POOR ART, RICH CULTURE

Filipino-ness doesn’t just come to one instantaneously. One acquires his or her
Filipino-ness as a result of the social, political, and economic factors in his or her life. To be a
Filipin is to accept this truth, acknowledge the factors that make one a Filipino, and use their
relationships with these factors for the betterment of the country (Legasto, n.d.). In other words,
to be a Filipino is to be an open-minded, compassionate agent of innovation.

Brenda Fajardo’s journal on the Aesthetics of Poverty reminds one that Filipinos must not
view deprivation with shame or revulsion, as there is beauty in it. Eliminating what is
unnecessary from life allows one to focus on what is essential. Fajardo illustrates this concept by
writing about the Philippine Educational Theater Association or PETA’s 1984 production of
Macbeth, directed by Fritz Bennewitz and staged in the Dulaang Raha Sulayman. In the play,
brighter-colored clothing was used to set aside the nobility from the rest of the characters.
Consequently, the characters’ affluence and importance were able to be portrayed without
opulence. Being open-minded enough to deal with social issues like poverty in the way that they
truly are--with all the hardships and beauty that lie within them--may help Filipinos understand
these issues better and rid the Philippines of them (Fajardo, 2010).

However, Filipinos must avoid band-aid solutions for social injustices that have systemic
roots. For example, merely patronizing the art of indigenous people and other marginalized
sectors of the community is not enough to improve their lives. Filipinos must be compassionate
enough to actively advocate for the equal rights and opportunities of their less privileged
countrymen. Philippine art will also flourish if this will be done because indigenous people will
be able to produce beautiful, meaningful art if their living conditions are ideal. Filipinos must see
to it that there is a continual production and preservation of indigenous art, as indigenous art is
vital for the cultivation of Philippine national identity. This is because indigneous art says a lot
about Filipino culture. For example, the bright, highly-saturated colors are very telling of the
kinds of plants that grow in indigenous land; the numerous woven forms that correspond to
certain communal needs show that the places where these were are baranganic societies; and the
use of lines, specifically whether a line is curvilinear or rectilinear, can reveal prominent weaving
styles of certain indigenous groups. Although, sticking to purely bright, highly-saturated colors,
forms woven out of bamboo and other native materials, or two types of lines will render
Philippine art stagnant and repetitive. Doing so will limit Filipino artists from painting other
themes or using other mediums (Guillermo, n.d.).

This is why Filipinos must not reject the progressive ideas of local artists, but instead
encourage this innovation. In his history of Philippine contemporary art, Leo Benesa writes
about how Filipino artists were able to participate in international festivals in the mid 1960’s
because their countrymen were open to innovative new styles, techniques, and concepts. Instead
of following the nature tones and the rigid shapes of traditional artists like Fernando Amorsolo,
the young Filipino artists of the 60s were using more vivid spring colors--like Joya in his artwork
entitled “Magnolia Tree”--and irregularly shaped splotches of paint--like Aguinaldo (Benesa,
2015).

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 An example of an innovative and very Filipino art concept is the Aesthetics of Poverty,
which can be found in a journal by Brenda Fajardo. According to Fajardo, the Aesthetics of
Poverty simply means considering the economic and social realities in the country. It is
overcoming poverty in art creation and production, resulting in new ways and forms of art
creation. Despite economic limitations, the limited budget brought out the creativity and
resourcefulness among artists wherein instead of using expensive materials, the focus now is
more on the economical and aesthetic aspect of the creation of artworks. It is a highly expressive
art form that has evolved from depressing social conditions. In addition, the Aesthetics of
Poverty taught us the idea of art improvising, wherein instead of buying new materials, artists
make use of the readily available materials that they can just find.

Arts can be made even without the use of expensive and extravagant materials. The lack
of financial resources or budget makes artists explore new ways of artistic expression by making
use of everyday materials. Through this, the concept of Aesthetics of Poverty is being used and
explored to the fullest. Art aesthetics during this period turn out to be culture-based as artists
already make use of traditional materials such as bamboo, coconut palm leaves, sawali panels,
coconut barks, shells, abacas, and such. Artists need to be critical in selecting the symbolisms
and materials that they will use for the better portrayal of the cultural forms they want to show.
The beauty of this art goes on with its ability to express the life process of survival. Therefore,
art under the idea of Aesthetics of Poverty is authentic art that shows the poor condition of the
society as something beautiful and not something to be shamed for.

