SAMSUNG’S Digital Art Gallery Masterpieces

Besides establishing itself as one of the world’s top multinational company, tech giant Samsung has always been a major patron of arts and culture in its home country of  Korea

The company even earned  the presidential prize at the first Korea Mecenat Awards in 1999  and the
Samsung Foundation of Culture has long been promoting Korean arts and culture while fostering international cultural exchanges.

Samsung founder Ho-am Lee Byung-Chull, had been making significant contributions to Korean arts and culture hosting  an expansive roster of activities and exhibits. Some of the institutions run by the Foundaton include the Ho-am Art Museum, which has an extensive collection of ancient national treasures and other cultural heritage items, and Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, home to both traditional fine art and cutting-edge contemporary art. These institutions not only serve as an exhibition space, but also provide a platform for dynamic cultural exchanges.  Source

In the Philippines, SAMSUNG furthers its art advocacy as it launched the a Digital Art Gallery installation made possible by the Masterpieces application last December 9, 2013 at the Ayala Museum.

This latest advocacy program aims to promote the awareness, creation, appreciation and accessibility of digital works of art. Through Samsung Supports the Arts, the brand visualizes a brighter future for the arts scene in the Philippines by supporting the homegrown talent of Filipino artists. The exhibit will feature 25 local artists who created their original digital artwork using  the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1.

The Masterpieces  gallery features contributed artworks by established and emerging artists, in digital forms such as graphics, photos and videos, created using the Samsung tablets. The gallery will be curated by no less than Iola Lenzi, a leading regional contemporary art curator, critic and writer.

This event envisions the local art scene to be further developed and made to flourish with the help of technology—enabling artists to create, share and be recognized in a larger audience with a faster response time. It also hopes to successfully build a local art community using built-in social networking tools to express and share appreciation for the arts. This encourages Filipinos of all ages to unleash their creativity and join in thousands of enthusiasts, experts and even beginners in sharing their love and passion for creating art—more than just an app, Masterpieces is a modern facet in culture cultivation in society today.

Traditionalists will also enjoy using Masterpieces as it uses a classic gallery type of interface that simulates the reality of visiting your local art gallery or museum. Samsung Supports the Arts is truly a one-of-a-kind initiative that perfectly marries classic art forms and the ever-changing landscape of the digital art age—and strikes the balance across all generations.

The Masterpieces Exhibit will be in the Ayala Museum from December 10 to 14, 2014. The Masterpieces application is available exclusively on Samsung Apps and Google Play, optimised for a range of Samsung devices such as the GALAXY Note 10.1, GALAXY Note 8.0 and GALAXY Tab (10.1), also exclusively available in Samsung Smart TV.

Audiences can also view more of the artworks of the featured artists both locally and from other Asian countries by accessing Masterpieces via the website (www.mas¬terpiecesart.com)

The 25 Masterpieces participants are:

Alwin Reamillo, Costantino Zicarelli, Dex Fernandez, Don Salubayba, , Ernest Concepcion, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya, , Igan D’ Bayan, Jason Montinola, Jose John Santos III, Josephine Turalba, Mariano Ching  Mark Salvatus, Mideo Cruz, Nikki Luna, Norberto Roldan, Pam Yan-Santos, Pow Martinez, Romeo Lee, , Victor Balanon,  Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan

ABOUT THE CURATOR:
Iola Lenzi 
A lawyer by training, Iola Lenzi is a Singapore-based critic and independent curator specialising in the contemporary visual art of Southeast Asia. She is the Singapore correspondent for The Asian Art newspaper, London, a contributing editor to C-ARTS, Jakarta/Singapore, as well as a frequent contributor to other international art publications. Having conducted research on regional contemporary art for over a decade, she takes a synthetic view of Southeast Asian artistic practice, many of her texts and exhibitions seeking to bring commonalities of theme, expressive language and approach to the fore. The author of two books, she has also written extensively and in depth about a number of the region’s seminal contemporary practitioners, and has curated exhibitions in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bangkok.

THE ARTISTS:
Alwin Reamillo began his art practice as a visual arts teacher at the Philippine High School for the Arts. Interested in the exploration of creative play, improvisation and collaborative group work (creative bayanihan) within a pedagogical setting of a workshop, he has initiated collaborative projects that intersect between mixed media painting, sculpture, installation, shadow puppetry, video and performance.

After migrating to Australia in 1995, he pursued interest in exploring ideas about memory, mobility, cross-cultural dialogue /exchange, community collaboration and the experience of moving back and forth between cultures, examining how these interactions can change ways of thinking.

Through immersive exploration of intertwined themes of colonization, migration and globalization of culture, Reamillo has collaborated with community groups through mobile workshops across regional Australia and overseas, creating a number of participatory ‘social sculptures’ in the form of ‘vehicles/ vessels/-crafts’,  in response to local contexts and histories. Recent projects often developed through a performative process of ‘hunting and gathering’, which the artist re-translates as ‘hunting’ for found and sought materials/resources and a ‘gathering’ of people.

