With black-rimmed eyeglasses dominating her small, unmade-up face, diminutive Jayme Emille C. Lucas, 22—clad in maong pants, a dark-blue blazer, and a sky-blue blouse with a properly closed neckline—did not fit the stereotype of an avant garde, bohemian artist of the old school mold.
The atypical artist image was reinforced, to a greater or lesser extent, by her co-winners in the prestigious Metrobank Art & Design Excellence (MADE), which had its 35th awarding ceremonies last September 19, at the Le Pavillon, Metropolitan Park in Pasay City.
Assembled, this time, for a Tony&Nick exclusive interview and photo shoot were: Jayme Lucas, Grand Awardee, oil/acrylic on canvas category for “Evanescing Lives from the Homeland;” Christian Jame F. Maglente, Grand Awardee, watermedia on paper category for “Existence of Blue;” and for Special Citations: Christian Cedrick M. Dela Paz, oil/acrylic on canvas category for “25/7;” Dave Alcon, oil/acrylic on canvas category for “Upuan;” and Arman Jay S. Arago, watermedia on paper category for “Walang Hihigit pang Sandata.”
Conceived by the late Metrobank Group founder and chairman Dr. George S. K. Ty, MADE was put up in 1984 as a painting competition for Filipino painters, aged 18 to 35 years old.
The Grand Awardee will receive a cash prize of P350,000, an Artistic Development Fund worth Php150,000, a “Mula” sculpted trophy by Noell El Farol and will be eligible for a grant for first solo exhibit, among other incentives. Special Citation awardees will each receive a P100,000 cash prize.
MADE organizers said that this year’s overall theme is “Unleash,” reflecting Metrobank Foundation, Inc.’s continuing advocacy to seek out and exalt Filipino visionaries—young individuals who bring vibrancy to the evolving art scene.
With no specific topic to limit the imagination, this year’s batch of artists laid claim to colors brimming with raw emotion and hard life experiences that somehow, surprisingly manage to evoke hope.
Hacienda Luisita
Describing her award-winning painting, Jayme said: “Evanescing lives means vanishing lives; the loss of something important in life—like the farmers. My technique is subtractive. I scraped the painting to refer to the wounds of the past. They (farmers) are now part of our memories. The clouds are ominous. It’s like the heavens sympathize with what is happening to the farmers here on earth.”
Coming from a farming family, Jayme grew up inside Hacienda Luisita, a 6,453-hectare sugar plantation in Tarlac province, owned by the family of the late President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.
Jayme was eight years old and only a kilometer away from the spot where the Hacienda Luisita massacre raged on November 16, 2004.
“We were in school when the massacre happened. We had a test that day and so the classroom was so quiet. Suddenly, there was the rapid-fire of guns. We panicked. We were so young then, we did not know what was happening. A cousin of mine died but it was years later, when I was already in high school that I began to piece together the story,” Jayme said in the vernacular.
Based on media reports, seven farmers died that day, some 10 days after the worker’s union in the Hacienda launched a massive strike.
Jayme could not help but shed tears during the interview. She covered her face with a handkerchief. “Kunektado rin kasi ang buhay ko sa kanila. Ang buhay nila, sobrang sakit. Mahirap po itago lahat sa loob ko. [My life is connected to theirs. They have experienced so much hardship. It is difficult, for me, to keep everything inside].”
She added that she tries so hard to look at the positive side of life and sees her experience in the hacienda as part of what she has become.
Blue Existence
Only his long, slightly unkempt straight hair betrayed his artistic temperament. He wore a blue shirt, tight denim pants, black rubber shoes and a VANS black zip up & pullover hoodie. Christian Jame F. Maglente, 23, could pass himself off as a typical student.
“The time I painted “Existence of Blue,” I was feeling sad. I felt alone, like I didn’t belong. I felt out of place all the time. And life seemed a never-ending routine. There were days I felt like I didn’t want to wake up anymore. Everything was so boring,” Christian related.
He added, however, that having won a citation beefed up his spirits. “Nowadays, a lot of happy moments have filled my life. I plan to give the P300,000 I won to my parents, so they can invest it in a business, while I will keep the P50,000 to myself.”
Too little time
For Christian Cedrick M. Dela Paz, his painting, “25/7” encapsulated what he felt in late 2018, when too many activities crowded his schedule. “I wanted to enter MADE. I’ve been there four times and didn’t win a major prize. I told myself, this was the last time I will attempt to win. But I was also preparing for my one-man show and was likewise busy fixing our house because I was getting married.”
Cedrick thought of turning his feelings of not having enough time into something positive. “I picked the jeepney as my subject in the painting, with a man caught between stops of going to the office and heading for home. It’s 25/7 because the man is trying to add another hour into his already busy, 24-hour day. The window background is black because the man is working from dawn to dusk.”
Race to the top
Dave Alcon, 31, said that his “Upuan” epitomizes what man goes through to reach the top. “I did the painting during the election season. As you know, the there was a lot of news stories about some politicians doing good, while others were into shenanigans. I got curious about the concept of getting ahead.”
He said he thought of using the chair as a tool to symbolize the objective of attaining what one wants. “Gusto nating maka-angat. Ganyan sa politics, ganyan din sa karaniwang trabaho [We want to get ahead. It is like that in politics, and it is the same with everyday work].
Dave said that this desire has both a negative and positive side. “I want to focus on the positive; the concept of rising by lifting others.”
Belief in God
According to Arman Jay S. Arago, his painting, “Walang Hihigit pang Sandata” spreads the need for peace and God in these trying times.
“We watch war happen in our TV screens. We hear of bombings and news of people dying by the hundreds. We really have to get rid of guns, bombs, and of war,” Arman said.
He added that this can be easily done if man turned to God, which is the message of his painting.