Break the mold
May 25, 2017 | 4:00pm
Bellas Artes Projects director and founder Jam Acuzar: “Art allows to engage in a less polarizing dialogue."
MANILA, Philippines — When Jam Acuzar founded Bellas Artes Projects in 2013 in the spirit of the artist Rafael Enriquez y Villanueva’s Escuela de Bellas Artes — the oldest art school in the Philippines first built in Quiapo in 1867, now preserved in her family’s open-air museum and heritage park Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar — the concept that it was a non-profit foundation, helping recognized local and international artists produce and exhibit work in a local context to cultivate a wider audience rather than generate income, was met with some discomfort. Even as its Outpost in Makati broke ground in Makati last February in an attempt to bring the idea into focus, the art audience didn’t quite know how to approach art that couldn’t be consumed as a commodity. YStyle sits down with Acuzar for an unconventional look, from opening up the table for talks about Mindanao to looking at the bigger picture for the Philippine art scene.
YSTYLE: Before you started Bellas Artes Projects, what was your involvement with the arts?
JAM ACUZAR: Growing up, I dabbled a bit with drawing and sketching, but it wasn’t until I took my A levels in the UK that they offered History of Art as a subject. It opened my mind to a new way of appreciating art by connecting it to so many factors in society. I remember doing my A-Level thesis on Fernando Zóbel, where I think I asked “How Filipino is Zobel?” — which is a ridiculous question to ask. I then went to Paris for university and majored in Art History and minored in Economics. After university, I worked for two art dealers in London and then interned for an auction house but I knew I wasn’t interested in sales and I found the culture too snobby. When you’re dealing with very expensive art, it doesn’t become about art anymore. It becomes about money.
You also worked with the democratized art form that is fashion, with Philip Lim and Lanvin alum Barbara Casasola. What did you pick up from it?
I thought in the beginning that people in fashion had more fun. Fashion is an industry of incredible talent but lots of illusion making. I was very grateful for my work with Barbara as I saw how a fashion label was built from scratch. Fashion taught me discipline, how to create a beautiful environment out of very little. Fashion teaches you a lot about how co-dependency and collaboration can work.
With the climate that fake news has created in these politically murky times, how can creativity and art clear the air?
Art is no longer just about beautiful things. The discipline allows people to respond to what’s happening without being directly confrontational. Art
What are the possibilities and limitations of branding art in terms of national and cultural identities?
I think its limitations lie in how being part of a brand, in this case a “Philippine Art brand”, can divert attention from one’s individual practice, as well as make an artist fall into the trap of looking like everyone else within the brand. Filipinos are usually very nationalistic, and we like to constantly refer to ourselves in terms of our nationality. While this is great that we are extremely proud of our nationality, it’s also important to explore our connections to other cultures and regions. Art allows us to do that.
Our art scene is flourishing and it has a lot to do with more people consuming it by buying and collecting. What is the role of Bellas Artes Projects as a non-profit?
Acquiring and collecting is important as it is the main driver for the art market. We’re very lucky as we have a great gallery system that supports artist careers, and we take pride the galleries in the Philippines as some of the best in South East Asia. As a non profit, Bellas Artes Projects provides a different type of support where artists can experiment and expand their work through projects and residencies. We also provide a space for the audience to learn more about art and to develop an interest in art, that’s why we have the library. The very heart and soul of our programme is our residencies, where we bring in the artists to work with local context and situations.There are so many things to talk about in the Philippines. Our focus on Quiapo, for example, allows us to explore less-talked about themes such as our Moro culture. Dr Butch Zialcita, in his talk at the Outpost about Quiapo tells us, “Mindanao actually begins in Quiapo”.
What is the problem with the current fixation on art’s commercial side?
How we consume art is a problem that’s happening all over Asia. I can count many collectors in the Philippines, but not enough philanthropists. We need to advocate for a more balanced art ecosystem, one that consists of more critics, art spaces, museums, and publications together with galleries and auction houses. Art collectors can protect their collections or art investments by supporting critics and institutions because they allow that wide-spread engagement. There’s not much point to just collecting art if the works don’t make an impact to society. If you want the work you put in your living room to increase in value in the future, it has to be supported by exhibitions that are seen by a lot of people who will talk about it and allow for them to be influenced by it. That’s the only way it makes it to the history of art. When people come to the Outpost, they are concerned (about whether) we sell the works, and we don’t. It makes them uncomfortable and they lose interest when they know they can’t buy the works. Really good artists don’t make art just so a someone can enjoy it in their living room and make them rich. They take risks, go outside of a financially stable career to produce something that they think is so important that the rest of the world has to see. That’s what makes it exciting! And you need riskier and bolder exhibitions to tell these stories. We really want to tell people that there’s a way to support the arts beyond collecting.
What about contemporary art excites you right now?