Costantino Zicarelli:

I’m a failed graffiti artist and musician (still am). I try to incorporate these failed attempts into more interesting visual forms. I’m mostly drawn to the history of drone metal, Norwegian black metal history, to the music of The Beatles and the suicide of Kurt Cobain.  It’s not about the idea of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll or being a fan boy. I’m more interested in putting a less chaotic line between the subculture scene and the idea of using reality as fictional tools, or vice versa.

Costantino Zicarelli is currently represented by Silverlens Gallery in Manila and Singapore.

Dex Fernandez
Dex Fernandez, also known as Garapata, is an active member of Pilipinas Street Plan right when the group started. Started back in 2006 with making wheatpaste posters and is now using stickers as his primary medium.

He is currently into making merchandise such as tote bag, tshirt, zine and toys. Launched a vinyl toy in Secret Fresh

Don Salubayba
Don M. Salubayba is one of the most prolific contemporary artists in the country today. A graduate of Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines, Don is engaged ina range of forms such as painting, drawing, shadowplay theater and installations. His works are exhibit in local and international art spaces.

A multi-awarded artist, Don has received invaluable grants and awards namely an Asian Cultural Council grant to participate in a residency program at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California, and at the International Studio, and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City in 2004-2005, Special Jury Prize Award and Voice Award at the Singapore Short Film Festival held at the Substation Art Center in Singapore for his animation piece, “A Not So Giant Story” in 2006, Artist Residency at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Fukuoka, Japan in 2008, and  2009 Thirteen Artists Award at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Don currently teaches at Philippine High School for the Arts and at the Beacon Academy. He is an active member of Anino Shadowplay Collective and TuTok artists collective.

Ernest Concepcion

Ernest Concepcion is a New York-based Filipino artist. He makes work depicting opposing forces engaged in ridiculous battle based on the entertainments of childhood and adolescence. Through extensive studio time and experimentation, he eventually broke away from drawing and explored different approaches to conflict via painting, sculpture, installation and now digital. He is also an avid gamer.

Igan D’Bayan
Igan D’Bayan is a Filipino artist-writer who resides in the Philippines. He works as a columnist and illustrator for The Philippine STAR.

Christiane dela Paz wrote in The Arts of the Philippines, “The art of Igan D’ Bayan is a modern tale of fantasy and domination. It shares many similarities to the works of Tim Burton, Stephen King, Robert Bloch and Alfred Hitchcock whose interests are macabre and quirky-themes, science fictions, mystery, crime and suspense. His noteworthy efforts and trademark of painting ribcages and skeletal bones which can repel and send shudders to viewers sets him apart from his contemporaries as he chooses to focus on painting certain disorders of the skeletal system as well as the psychological problems that live inside the heads. While Igan D’ Bayan’s works in the last five years deal heavily on both fear and fantasy, his style and trademark of interacting light and darkness, subjects being caught between two irreconcilable worlds, slowly gained him approval and recognition.”

According to art critic and poet Juaniyo Arcellana, “When you walk into a gallery filled with Igan D’Bayan paintings, at the flick of a switch assorted chiaroscuro chorizos come flying at you, skulls and crossbones looking for pirates, and the whole hog wisdom of rock and roll.”

Imelda Cajipe-Endaya 

Imelda Cajipe-Endaya explores themes of cultural identity and issues of power from the distinct point of view of a Filipina artist aware of her historical roots. She was recipient of the CCP 13 Artists Award, the CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts, and the NCCA Ani ng Dangal. Her works are in permanent collections of the Philippine National Museum, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum and the Singapore Art Museum

Jason Montinola 
Jason Montinola (b. 1979, Philippines) obtained his Bachelor of Science, majoring in Art Education from the Technological University of the Philippines in 2003.

As a child, I have been engrossed with encyclopedias filled with paintings of the past. Their images pervade through my unconscious mind and molded my visual language to what it is now. I believe that I breathe life to these visions of olde by giving new life to them through characters I have created.

Recent solo exhibitions include Theatre of Absurdities, OUR Art Projects, MIA Art Centre, Kulala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2013; Sinister, West Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines, 2012; Here Lies the Painter, West Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines, 2011; Black Carnival, Big & Small Art Gallery, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City, Philippines, 2010 and The Upper Room, Tala Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines, 2009.

Jose Santos III
Jose Santos III received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines, where he also taught for seven years. He was awarded the Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists in 2000. His works have been exhibited both locally and internationally. His practice is characterized by various concerns that deal with history, change, life, the common and the everyday.

