How do you say ‘art’ in Tagalog?

This is an exciting opportunity for all art lovers to meet unique art and its makers all the way from the Philippines in Abu Dhabi.

(From left) Artist Eugene Cubillo and Grace Relucio Princesa, Philippine ambassador to the UAE, with visitors and Ahmed Al Yefai (extreme right), owner of Abu Dhabi Art Hub-Photos: Darwin Guevarra

Filipino artists spent a whole month amidst the peaceful dunes in Liwa, while residing at the Abu Dhabi Art Hub campus there, to produce some breathtaking art that is now showing at the Abu Dhabi Art Hub in Musaffah. Along with the eight artists who flew down are UAE’s own Darwin Guevarra and Lester Amacio.

Flordeliza Pesigan’s work explores the idea of ‘living in the moment’. The contemporary figure artist used to live in the UAE too, but left the country after 17 years and is currently residing and working in Bali. Her cloaked appearance and eerie demeanour during the opening was bewildering — a complete contrast for a person with contagious enthusiasm and propensity for laughter — and her works are just as mystical. This time, at the Philippines Art Month in Abu Dhabi, she has tried to recreate the concept of Balinese peace. “Through various moods that we confront in our inner selves, I have tried to capture some spiritual expressions here,” she explains. Her signature-style is a bold knife usage with illuminating shadow play that cull the light out from the dark backgrounds.

Endearing desert

“In the middle of the desert, Liwa is so quiet and a great place for artists,” says her peer JC Jacinto, who sports a moustache à la Dali. His works are all over the galleries in Manila and now, Abu Dhabi. So great was the desert’s inspiration that he poured sand all over the gallery in which his art was displayed. “The sand is so free flowing... almost soothing when you touch and feel it,” said the artist who was visiting the UAE for the first time. He seemed excited to travel to Dubai from Abu Dhabi and pointed out how Mother Nature has “kept the place very calm and productive”, despite the lack of natural green vegetation here.

Noted Filipino illustrator and artist Salvador ‘Buds’ Convocar is delighted to be in the UAE. His work ‘Shukran’ (thanks, in Arabic), on display at Abu Dhabi, is a large mural-sized one. “It means just that,” says the artist. “I am glad to be here and want to thank everyone, including God Almighty, for having made this possible,” says Salvador, whose works have already been acquired by the Art Hub itself. From lace-like patterns to concentric geometrical figures that form a leaping gazelle or cactus plant, Salvador’s works have elaborate detail. Various techniques such as stencilling and air-brushing make them almost surreal and print-like. He has great admiration for his contemporary Milind Mulick, the watercolour legend from India. “I feel lucky to live in a digital age, where I can connect with exceptional artists like Mulick, who is far away in India — while I am in my workshop in Philippines. Isn’t that wonderful?”

The venue also showcased mixed media master Samuel Penaso’s 21st solo. Samuel was the chosen artist of the month; his displayed works are mostly abstract but eye-catching. Inspired by local forms in the desert, he has recreated them on his own palette. “I draw inspiration from childhood nostalgia, and experimenting with media just gives me unlimited freedom,” says the artist. His works have a meditative charm. Dots form lines and lines in close succession have a hypnotic effect. The use of colour is as cheerful as that of a child with crayons.

The dark side

Dave Lock’s works signify death and torment. Black with various shades of grey. “I don’t think any of us know what we are really up to. There is a lot of confusion because everyone perceives the same thing differently,” he says. His works in Liwa have sand thrown all over the canvas with black tar underneath that causes the sand to take random shapes. “Every grain of sand has a story, just like us humans. We like to preserve our dark sides. Similarly, I have tried to preserve a few grains of sand in my art,” he says. Dave’s installation in wood is geometric but out of alignment — a reflection of the confusion he mentioned. Pointing to the floor, he says, “These are my self-portraits cast in plaster [of Paris] but cut and placed in order to say: to see a glimpse of me, you’ll need to put all these parts together. I am all these parts.” True. The broken faces on the floor are reflective of Dave in pieces. “I believe that the human face cannot hide the truth. It is a container that holds the self,” says Dave.

UAE resident and popular freelance artist Darwin Guevarra (commonly known as Japat) was the guest artist to the event. Few works from two of Darwin’s series — The Merchant and Sound Cloud — are on display here. His style explores half mechanised humans with body parts torn into heavy-duty machinery, rendering a dark and steampunk signature-style to the whole work. “It is a great joy to see such amazing support to artists from my home country. I truly feel at home today,” says Darwin, who does not care much to explain his works that are fairly ‘loud’ by themselves.

“Life is like a motion picture,” says Lester Amacia, pointing at a door on the wall. It is actually not a wall but a white curtain behind the picture. “I put the curtain to show the stage, reflective of the transient nature of our lives. We wait for the door to open, most of the time not realising that it is there, waiting for us to knock upon,” says Lester. His works have a surreal gothic feel. Painting, he says, is his expression of freedom. Lester’s other works here include a lot of scribbling and reminds one of old, flaky walls where couples etch their names… or cast their romance in borrowed verses.

Detailing emotions

A major in advertising arts, Janos Delacrus is an artist with a keen interest in printmaking. Woodcut prints make his works really unique with many details. He uses leather, canvas and plenty of other embellishments to make his art almost three-dimensional. His pet peeve is that these days we do not look forward to letters or mails because nobody really sends them in the way they used to be. His art is reflective of the lack of communication or connection these days. “These works with the air-mail envelopes attached are just my nostalgia of opening a letter in the past. The surprises it would bring to me through the magic of words that flew from the writer living somewhere far away. I miss it,” says Janos. His works on display here range from Dh500 to Dh13,000.

Contemporary artist Moreen Austria loves ethnic fashion and wants to remind people about the Philippines’ dying Maria Clara gowns. For the opening, she wore a shorter version of the dress with a lace scarf that had traditional beadwork. Her work ‘Longevity’ had a long veil flowing out of the canvas on to the floor... almost making it look like the dress grew out of the canvas. “My inspiration for this one was the all-covered black dresses that Arab women wear here. I find it intriguing to know what lies beneath the veil. They might be just as simple as a woman like me. I wonder,” says Moreen.

Eugene Cubillo, a fine arts graduate from Manila, loves to take huge printouts of his own portraits and paint on them. They have a heavy metal and grunge-like feel to it. Mostly in monochrome, some also have a pixelated effect while others look like posters of a vintage movie. 
“Do you want a picture of me with me?” asks the cheerful artist, as visitors study his work.

The Philippines art month opened on June 24, and will be on for a month.

• UAE