New media excites me. What’s great about it is how relatively easy it is for the works to travel and the excitement of using new technology. I especially enjoy how certain artists can create new meanings in things that exist today. Krzysztof Wodiczko is one of my favourite examples, as he works with large scale video projections on monuments and architecture. His work with monuments remind us of how they are built either to celebrate a historic event or remind us of a trauma. It reminds me of how contemporary art together with heritage can pull these issues back in and ask everyone what has changed. In Hiroshima, he interviewed people who survived the bombings and took videos of their hand gestures as they spoke. He projected it onto the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. You hear them talking but its only their hands moving (literally if these walls could talk). In this case, I love the powerful engagement new media can have with the a widespread audience.
What’s next for Bellas Artes Projects?
At the Outpost, we will be showing Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan and Cian Dayrit this year, which we’re very excited about. In the mean time, we will be hosting several residencies including artists like David Medalla, Ling Quisimbing Ramilo, Lucy Raven, Rana Begum, Cristina Lucas, Pae White, and Carlos Amorales among others. We’re also preparing for a Bruce Conner show next year, which we’re very excited about.
Ah, more female artists!
Yes, there are!
With the climate that fake news has created in these politically murky times, how can creativity and art clear the air?
Art is no longer just about beautiful things. The discipline allows people to respond to what’s happening without being directly confrontational. Art
What are the possibilities and limitations of branding art in terms of national and cultural identities?
I think its limitations lie in how being part of a brand, in this case a “Philippine Art brand”, can divert attention from one’s individual practice, as well as make an artist fall into the trap of looking like everyone else within the brand. Filipinos are usually very nationalistic, and we like to constantly refer to ourselves in terms of our nationality. While this is great that we are extremely proud of our nationality, it’s also important to explore our connections to other cultures and regions. Art allows us to do that.
Our art scene is flourishing and it has a lot to do with more people consuming it by buying and collecting. What is the role of Bellas Artes Projects as a non-profit?
Acquiring and collecting is important as it is the main driver for the art market. We’re very lucky as we have a great gallery system that supports artist careers, and we take pride the galleries in the Philippines as some of the best in South East Asia. As a non profit, Bellas Artes Projects provides a different type of support where artists can experiment and expand their work through projects and residencies. We also provide a space for the audience to learn more about art and to develop an interest in art, that’s why we have the library. The very heart and soul of our programme is our residencies, where we bring in the artists to work with local context and situations.There are so many things to talk about in the Philippines. Our focus on Quiapo, for example, allows us to explore less-talked about themes such as our Moro culture. Dr Butch Zialcita, in his talk at the Outpost about Quiapo tells us, “Mindanao actually begins in Quiapo”.
What is the problem with the current fixation on art’s commercial side?
How we consume art is a problem that’s happening all over Asia. I can count many collectors in the Philippines, but not enough philanthropists. We need to advocate for a more balanced art ecosystem, one that consists of more critics, art spaces, museums, and publications together with galleries and auction houses. Art collectors can protect their collections or art investments by supporting critics and institutions because they allow that wide-spread engagement. There’s not much point to just collecting art if the works don’t make an impact to society. If you want the work you put in your living room to increase in value in the future, it has to be supported by exhibitions that are seen by a lot of people who will talk about it and allow for them to be influenced by it. That’s the only way it makes it to the history of art. When people come to the Outpost, they are concerned (about whether) we sell the works, and we don’t. It makes them uncomfortable and they lose interest when they know they can’t buy the works. Really good artists don’t make art just so a someone can enjoy it in their living room and make them rich. They take risks, go outside of a financially stable career to produce something that they think is so important that the rest of the world has to see. That’s what makes it exciting! And you need riskier and bolder exhibitions to tell these stories. We really want to tell people that there’s a way to support the arts beyond collecting.
What about contemporary art excites you right now?
New media excites me. What’s great about it is how relatively easy it is for the works to travel and the excitement of using new technology. I especially enjoy how certain artists can create new meanings in things that exist today. Krzysztof Wodiczko is one of my favourite examples, as he works with large scale video projections on monuments and architecture. His work with monuments remind us of how they are built either to celebrate a historic event or remind us of a trauma. It reminds me of how contemporary art together with heritage can pull these issues back in and ask everyone what has changed. In Hiroshima, he interviewed people who survived the bombings and took videos of their hand gestures as they spoke. He projected it onto the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. You hear them talking but its only their hands moving (literally if these walls could talk). In this case, I love the powerful engagement new media can have with the a widespread audience.
What’s next for Bellas Artes Projects?
At the Outpost, we will be showing Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan and Cian Dayrit this year, which we’re very excited about. In the mean time, we will be hosting several residencies including artists like David Medalla, Ling Quisimbing Ramilo, Lucy Raven, Rana Begum, Cristina Lucas, Pae White, and Carlos Amorales among others. We’re also preparing for a Bruce Conner show next year, which we’re very excited about.
Ah, more female artists!
Yes, there are!
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