Josephine Turalba
Josephine Turalba was born in Manila Philippines in 1965 where she lives and works. Josephine is an interdisciplinary installation artist who incorporates video, sculpture, performance and sound into her artworks. She received her MFA in New Media from Transart Institute at Universität Krems in Austria in 2009.

Her works take a visceral approach to the politics of violence focusing on the dynamics of infliction, trauma, depicting traces and spaces, a place where empathy translates into healing. Her videos and sculptural installation works have been shown at the VII Tashkent Biennale, Uzbekistan, 2013; Santorini Biennale, Greece, 2012; The Pier-2 Art Center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 2012; La Cinematheque Française, Paris, France 2012; Werkstatt der Kulturen, Berlin, Germany, 2012; École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France, 2012; The Yuchengco Museum, Manila, 2011; South Hill Park, Bracknel, UK, 2011; KIT Kunst-im-Tunnel, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2011; The 12th International Cairo Biennale, Egypt, 2010; Malta Contemporary Art Center, 2009 and the Lopez Museum, Manila, Philippines in 2013, 2007 and 1992.

Mariano Ching
Mariano Ching’s works dwell on the excesses of the imagination. A recipient of the Monbusho Japanese Grant and the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Thirteen Artists Awards, an award given every three years by the government to emerging artists, Mariano Ching‘s fictional landscapes may be reminiscent of childlike fantasies, cartoonish and playful; and maybe peopled by grotesque figures, deformed and mythical, but the underlying motif behind each scenery almost always consists of a sequence of revelation, an apparition achieved through a psychedelic state or a rude awakening propelled by the colors and symbols of a mix of shamanistic, Krishna, voodoo, alien or colonial iconography. Such paradox elevates his work from the mere excursions of the psyche and imagination to a rich, multi-layered narrative that has the ability to engage its audience like a sci-fi novella. He received his education in the University of the Philippines Fine Arts Program and became a distinguished Research Student as a Printmaking Major in Kyoto Arts University, Japan. His works have been shown regularly throughout Metro Manila’s galleries as well as in other countries, in Malaysia, Singapore, and France to name a few.

Mark Salvatus
Mark Salvatus (b. 1980) lives and works in Manila & Lucban, Philippines. He graduated cum laude at the UST College of Fine Arts and Design. His works deals with familiar objects, chance encounters, urbanism and everyday politics that cross various media from drawings, installations, photography, video, street art to interactive and participatory projects.

He had his first solo museum show at the Vargas Museum in Manila (2011) followed by a solo at Ateneo Art Gallery (2012). He had gallery solo shows with The Drawing Room, Manila, La Trobe University Visual Art Center, Victoria, Australia, Pablo Gallery, Manila and Goyang Art Studio in South Korea. A recipient of the 13 Artist Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines (2012); Sovereign-Schoeni Art Prize, Hong Kong; Ateneo Art Award (2010) and nominated for the Signature Art Prize 2011 –Singapore Art Museum.

In 2006, Mark co-founded Pilipinas Street Plan, a community of street artists based in Manila and in 2012 he cofounded and is co-directing 98B COLLABoratory, a multi-disciplinary site for creative sharing, discussion and collaboration.

Mideo Cruz

Mideo M. Cruz is an active cross-disciplinary artist-organizer based in Southeast Asia. His works shows strong allegorical images of the social order.

In 2011 he became controversial when his installation “Poleteismo”  in Cultural Center of the Philippines was strongly objected by the Catholic Church which ended up in exorcism rituals and a Senate hearing. Among his merits is the 2003 Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists Award, the 2003 Sungduan Grant and the 2006 Ateneo Art Award.
Nikki Luna

Based in Manila, Nikki Luna graduated with a degree in Bachelor of fine arts, major in painting at the University of the Philippines. In 2008, she joined New York’s Cooper Union Art Residency, where she took time and discovered the meaning of female in transit. Nikki led several exhibits in Milan Italy, New York, Singapore, Beijing and the Philippines that didn’t stray away from this theme.

She is the founder of the StartART project (www. startartproject.org), a group that offers art therapy to children whose parents were victims of human rights violation. In line with this, she flew to Maguindanao to work with some of the children of the media men massacred in Ampatuan. Through her art efforts, she has helped the children of Morong 43 to understand why their parents were arrested. She also went to Sierra Leone and spent 336 hours imparting art therapy to children and women of this war-torn African country.

Luna’s works are directly represented by her inspirations for she finds history in the most peculiar places such as sentiments and memory, and then narrates them through installations and paintings. In one of her interviews, she says that she loved what Robert Hughes said, “If art can’t tell us about the world we live in, and then I don’t believe there’s much point in having it”; meaning, she leans more towards art that puts life into perspective.

