Provenance Art Gallery brings Filipino artists’ works to Tokyo

With the support of First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and the combined efforts of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center through Dita Angara Mathay, the exhibition came to fruition under the leadership of the Philippine Ambassador to Japan, Mylene Garcia-Albano. 

“Without her, we wouldn’t be here,” says Raul Francisco, director and co-owner of Provenance Art Gallery.

The exhibition affirms the gallery’s mission to give Filipino contemporary artists the right opportunity, exposure, and support to shine on the global scene. “Our vision has been to mentor, guide, and showcase the best visual artists onto an international stage,” says Francisco.

The roster of artists featured, which also includes Mark Rocha Padernal, Olivia d’Aboville, and Solenn Heussaff, who were present at the vernissage last September 2, is connected by their critical practices that examine the intricate layers and complexities of a diverse society.

“Filipino author Nick Joaquin has described such distinct aesthetic as the tropical gothic, a syncretism of the carnivalesque and surreal with deep introspection on mortality and the macabre,” recalls Frondoso. “Pop culture theorists have termed it as a Philippine baroque—the melding of resourceful orientation and love for theatricality with personal narratives from the streets,” she says.

Although Philippine contemporary art reflects themes relevant to Filipino society today, its roots in our colonial past and traditions remain evident in the works. Provenance Art Gallery co-owner Joanna Preysler Francisco shares some examples of these in her speech prepared by Chesca Santiago.

“To become Filipino is to embrace the diversity that constitutes our history and contemporary life. Diversity makes the vibrance of our culture possible: our crafts, cuisine, and customs as numerous as the peoples, islands, and histories that make us [who we are] today,” Preysler Francisco reads. “We have first demonstrated this through the intricacy of our traditional crafts: elaborate textiles, woodcrafts, and many other displays of our indigenous virtuosity. Yet, at present, we exhibit this more and more through our globally renowned contemporary visual art,” she says.

In presenting the enigmatic landscape of Philippine art, Frondoso’s curation of the exhibition shows the powerful expressiveness of our artists that stems from their “discerning insight and clever wit”.

Preysler Francisco comments on this competence as something that has been recognised across the globe, with the likes of Juan Luna and Félix Resurreción Hidalgo planting the seeds, moving the nation to its yearning for freedom.

Alongside Barrioquinto, Jumalon, Rocha Padernal, d’Aboville, and Heussaff, Provenance Art Gallery also features the works of Arturo Sanchez, Jr, Brave Singh, Clark Manalo, John Marin, Kim, Hamilton Sulit, Lotsu Manes, Lui Gonzales, and Renato “Jojo” Barja, Jr.

“Today, this greatness lives on through our contemporary visual artists who demonstrate the enduring power of Filipino artistry,” Preysler Francisco continues her speech. “Through their works, they render Filipino life at its most diverse: each work bearing each artist’s story—their victories, defeats, and lives portrayed through pigment and canvas. With colour, line, and shape, Filipino contemporary visual artists weave their own thread in the vibrant fabric of our nation’s story,” she says.

Besides the exhibition in Tokyo, Provenance Art Gallery is opening this Saturday the group show titled real-time, featuring the works of Wipo, Celine Lee, Miguel Lorenzo Uy, Jed Gregorio and Pam Quinto, curated by Koki Lxx. The exhibition is happening alongside PTSD Paradise, a solo show by Iya Barrioquinto.

“To uphold Philippine contemporary visual art is to celebrate Filipino life for all its diversity,” Preysler Francisco concludes.

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