CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE

ARTS FROM THE REGIONS

K TO 12 CURRICULUM
(Grade 12 Learner’s Module)
Intended for First Quarter
 Module Learning (MLO)

 Define the term “contemporary art” in art historical, cultural and stylistic
terms;

 Explain the difference between contemporary art and modern art in the
context of the Philippines’ various histories, cultures, and identities;

 Demonstrate the major characteristics of contemporary art through an

artwork than would require teamwork and collaboration;

 Appreciate the role of contemporary art and artists in the Philippine

contemporary life; and

 Understand contemporary issues and their relationship to real life

situations.
Module discussions:

First Quarter: ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING

Lesson 1: What is Contemporary Art?

Lesson 2: A Brief History of the Philippine Art.

Lesson 3: The Context of Art.

Lesson 4: The Contemporary in Traditional Art: Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (Gamaba)

Lesson 5: National Artists of the Philippines

Lesson 6: Support Systems, Institutions, and Initiatives across the regions

WHAT IS CONTEMPORARY ART?

 It is a common tendency to describe the present as “Modern”. Being modern means

being up to date and technologically advanced. Often, being modern is equated with
being contemporary. Art that is a new or current is also often referred to as “modern”
 as opposed to “traditional” or “conservative”. In other words, in everyday parlance, the
terms are interchangeable.

WHAT IS CONTEMPORARY? IS IT THE SAME AS BEING MODERN?

 The first difference between the contemporary and modern is historical and
chronological, as the overview of Philippine Art in Lesson 2 will show. Meanwhile, the
table suggested by Arts Studies Professors Fajardo and Flores titled “Historical Overview
of Philippine Art” (2002).

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW: PHILIPPINE ART

Spanish American Japanese Postwar 70s

Form Pre-Conquest Period Period Period Republic Contemporary
(1521- (1898- (1941-1945) (1946-1969)
1898) 1940)
Potter; body Religious Landscape, Wartime
adornment, (icon, interior scene
Painting ornament (Fig. secular, design (aggression,
A) portraiture nationalism,
(Fig. B) atrocities.
Symbolic, Modern, Figurative,
protest, Conservative, Non- figurative,
aspiration for Abstract, Art for art sake,
peace) Experimental Multimedia,
Pottery, Santos, Free public art Mixed media,
carving and furniture, Standing, Propaganda trans media
woodwork, reliefs, altar relief
Sculpture metalwork pieces, Indigenizing
and expression jewelry and
(Fig. C) (Fig.D) Orientalizing
works (by:
Amorosio,
Francisco,
Ocampo)

Dwellings and Church, City

houses, plaza planning Real estate, safe housing,
shelters, complex, parks, Public works accessories, squatters, condos,
Architecture worship areas town waterfronts malls, subdivisions
(Fig. E) planning, education,
bridges business
bldg.

Figure 1.1
Figure A.

Figure B.

Figure C.

Figure D.
WHAT IS CONTEMPORARY ART? WHAT IS MODERN ART?
 If we talk in terms of Arts History (refer to the aforementioned matrix), Contemporary
Art can be defined as an art by an artist’s living today.

Figure 1.2 Zyza

Bacani (2013) –
the poor and ordinary people on the streets

Figure 1.2 was taken around 2013, in Hong Kong, where the photographer, Zyza Bacani, who hails from
Nueva Viscaya, worked as a domestic helper, and digicamera. Her first camera was bought from money
loaned by her employer.

HR Ocampo’s painting in (Figure 1.3) was painted in the early 1960’s. At that time, the painting was
considered contemporary. Today, we refer to these works as examples of Modern Art, produced
between the American colonial periods to the Post-war period. Some Modern artist continue to
produce work till today. In that sense, their works can be described as contemporary, by virtue of being
“of the present” For example, the national Artists Arturo Luz continued to produce paintings in his 90s
and well into the 21st. However, as seen in Figure 1.1 the table of “Historical Overview” his paintings’
hard-edged and minimalist abstract style is associated with the modern style of the late 20 th century.
The contemporary is therefore a fluid term, and its use can be change depending on the con-text, in this
case historical
and stylistic.
At times, the
Modern and
Contemporary can be used simultaneously or interchangeably; however, there is also danger of using
them carelessly or loosely. Thus, it is important to know the historical, and stylistic context of the terms.

Figure 1.3The Contrast by HR Ocampo Figure 1.4 Frugal Meal by Cesar Legaspi

There are number of artists - young and senior, alike –who paint in styles associated with Modern Art.
National Artist Victorio Edades is credited for initiating the Modern Art movement that challenged the
neoclassic style, which was dominant at the time he came home from studying in America before the
war. The Neoclassic Style depicts reality as closely as possible and idealizes it. The Modern artist led by
Edades challenged what were described as “conservative” art seen in the works of National Artist
Fernando Amorsolo and Guillermo Tolentino. Modern artists do not aim to copy and idealize reality;
instead, they change the colors and flatten the picture instead of creating illusions of depth, nearness,
and farness. Instead of the beautiful and pastoral, they depict what might be thought of as “ugly” and
unpleasant.

At that time, Modern Arts was considered new and shocking; Neoclassic Art was familiar and
comfortable. Neoclassic Art is also described by art historians like Guillermo as “academic” along with
other established styles imported from Europe via Spanish colonization. In its simplest sense
Neoclassicism is “academic” as it was and continues to be taught in schools, particularly the then
University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts (now UP College of Fine Arts), where Amorsolo and
Tolentino were most influential. The School of Fine Arts in now the University of the Philippines School
of Fine Arts, where students are being exposed various styles. The Neoclassic style associated with
Amorsolo and Tolentino to continue to influence a number of practicing artists who have learned to
paint in the style either formally as art students in various universities where neoclassic style is included
in the curriculum or informally through workshop and apprenticeship, or through self – learning or self –
study, as in the case of many artists from the regions outside Manila.

Today, Modern Art is referred to as “traditional’, compared to Contemporary Art.