This is my second year in teaching Visual Communication in Ateneo. The dynamics in class are always changing with the different types of students that composes the class. For the first half of the semester, we focused on the History of VisComm and learned about the different period, era and art movements that became influential in today's visual world. We learned the stories and meanings of art works, posters and graphic designs from each era which contributed to our database of knowledge. To quote Aldous Huxley, "the more you see, the more you know."

Hoping that my students learned something from our activities and discussions, I gave a project for their midterm requirements. I've always asked myself "How did they come up with art movements?" What I essentially learned from our lessons is that a movement should have an intention. The Arts and Crafts Movement by William Morris was created in opposition to the Kitsche art that was manufactured by technology. They wanted to bring back the hand made quality of products and rediscover the artists in everyone. Dadaism was created as "anti-art" art movement. So if we were to come up with an art movement, what would it look like? We explored this idea in class and I decided that this will be our midterm project.

We started with brainstorming. I grouped them into small groups and asked each group to come up with the following: a motif, a color palette, a typography style, an inspiration, and a name for the art movement. After the brainstorming, they came up with these ideas:





To determine what our visual style will be, I first tried to see what are the common things that they groups came up with: Minimalism, Grey, Thin, Surreal and Euphoria. This may seem a good combination for an art movement but they weren't happy with we came up with. So to make it fair, we had a votation. Each member may vote one for each category except for their own idea. Finally we came up with another set of visual keywords: Floral/Victorian, Light/Dark Matte, Bold and Surreal/Nightmare, and "Euphoria". Well..that didn't come up better either.haha

Anyways, moving forward we have to take this as a challenge. I divided the class into 2 groups and gave the final instruction to them. They have to develop the "Euphoria" concept and put up an art exhibit. They may only change one of the keywords and they should individually create one poster and one artwork according to their group's visual style.

On the day of the gallery show, we divided the room in two and each group shall exhibit their artworks and posters. After the show each one of them presented their works and the judges gave their critiques and scored them. Here are some photos during the gallery show.

Team 1 getting ready

Pre-show rituals?

Preparing the circus-themed gallery

With the sophomores..

Mandy's final touch of their exhibit

But first...

Last minute preps...

Group 2's final gallery look

Cool installation in the entrance of  Team 1's gallery

Team 1 had a concept of "Circus". Some of their works included the floral theme and circus imagery like clowns and ferris wheels.

With Team 1: EUPHORIA: Circus of Fears

Special thanks to my panelists, Bianca Zamora and Tennyl Canlas

Team Euphobia during the presentation.

Team EUPHOBIA focused on each of their phobias. Their posters shows the name of the phobia and each of their artwork or design had limited colors: white, black, grays and red.

In the end, team EUPHOBIA showed more cohesiveness in terms of visual style. Individually, their artworks and posters were well-researched and presented well. For winning this challenge, I gave each one of them a print of some of my digital illustrations. Kudos also to Team Circus of Fears for the nice setup and cool artworks too. Congratulations to each one of them! I really appreciate your works!

In the end, I realized that creating an Art Movement was not easy. Individually, we have our own preferences and style and that creates conflict and tension. But what makes us are also the people around us. We are influenced by our peers, our family, our culture, school and the media. We must learn to adapt, collaborate with other artists and learn from one another. Critics are always there and it may hurt our egos and pride. But it's part of life. We must see the world in a positive light and accept these critiques constructively in the hopes of improving one's self.

I really enjoyed this activity and I feel contented with what our class has produced. I hope that these future communicators will grow into better visual thinkers and creators. Check out their individual works below. Click on the image to be redirected to their blogs.

The Gallery of Peninsula and the Archipelago gathered artists from Ateneo's faculty and staff for an art exhibit. It featured various artwork from different media such as painting, sculpture, photography and arts and craft. The Opening program was held at the Carlos Dominguez Conference Hall, 5:30 on July 17, 2014. Father Willy Samson gave the opening remarks and I gave an inspirational speech about my journey as an artist. The artists were recognized followed by the ribbon cutting at the Gallery by art advocate Councilor Gerky Valesco and Fr. Willy. Here are the photos of the exhibit launch. Click for larger view.













Fr. Willy and Councilor Gerky for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.




Maam Maui, department chair of Computer Science dept and Sir Romeo Rabajante




With Maam Sandra Jamiro featuring her awesome paintings.


My artworks, "Vinta de Zamboanga" and "Love Heals 2.0", experimental mixed media sculpture made of scrap wood, nails and strings. Click for larger view!


My ever supportive friends. Thanks for being there for me guys! Love you so much!



Here's my artist statement:

As a young boy I always wanted to be a great artist like Van Gogh and Andy Warhol. But art classes meant watching my mom do cross-stitch all day. I didn't even know how to draw and paint like real artists do. But somehow my eagerness to do beautiful images and my resourcefulness revealed my creative side when I learned how to use Photoshop. I ventured into creating Photo-manipulations and Digital Illustrations by using my doodles as my reference images. I discovered that by creating images I can express myself and show people an art that is developed with technology. There I developed my style of art.

It all starts with doodles, random drawings filled at the last page of my class notebooks. I scan them digitally and transform them using imaging softwares. My favorite subjects are fragments of my being like my experiences, ideas, knowledge, my culture, and my random world of imagination. I always enjoy the process of creation, revision and producing the final form. Most of the time I don't have a concept while doing a work but when every piece has fallen into place a deeper meaning reveals to me which also surprises me. The thrill and excitement of discovery makes me feel like a true artist.

Recently, I had an opportunity to create a set of artworks using traditional medium. My enthusiasm in Painting was reawakened which further pushed me to explore in other medium and forms of art. These are the first set of artworks that are product of my experimentation with wood, nail and strings. Inspired by my mom's cross-stitch works, I attempted to translate my style with the technicality of handicraft. The output is an equitable blend of the rough qualities of carpentry and a delicate nature of embroidery. I am still in constant pursuance of my creative growth and identity and to this day I have renewed hope that someday I will be the artist I always wanted to be.

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UPDATE: Just my doodle art blog about the set of artworks which sparked these set of paintings. Check out my Handmade Wooden Signs here.

AICG will be hosting the first Digital Art Exhibit in Zamboanga City at the Gallery of the Peninsula and the Archipelago, AdZU campus. It will opened on March 10, 2008 in line withe celebration of the ICT Week. Sponsored by DISCOVER Digital Imaging, this exhibit is a collection of various artworks that were contributed by the AICG members. This aims to showcase the outputs of the students and promote the Computer Science Department.

Here are some of my contributions: