Each year, the Ateneo Art Gallery gives recognition to outstanding visual artists under the age of 36. This award is given in honor of the gallery’s first benefactor, the late Fernando Zóbel. This year, 89 nominations, whose works were exhibited between May 2 last year and May 2 this year, were sent by various artists, critics, gallery curators and directors, and art educators all over the country, 12 of which were shortlisted. The list of the final 12 artists was revealed to the public during a recent press conference, which coincided with the opening of the Ateneo Art Awards 2018 exhibit at The Grand Atrium, Shangri-la Plaza. On Aug. 10, the show will be moved to its home, the Ateneo Art Gallery, in preparation for the deliberation of winners. A panel of jurors will select the three winners who are eligible to be invited to international artist residency grants at Ateneo Art Gallery’s partner institutions: La Trobe Art Institute in Bendigo in Australia, Artesan Gallery in Singapore, and Liverpool Hope University in Liverpool in the UK. The jury might have a hard time choosing who deserves the award as the “final 12” is a diverse group of exhibitions by promising artists, hailing from different places, backgrounds, forms, and practices. But if I were to put myself in the juror’s shoes, these three are my picks. 1. Mars Bugaon’s “Becoming” finds new meaning and purpose for plastic bags through print, sculpture, and installation, illustrating the dark period in the artist’s life. ‘Becoming’ 2. Ronson Culibrina’s “Talim,” which drew inspiration from the bay in his hometown—Talim Island in Laguna. The talim as in “piercing” wordplay also suggests sharp contrasts between ecological soundness and industrial development. 'Talim' 3. KoloWn’s “Low Pressured Areas,” a post-modern exhibition that features site-specific works within and around the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). KoloWn lets the viewers navigate through the premises encountering pieces of interventions that simultaneously critique art institutions, the art market, and traditional modes of art production. 'Low Pressured Areas' Other artists who are part of the final 12 are: Bea Camacho, Dina Gadia, Johanna Helmuth, Ian Carlo Jaucian, Robert Langenegger, Issay Rodriguez, Ciron Seneres, Jel Suarez, and Elias Miles Villanueva. This year also marks new beginnings and a renewal of partnerships for Ateneo Art Awards. Shangri-la Plaza, a supporter of Philippine contemporary arts, has been a venue partner for Ateneo Art Awards for the past 10 years. A new partnership is also born with the Embassy of Italy for the Fernando Zóbel Prizes. In line with the Embassy’s program to compile a collection of Philippine contemporary art, Ambassador Giorgio Guglielmino will select one among the 12 shorlisted artists as recipient of the Embassy of Italy Purchase Prize. —TERENCE REPELENTE The awarding ceremony will be on Aug. 26, Sunday, 4 p.m. at the Ateneo Art Gallery located at the Art Wing of Arete, Ateneo de Manila University www.ateneoartgallery.org