Philippine Printmaking Turns 50
Published Jun 18, 2018 12:05 am
By Dom Galeon
Images by Greco Milambiling
In 1968, a group of artists with different backgrounds banded together to push the art of the fine print in the country, forming what was then called the Printmakers Association of the Philippines (PAP). Fifty years later, the same spirit that lit the souls of these artists remains alive, and printmaking continues to be an art that pushes boundaries, bridging the old with the new.
To celebrate this milestone, PAP—now organized under a more snappy name as the Association of Pinoyprintmakers (AP)—together with the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) has organized an exhibit that’s akin to traveling back in time. Dubbed as “TIRADA:50 Years of Philippine Printmaking 1968-2018,” the exhibit is housed inside a hall on the third floor of the CCP, with galleries overflowing to the floor’s corridors and even up to the second floor.
TIRADA features print works from 140 Filipino artists, including National Artists BenCab, Ang Kiukok, Arturo Luz, Vicente Manansala, and Jose Joya, and other masters like former PAP presidents Raul Isidro, Virgilio “Pandy” Aviado, and Ambie Abaño, as well as Rudy Samonte, Benjie Torrado Cabrera, Ray Albano, and younger talents like Jun Jun Sta. Ana, Joey Cobcobo, Mars Bugaoan, Yas Doctor, and Henrielle Pagkaliwangan.
“Tirada is a term among printmakers that signifies a strike: to pull off or pull out a piece of work in a series of multiples,” exhibit curator Patrick Flores said in a statement. “It also means effort and labor, a decisive action. It is a fitting term for this commemoration as AP looks back at its history and its pioneers; revisits its archives and the lineages of practice; and reflects on the issues that confront the practice of printmaking.”
For Pandy, who first proposed using tirada to be the exhibit’s title, there’s more to it than just that. “Tirada is what goes around a print edition—the people! It’s like a production,” he explained. “It’s not just the idea of running an edition, but running a production, highlighting the dynamics of a group. Printmaking, as an art, develops teambuilding. Sure, you can do prints on your own, but there’s nothing like going to a workshop,” he added, which is why AP’s workshop has remained open for artists who want to explore printmaking.
“My image of this is the bayanihan. It’s a very Filipino idea,” Pandy said, perhaps remembering those times when Raul Isidro was head of the then PAP, which he spent the better part of touring the Philippines, introducing printmaking to various local industries.
A common point made by the artists present at the exhibit launch last May 23 was about accessibility. Unlike other art forms, like painting or sculpture, art made in print is less costly. It’s accessible to younger collectors who may have an interest in art but without the purse to pursue it. “We’re trying to encourage young people to start being an art collector at a very young age,” Pandy said.
Apart from this, “TIRADA” also asks questions relevant to the future of printmaking and the Pinoy printmaker. “This exhibition is built around a range of concerns: the aesthetic integrity and intelligence of the work of the print and the status of the printmaker as an artist; the validity of appropriation within the artistic system of the print; the capacity of the print to respond to socio-political reality; the self-consciousness of the print as a medium; the place of the print in art history; and the process by which print plays out in the ecology of the popular,” Flores explained.
Perhaps an even bigger concern is the future of print, which Pandy says is not really threatened by modernity. “All the new techniques have not threatened printmaking,” he said. “When photography was introduced, did it threaten drawing? No. It was a new field. When video was invented, was film threatened? When the TV was invented, did it threaten cinema? Did cinema threaten theater? Technology will always be there, new things will be discovered. But printmaking will always remain.”
“TIRADA” is open to the public until July 15.
In 1968, a group of artists with different backgrounds banded together to push the art of the fine print in the country, forming what was then called the Printmakers Association of the Philippines (PAP). Fifty years later, the same spirit that lit the souls of these artists remains alive, and printmaking continues to be an art that pushes boundaries, bridging the old with the new.
To celebrate this milestone, PAP—now organized under a more snappy name as the Association of Pinoyprintmakers (AP)—together with the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) has organized an exhibit that’s akin to traveling back in time. Dubbed as “TIRADA:50 Years of Philippine Printmaking 1968-2018,” the exhibit is housed inside a hall on the third floor of the CCP, with galleries overflowing to the floor’s corridors and even up to the second floor.
TIRADA features print works from 140 Filipino artists, including National Artists BenCab, Ang Kiukok, Arturo Luz, Vicente Manansala, and Jose Joya, and other masters like former PAP presidents Raul Isidro, Virgilio “Pandy” Aviado, and Ambie Abaño, as well as Rudy Samonte, Benjie Torrado Cabrera, Ray Albano, and younger talents like Jun Jun Sta. Ana, Joey Cobcobo, Mars Bugaoan, Yas Doctor, and Henrielle Pagkaliwangan.
“Tirada is a term among printmakers that signifies a strike: to pull off or pull out a piece of work in a series of multiples,” exhibit curator Patrick Flores said in a statement. “It also means effort and labor, a decisive action. It is a fitting term for this commemoration as AP looks back at its history and its pioneers; revisits its archives and the lineages of practice; and reflects on the issues that confront the practice of printmaking.”
For Pandy, who first proposed using tirada to be the exhibit’s title, there’s more to it than just that. “Tirada is what goes around a print edition—the people! It’s like a production,” he explained. “It’s not just the idea of running an edition, but running a production, highlighting the dynamics of a group. Printmaking, as an art, develops teambuilding. Sure, you can do prints on your own, but there’s nothing like going to a workshop,” he added, which is why AP’s workshop has remained open for artists who want to explore printmaking.
“My image of this is the bayanihan. It’s a very Filipino idea,” Pandy said, perhaps remembering those times when Raul Isidro was head of the then PAP, which he spent the better part of touring the Philippines, introducing printmaking to various local industries.
A common point made by the artists present at the exhibit launch last May 23 was about accessibility. Unlike other art forms, like painting or sculpture, art made in print is less costly. It’s accessible to younger collectors who may have an interest in art but without the purse to pursue it. “We’re trying to encourage young people to start being an art collector at a very young age,” Pandy said.
Apart from this, “TIRADA” also asks questions relevant to the future of printmaking and the Pinoy printmaker. “This exhibition is built around a range of concerns: the aesthetic integrity and intelligence of the work of the print and the status of the printmaker as an artist; the validity of appropriation within the artistic system of the print; the capacity of the print to respond to socio-political reality; the self-consciousness of the print as a medium; the place of the print in art history; and the process by which print plays out in the ecology of the popular,” Flores explained.
Perhaps an even bigger concern is the future of print, which Pandy says is not really threatened by modernity. “All the new techniques have not threatened printmaking,” he said. “When photography was introduced, did it threaten drawing? No. It was a new field. When video was invented, was film threatened? When the TV was invented, did it threaten cinema? Did cinema threaten theater? Technology will always be there, new things will be discovered. But printmaking will always remain.”
“TIRADA” is open to the public until July 15.