Norberto Roldan
Norberto Roldan’s work is rooted in social, political, and cultural commentary through the collection and assembly of found objects with image or text fragments. Often employing the material embodiments of various genres and themes in one assemblage, Roldan harnesses a poignant consideration of biography and history. His practice involves an intentional juxtaposition of objects, images, and texts as a means to debase historical certainty and propose new narratives

Norberto Roldan was represented in three landmark surveys of Southeast Asian contemporary art: New Art from Southeast Asia 1992 by the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Fukuoka, Japan; Negotiating Home History and Nation: Two Decades of Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia 1991-2011 by the Singapore Art Museum in Singapore; and, No Country: Contemporary Art For South/Southeast Asia at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and The Asia Society in Hong Kong (2013). Roldan lives and work in Manila and is also currently artistic director of Green Papaya Art Projects (est. 2000), an independent and artist-run initiative that supports collaboration and exchange amongst Asia Pacific and Filipino artists.

Pam Yan-Santos
Pam Yan-Santos has a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts where she also taught for four years. She has participated in a number of notable exhibitions both here and abroad. She was awarded the Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists in 2009 and was shortlisted for the Ateneo Art Awards of the same year.

Her works often deal with the layering of meaning and various processes like painting, collage, drawing and printmaking.

Poklong Anading
Poklong Anading was born in 1975, in Manila, Philippines. He earned a BFA in painting from the College of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines (1999). He completed residencies with Big Sky Mind, Manila (2003–04), and Common Room, Bandung, Indonesia (2008). Having begun as a painter, he now works primarily in video and photography. He also expanded into process-oriented sculpture and installation informed by Arte Povera, making work that appeals to all the senses. He often assumes the roles of observer and collector, turning facts and memories into images and objects, and frequently engages social issues. In 2006, he received the Ateneo Studio Residency Grant in Australia and a Cultural Center of the Philippines 13 Artists Award. Anading won the Ateneo Art Award in 2006 and 2008.

Pow Martinez
Pow Martinez (b. 1983) is a young artist whose works betray wit and wisdom beyond his years. His works consist of unsettling images: macabre family portraits in oil, juxtaposed with the child-like eeriness of human figures piled one on top of the other, or in another work, they are crammed into a boat, creating a feeling of a Halloween party that is just about to go terribly wrong. Martinez studied painting at the University of the Philippines and Kalayaan College.

He has had four solo exhibitions to date, Cut hands has the solution (2011), held at West Gallery, Easy Listening Paintings, Hyper blast abomination at Magnet Katipunan (2010), March of the Pigs, at Lost Projects in Marikina, and The brutal gardener (2009). He has participated in notable group exhibitions in Germany, Australia, Hongkong, Singapore, and Malaysia last 2012, and wooden stool in Vinyl in Vinyl recently.

Romeo Lee
Romeo Lee is a graduate of the University of the Philippines with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. His life is a continuing journey that contributes to and nourishes his art. He is a member of the UP Mountaineers joining climbs every so often. A regular at ukay-ukay shops, Lee scours Makati Cinema Square, Bangkal and Quiapo, for clothes, CDs, DVDS and all kinds of audio equipment. He is also a concert organizer during the day.

When the sun sets, he is a constant presence at exhibit openings and sings vocals for the Brown Briefs. They perform regularly at Mag:Net Katipunan. These everyday activities influence the art that he does. Lee’s works have always been characteristic of popular visages and grotesque images that are truly and distinguishably Romeo Lee. What never fails is his fun and humorous take on things that despite the sarcasm, does not offend.

Victor Balanon
Victor Balanon started to study Dental Medicine in 1989. He left school however, a year short of finishing his studies, choosing to pursue and develop his interest in art. A self-taught artist, he has worked as an illustrator creating artworks for film, independent comics and underground music labels. He later studied film and animation at the Mowelfund Film Institute producing two animated short films as a result. During this time he has also created a self-published comic-book anthology and started working on his serialized pen and ink drawings. He was invited to be a part of the seminal late-90’s art space/collective Surrounded By Water, where some of the more prominent, current artists of today have started their practice. He has participated in various groups shows ever since, both locally and abroad, including group exhibitions in Hong Kong, San Francisco, Singapore and Tokyo.

He was also a participating artist in the 14th Jakarta Biennale in 2011 and his works have also been collected by the Singapore Art Museum. His ongoing and long-term significant bodies of work include a sequence of murals as well as the serial brush and ink work The Nameless Hundred.

Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizan: The artist’s activities as husband and wife have long been drawn from collaborative. Evolving within the spheres of family and community, including that which they share with other artist. Their projects have been concerned with keeping the home, finding and defining identity, dealing with hardship of journey, orienting oneself in displacement, sensing presences in absence and accumulating memory.

They continue to process these through their relation with the material, object that are both abstract and referential, objects that serve as a metaphor of everyday human life. Both artists now lives and works in Brisbane with their five children.