“Terada Prize Exhibition”

CEBU, Philippines —  An exhibit which showcased artworks by different Japanese artists was recently held in Cebu. Titled the “Terada Prize Exhibition,” the show featured a series of mixed media works by Japanese abstractionist Rin Terada, who, in organizing the exhibit, invited other artists to take part in the show.

Held at the Mezzanine of Radisson Blu Cebu until the first half of August, the exhibit mainly presented pieces in modernist styles. From works of cubist motifs to pieces anchored on pointillism, the scope of the featured works showed Cebu how Japanese artists are distilling and redistilling different themes without losing their sense of identity – integrating elements of their culture with style imports from the west.

Japanese art stands out as unique, owing to the fact that not until the 19th century did styles and themes from the west began to influence Japan’s creative vectors and views. The situation, though, is not unique to Japan, but what makes Japan’s take on the infusion different is how it blended foreign styles into styles of its own – much like Japanese curry being distinct from Indian curry or Japanese comics (manga) being a class of its own.