MANILA, Philippines — For the first time since 2019, Art in the Park will be staged live once again at Makati City's Jaime Velasquez Park, with 60 exhibitors participating in the art fair's 17th edition.
Exhibitors range from major art galleries and collectives, independent art spaces, and student groups, with several artists handpicked for special exhibits.
Participating exhibitors include Art Underground, Avellana Art Gallery, the Boston Art Gallery, the De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde,Galerie Stephanie, KOMIKET, Orange Project, Space Encounters Gallery, Tin-aw Art Projects, Vinyl on Vinyl, and White Walls Gallery, just to name a few.
The tapped artists for special exhibits this year are Filipino social realist painter Manny Garibay, interdisciplinary contemporary artist Bjorn Calleja, and mosaic artist Kabunyan de Guia.
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Garibay will be debuting a series of head studies painted on dibord aluminum, showcasing his mastery with oil.
Calleja's "Dirty Hands" will consist of charcoal and graphite portraits and ceramic sculptures which explore the relationship between figuration and abstraction; lamp prototyped by the artist will also be on display.
Meanwhile, De Guia's installation "Kidlat Ngayon!!!! Isang taon na paglalakbay as soul" is a tribute to his brother Kidlat, a photographer who passed away last year, with an apt lightning bolt-inspired shrine where candkes can be lit to honor Kidlat's memory.
As a fundraiser the art fair will benefit the Museum Foundation of the Philippines in support of its projects and programs for the National Museum of the Philippines, having allocated over P25 million since the inaugural Art in the Park in 2006.
Art in the Park 2023 will be on March 19 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., free of charge.
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