Images courtesy of Metrobank Foundation, Inc.
Adversity is the preparation for greatness, and what better way to exemplify this truth than the recent triumph of four Metrobank Art and Design Excellence (MADE) awardees. In its 38th edition, this year’s MADE follows the theme “Emerge: Step into Your Boundless Future” and calls on Filipino artists to come out, explore their potential, show their ingenuity, and “create art that mirrors the human experience.” Accepting the challenge, these four artists tapped on their creativity and imprinted their humanity into their works of art.
Melvin John Pollero’s discernment of embracing and standing by with his own artistry came after the pandemic’s height, which eventually led him to join MADE. “Ninuno,” his piece that garnered the grand award in the Oil/Acrylic on Canvas category, tells of the sorry state of our environment, and the burgeoning issues of indigenous groups that bothered his sensibilities. “My interest deepened when these different minority groups went to our university. I was made aware of their plight through the help of discussions and immersion with the groups. This is where I learned the importance of understanding the relationship between the environment and our ancestors.”
His interaction with the Badjaos and Aetas gave him the latitude to synthesize that experience, translate his insights into his art, and present his piece as an alternative way of seeing these social issues. “For me, we should learn from our brothers how to protect Mother Earth, a legacy we can leave to our children.”
For Raymundo Ador III, adversity came as a health and social crisis. “When the pandemic came, people were affected because they fear for their physical and mental health, livelihood, the welfare of their loved ones, and what will happen in the following days. To top it all, when the number of cases continues to rise, there was limited mobility because of lockdowns and social distancing.”
During the pandemic, it became difficult for him to create, to paint. Thanks to his girlfriend, who pushed him out of his slump, and join the MADE competition for the first time. More than a therapeutic act, his entry “Dalawang Libo’t Dalawang Pu at Hanggang Kailan?” won the grand award in the Watermedia on Paper Category.
“My entry was a self-portrait. It was my own story during the pandemic, about my depression. You can find many symbols such as the skull but underneath it all that there’s a story of hope not only for myself but also for others. In our hearts, we hope that the day when we overcame the situation will soon come.”
Riding on that hope, Ador reveals that his grand win now inspires him to continue on this path and paint some more.
Nineteen-year-old Mateo Cacnio was bold and proved to be artistically uninhibited when he created “Politika” which garnered him the grand award in the Sculpture Recognition Program. After hours of study and research on the prime movers of modern sculpture, Cacnio challenged himself to depict his notions out of his initiation and frustration over local politics as his contribution to today’s social thought.
“From the perspective of a University of the Philippines student, I created this piece during the electoral period. It was a very surreal experience as a first-time voter. As the title suggests, this work aims to give another definition to politics and what it conveys in our social environment. Like in a usual fight in general, it parallels the conception of people breaking each other mentally and physically for higher authority. In this piece, I want to represent the culture of politics by utilizing two biomorphic figures fighting each other.”
Along the theoretical lines of constructivism, he processed and played with the properties of aluminum. “It projects the look of the material but, I wanted the metal to look liquid, to project there’s fluidity. My art aims to express the fluidity and expression of the human body with space. Nevertheless, I long for the inner dynamic sensation of the subject matter using biomorphic shapes and gestures. The appearance of my creations is a direct, personal expression of what I feel about my subject.” And to that end, he succeeded.
Jun Orland Espinosa believes that adversity and the burden it brings is part of life just like faith and hope. As an artist, he is more concerned “about the emotion of every individual on how they deal with their feeling every time they encounter disaster, severe problems, calamities in life.”
His recent trip made him face his beliefs after witnessing the stark realities of the aftermath brought by typhoon Odette to his hometown. “I went home to Bacolod to spend Christmas and I saw how people were affected by typhoon Odette. My brother was also affected because his house was hammered down by a fallen tree. At that time, it looked hopeless: houses were damaged, most people were out of work with no other means of livelihood, and people were in mourning, or in debt. These are depressing, and can bring anxiety or thoughts of suicide.”
In his mind’s eye, he saw people as trees enduring heavy rains, floods, and destructive wind. “Is there still hope that the tree will still live after it has been uprooted caused by the disaster?” Espinosa asks. While there’s hope for the uprooted roots, it needs to touch the ground to recover and for Espinosa, faith with action endures dying hope.
“Faith must be more potent than personal calamities to conquer the chaos. At first glance, you will experience chaos and morbidity in my artwork. But then I challenge the viewer to seek hope using his faith despite the apocalyptic scenery of the sculpture,” adds Espinosa.
Fittingly enough, he chose tree roots as the material for his sculptures. “I don’t want traditional materials that most artists use. I looked for untraditional material to stand out. I found out that the roots of trees are an unusual material because it is complicated to handle due to their overlapping sections.” However, Espinosa has also conquered his work’s burden with faith and hope, bagging the Special Citation in the Sculpture Recognition Program with his piece titled “Underneath”.
In response to the challenges brought by COVID-19, MADE has emerged to become a CSR program for the arts. While the country is facing a major health and economic crisis, MADE has persisted and continued to adapt, ensuring its support for artistic development, endeavors, and welfare of Filipino visual artists.
This year, each grand awardee will receive P500,000 worth of cash assistance while each special citation recipient will receive P100,000. They will also be given the “More” trophy, designed and crafted by Juan Sajid, a 2007 MADE Awardee, and will automatically become members of the MADE-Network of Winners, the group of awardees and designers previously recognized by MADE.
Since its establishment in 1984, MADE has awarded more than 400 artists and designers who are now established in their respective careers or are establishing their names in the art and design scenes.