2007 Ateneo Art Awards Winners Announced
2007 Ateneo Art Awards Global/Vernacular Winners Announced
Established in 2004 to honor the memory of the Gallery’s founding benefactor Fernando Zobel de Ayala (1924-1984), Gina Fairley of Art Monthly Australia calls the Ateneo Art Awards “the most prestigious prize…for an emerging artist of the Philippines.”
The Awards are bestowed upon three Filipino visual artists, 35 years of age or under, who have made an outstanding and significant contribution to the definition and development of modern and contemporary art based upon a solo or group exhibition in any public venue. In keeping with the Ateneo’s intent to maintain institutional and professional collegiality, works by artists appearing in exhibitions conceptualized or curated by museum staff within their own premises were not considered.The 2007 Ateneo Art Awards, the country’s premier contemporary art prize, were conferred on three young Filipino visual artists for their outstanding contribution to the definition and development of modern and contemporary Philippine art at a formal ceremony at the Rockwell Tent on 8 August 2007 following the 2007 Ateneo Art Awards exhibition at the North Court, Power Plant Mall from 2 - 7 August 2007.
The three winners are Lyle Buencamino for the exhibition “A Bowtie for John Lyle” at Mag:net ABS, Wawi Navarroza for the exhibition “Saturnine: A Collection of Portraits, Creatures, Glass & Shadow” at the Silverlens Gallery and MM Yu for the exhibition “Thoughts Collected, Recollected” at Finale Art Gallery.
The winners were also each bestowed with the Ateneo Art Gallery International Studio Residency Grant, the only program of its kind organized by a Philippine cultural institution. Buencamino received the Ateneo Art Gallery - La Trobe University Bendigo, Australia Residency Grant, Navorroza the Ateneo Art Gallery - Artesan Gallery Singapore Residency Grant and Yu the Ateneo Art Gallery - Common Room Bandung, Indonesia Residency Grant. It provides them with roundtrip airfare, allowance, accommodation and a work studio for three weeks, as well as an invitation to exhibit at their respective host venues.
The other artists short-listed for the awards were Racquel de Loyola, Bembol dela Cruz, Nona Garcia, Winner Jumalon, Yasmin Sison, Jay Ticar, Mac Valdezco and Jevijoe Vitug.
The theme for this year’s exhibition, Global/Vernacular, is recognition and credence, acknowledging Philippine art has its own nuances yet believing it moves beyond local context to reverberate cross-culturally. The theme realizes the question of national identity in the face of increasing globalization and the challenge to increase the profile of Filipino art and artists abroad.
Ateneo Art Awards 2007: Global/Vernacular is presented by the Ateneo Art Gallery together with Unionbank, Metro Society, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Land, Smart Gold and Y Style with the support of Artesan Gallery, Common Room Networks Foundation, Arts Network Asia, La Trobe University Bendigo, Timbuk2 and Absolut Vodka. The exhibition runs at the Ateneo Art Gallery from 21 August to 24 September 2007.
For further inquiries on the Ateneo Art Awards, please contact Clarissa Chikiamco, Ateneo Art Awards Project Coordinator, at 426-6488 or at cchikiamco@ateneo.edu.
