THE coronavirus pandemic brought much of the world to a stand still earlier this year, with governments issuing lockdowns that forced many people to shelter in place, and economies everywhere grinding to a halt.
Though no less severely impacted, with the closure of museums and art galleries during the first wave of the pandemic, including the most famous ones in the world such as the Louvre, art—always vital to a nation’s identity and existence—found ways to remain in the fabric of everyday life, like the YouTube videos of theater artists performing famous pieces from musicals to bring cheer to families and individuals locked down in their homes. Or the film and TV companies creating locked-in bubbles so that work can resume on productions that had been put on hold. The visual arts community devised their own ways to continue not only to create and but also to showcase their works—in virtual exhibits, in socially-distanced in-person shows, or a hybrid of both.
Now on its 12th year, ManilART, the national art fair, returns from December 9 to 13 with the theme “2020 Vision for a Future Reimagined,” to be held at the SMX Convention Center, SM Aura Premier, Taguig City. Yes, it will be an on-site affair with the organizers putting in place strict safety protocols to ensure that it does not turn into a “superspreader” event: two days will be allotted to invitational VIP previews with timed entrances and contactless registration, and the three days devoted to the general will have similar safety measures.
For art aficionados, ManilART should be a nice way to cap what can only be described as—to borrow a phrase made famous by England’s Queen Elizabeth II—annus horribilis.
Fittingly, one of the artists showcased in this year’s ManilART is Anita del Rosario, an artist whose abstractions of the cross in both jewelry and sculpture not only have earned her a loyal patronage among art connoisseurs but also should be nothing less than a balm given the turmoil and tragedies that have defined the year about to come to pass.
Among the eagerly anticipated sculptures that del Rosario will showcase at ManilART are, of course, her crosses. “Initially, I was thinking of showing something else than the cross for the art fair because, as an artist, you always want to challenge yourself and create something that isn’t expected of you,” the artist said on a recent early afternoon at her studio in Greenhills, San Juan. “But given the times, and also given what is expected of me, there will be crosses in the artworks that I will be showing at the fair, along with other sculptures that reflect what has often gleaned in my work: warmth, love—love between mother and child, between a couple, love of God. I often keep my artworks untitled because I like to give the viewer or the buyer the freedom to define it as they see it.”
This, of course, is not del Rosario’s first exhibit. She has had her share of solo and group shows—at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, which named her as one of the top top 100 women artists in 2015; Oakwood Premier, Manila Diamond Hotel, ArtistSpace in Ayala Museum, and Art Asia Gallery—although her intrinsic humility might have never allowed her youth to dream of such lofty dreams.
After her Fine Arts studies at the University of Santo Tomas, del Rosario went on to work as a komiks illustrator for a variety of publications, including Liwayway, and later stumbled into jewelry design for a famous jeweler. “It was completely happenstance. I had become bored with my work as a komiks illustrator, and a friend who was a jewelry designer urged me to take over her work for this famous local jewelry company, because my friend was going to relocate abroad. As artists, we always like taking on a challenge, and so I did.”
It was as a jewelry designer that del Rosario made her first conceptual crosses—and the rest, as they say, is history.
“The continuing popularity of the cross, whether as jewelry or as sculpture, is most likely on account of our Catholic religion,” the artist said. “Even though I have long transitioned into creating sculptures from designing jewelry, I still keep getting requests and commissions to do crosses. Sometimes you feel like you want to take on other themes, but then you are challenged to reimagine the symbol—and that in itself continues to be very exciting.”
Anita del Rosario’s sculptures and other artworks will be on view at the SMX Convention Center in SM Aura Premier from December 9 to 13. Apart from the on-site aspect of ManilART, there will also be an online edition so that art aficionados can enjoy a full, 360-degree photographic walkthroughs in the safety of their homes.
For preregistration and contactless entry, more information is available at www.manilartfair.com/visit.