Artists to watch out for at Art Fair Philippines 2019

13 artists under 30 to watch out for

What’s something you quickly notice when you visit Art Fair? It’s filled with a lot of young people. Art appreciation may have been the domain of the old and the rich, but millennials have taken over the game—and they’re crushing it.
Nothing’s more representative of that than the works of these young art lovers themselves. The new breed of artists are creating works that are diverse, ingenious, and masterful. Check them out.

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Ciron Señeres, “Worse Code”

One of the cooler things about the new breed of artists is that they’re not afraid to make pieces that are explicitly sending out a message in a way that’s so straightforward you immediately know what it’s about. Señeres’ “Worse Code” series is like that, depicting scenes of Manila’s poor waste management system. He even has a shelf of eco-bricks, plastic bottles filled with trash, a band-aid solution to a clearly preventable problem.

Art Underground (level 7, booth 49)

Johanna Helmuth, “Swimsuit Series No. 3”

Helmuth’s “Swimsuit Series” are oil-on-canvas portraits of women wearing bikinis. It’s a marked difference from how women in tiny pieces of clothing are often portrayed: These are not the voyueristic drawings of pin-up girls. Instead, Helmuth’s diverse groups of women stare back at the viewer, baring their bodies in self-confident indifference.

Blanc (level 6, booth 32)

Aiya Balingit, “Naneri”

“Naneri” is an army of identical young school girls, their only differentiator being the color of their skin, their bowl cuts, and their uniform. Their solid-colored berets emblazoned with inverted red triangles are reminiscent of the red star beret of the Chinese communist army, with rebellious femininity replacing communism (inverted triangles are often used to symbolize femininity, most notably with the tantric yoni).

Secret Fresh (level 7, booth 50)

Faye Abantao, “Symbol of The Apostles”

The “Symbol of The Apostles” triptych is a collage showing a dark dystopic future (reminiscent of 1985’s Brazil), contrasted with images of heavenly figures. The biblical allegory is heightened by the shape each image of the triptych takes on, the gothic stained glass windows in hallowed churches.

Orange Project (level 7, booth 48)

Kim Hamilton Sulit, “Sailing into curiosity”

“Sailing into curiosity” is a series of tiny toy figures depicting a banana split—but with candy-colored skulls on a banana-shaped like a balangay—and bones and rotting guts on top of tree stumps. It’s a powerful statement on colonialism, a voyage that means adventure to the colonizer but spells death to the colonized.

Secret Fresh (level 7, booth 50)

Kim Oliveros, “Moments Passed”

“Moments Passed” is an oil painting of purple orchids in mid-bloom, a nostalgic remembrance of times long gone. The orchids are colored under a dream-like tint, the tint that fond memories take on.

Finale Art File (level 6, booth 34)

Babylyn Fajilagutan, multiple works

Fajilagutan, a UP Fine Arts student, presents sylph-like shapes embroidered onto a thin piece of fabric. The dreamy and languid pieces are like an abstract embroidery, a radical message on the artform that, because they’re seen as a female’s duty, has historically been dismissed by the art world.

Kaida Contemporary (level 7, booth 51)

Jone Sibugan, multiple works

Sibugan’s ghostly black spores depict a haunting dystopian reality. The figures echo the mushroom clouds of death that arise when a nuclear bomb is detonated, and the black hues are reminiscent of smog.

Kaida Contemporary (level 7, booth 51)

Anjo Bolarda/Bitto, “Unlearning to learn, Learning to unlearn”

Bitto is in a parallel world called “The Grid,” a universe brightly colored in pink and shaped by geometric figures. That’s a description of “Bitto,” Bolarda’s alter ego under which he releases his works. By doing this, he’s created a series of works that are at once abstract and natural. “Unlearning to learn, Learning to unlearn” is a diptych about man and his relationship with nature.

Vinyl on Vinyl (level 6, booth 33)

Nicole Coson, Untitled

Coson’s oil-based series riffs on the military camouflage print. The London-based artist’s monotype works take on the print and its history of colonialism and violence, washing it down to the pale hues of its original wearers, and coloring it the curdled red of their victims.

Silverlens (level 6, booth 31)

Mikko Baladjay, multiple works

Baladjay’s collages uses wallpaper art, animals, and confident brush strokes into pieces that abstract the natural. In one collage, teal, pink, and blue saucers hover ominously around a sheep. In another, a moose is completely overtaken by a white blob, an empty space where its head used to be.

Kaida Contemporary (level 7, booth 51)

Jan Balquin, “Lessons from the Impressionists”

Balquin presents a series of collages of abstract takes on impressionist scenes. Each piece is colored in the dreamy verdant hues of the Impressionists, but formed with pictures that queer the impressionist understanding of nature.

Artinformal (level 7, booth 42)