art is
the fact that it has no distinct feature or a single characteristic. It is defined by the
artist's ability to innovate and bring out a modern masterpiece.

1. Painting
Painting is the expression of ideas and emotions, with the creation of certain
aesthetic qualities, in a two-dimensional visual language.

Madonna of the Slums, 1950 – Vicente Manansala

2. Sculpture
Sculpture is an artistic form in which hard or plastic materials are worked into
three-dimensional art objects. The designs may be embodied in freestanding objects, in
reliefs on surfaces, or in environments ranging from tableaux to contexts that envelop
the spectator.

Bonifacio and the Katipuneros, 1933 – Guillermo Tolentino

3. Ceramics
Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms
including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture.
Ceramics may also be considered artefacts in archaeology.
 Manunggul Jar found in Manunggul Cave, Lipuun Point, Palawan

4. Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper.
Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints that have an element of
originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting.

True North – Ambie Abañ o

5. Photography
Photography is the art, application and practice of creating durable images by
recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by
means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film.

Smoking the Family Cigar, year earlier than 1912 – James David Givens