Yes, Metro Manila is brimming with commercial art galleries and museums. But did you know there are lots of galleries in provincial cities also leading our local art scene? Here's a quick rundown of your itinerary
Budding artists dream of mounting their exhibitions in Metro Manila because most of the prolific curators, critics, and collectors are there in the National Capital Region. But in other metropolitan cities situated in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, there are also other esteemed, longstanding commercial galleries and museums, as well as those that have just recently opened. The art communities in the rural areas are enriched by art residency programs, master artist-teachers and National Artists living in recluse. Definitely, the country's art scene is so alive, if not far more exciting, outside the metro.
Here are some galleries and artist spaces to include in your go-to list:
1. Carlos “Botong” Francisco’s Studio Home and The Second Gallery
The family of National Artist for Visual Arts Carlos "Botong" Francisco has opened their ancestral home in Angono, Rizal, since the 1970s to display some of his intimate works, collections, and memorabilia. It has served as a museum for the late pillar of Philippine modern art, supervised by his grandson Carlos "Totong" Francisco II. The younger Francisco, an artist himself, welcomes artists and enthusiasts to The Second Gallery, which he also uses as his own studio.
Tatler Trivia: Aside from Botong, Angono is also the cradle of another National Artist, Lucio San Pedro. It is teeming with artists and craftsmen, so do also check out the Doña Aurora Street Art Gallery, the museum of the renowned Blanco clan of artists, the artist-run space Giant Dwarf, the relatively new Angkla Art Gallery, the artist family-owned Tiamson Art Gallery, dine at Balaw-Balaw Restaurant which also has an art gallery space, the mystical art house of Nemesio "Nemiranda" R Miranda Jnr, and try to get a glimpse of the National Cultural Treasure Angono-Binangonan Petroglyphs, the oldest known pre-historic artwork in the country.
217 Doña Aurora Street, Barangay Poblacion Itaas, Municipality of Angono, Rizal
Read more: Who Was Carlos "Botong" Francisco, National Artist for Visual Arts?