Arte Povera, an European art movement, has some Aesthetics of Poverty concepts. Both
use items from everyday life to express ideas that are often deep, existential, and related to the
human experience. Take, for example, an untitled work made by Jannis Kounellis in 2005. It is
held in a private collection, but was featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Manila’s exhibit
entitled “Arte Povera.” Ten wooden chairs arranged in a circle with jute bags and fabric bags of
coal on top of them are used to portray the weight of experience, the baggage that this weight
creates, and the place where this baggage of humankind resides--collective memory (Kounellis,
2005). Another defining artwork of the Arte Povera Movement is “C_rafts,” made by Mark
Salvatus in 2011 for his personal collection. However, he lent it to the Metropolitan Museum of
Manila for their exhibit called “Cue From Life Itself.” Salvatus fashioned found objects and
other scraps into rafts to symbolize the fear and desperation that one feels in a disaster that drives
them to do anything to survive. The artwork also conveys messages about transportation,
movement, consumerism, security, urbanism, and politics in the midst of the climate crisis
(Salvatus, 2011).

However, because artists from this movement are limited to what is common, they cannot
present the aforementioned ideas explicitly in their work. These ideas are expressed subtly in the
ways that the artists manipulate the elements of art in their works. For example, in Kounellis’
work, the dark colors and the large space that the sacks occupied on top of the chairs are
sufficient to create the heavy atmosphere that Kounellis was going for. Additionally, the sagging,
irregular form of the sacks is enough to show the viewers how the weight of one’s emotional
baggage presses down on them and leads to numerous uncertainties. In Salvatus’ work, the drab
colors and the varied textures and forms of the objects used are enough to tell viewers that the

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person who might have put these objects together leads a common life; a life just like everybody
else’s -- mostly uneventful and somewhat messy. Furthermore, the way that the objects were
crammed together in a limited space effectively shows a person’s desperation for survival and a
person’s penchant for acquiring objects as a result of urbanization and commercialism. Artists in
the Arte Povera movement do not need frills or pretensions to get their messages across,
designating common items as symbols for broad concepts can already do a lot for them.

Perhaps the reason why Aesthetics of Poverty and Arte Povera resonate so well with
Filipinos is that the Philippines was repeatedly colonized for extended periods. Colonization
deeply ingrained poverty into Philippine history and culture, and because of this, poverty is a
major influence in terms of Philippine art. It wouldn’t be enough to show off artworks without
understanding what it really means or where it came from. An example of artworks that
exemplifies “poor art” and poverty is the “Orchestra di stracci” from the Art Povera Exhibition
and the “C_rafts” from the Cue From Itself Exhibition.

The Orchestra di stracci of Michelangelo Pistoletto is an artwork that made use of

everyday objects orchestrated in a rectangular manner -- such as rags, cement, and kettles. This is
considered to be a “poor art” as this artwork is beyond the traditional artworks; instead of using
canvas, paints, brushes, and such, the artist used throwaway materials. On the other hand, the
C_rafts artwork of Mark Salvatus is also considered to be a “poor art” as unlike typical artworks
this reflected the happenings in the surroundings. This artwork made use of familiar objects
which can be considered as scraps or junks.

The artistic way of using simple and not typical objects paved the way for the challenging
artwork from contemporary exhibits which are usually restrained from using traditional ways,
practices, and materials. Therefore, poor art is simple. It focuses on the main idea of the artwork,
eliminating other unimportant details. In addition, the theme of “poor artwork” usually revolved
around commonness and the everyday lives of the masses.

References:

Benesa, L. (2015). Philippine Contemporary Art as a Post-War Phenomenon. NCCA. Retrieved

from
https://ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca-3/subcommissions/subcommission-on-the-arts-sca/visual-ar
ts/philippine-contemporary-art-as-a-post-war-phenomenon/

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Fajardo, B. (2010). FORUM KRITIKA: PHILIPPINE THEATER AND MARTIAL LAW (PART
2). Kritika Kultura 15 (2010): 179-194. Retrieved from www.ateneo.edu/kritikakultura

Guillermo, A. (n.d.). Philippine Contemporary Aesthetics. Retrieved from

https://dlsu.instructure.com/courses/67930/files/5619956?module_item_id=1446357

Kounellis, J. (2005). Untitled [Installation art]. Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila,

Philippines. https://metmuseum.ph/arte-povera-jannis-kounellis/

Pistoletto, M. (1968). Orchestra di stracci [Installation art]. Metropolitan Museum of Manila,

Manila, Philippines. https://metmuseum.ph/arte-povera-michelangelo-pistoletto/

Salvatus, M. (2011, July). C_rafts [Installation art]. Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila,
Philippines. https://metmuseum.ph/cue-from-life-itself-mark-salvatus/