ACTIVITY 2: Meaning Through Connection/Career Orientation

ANNOTATION WORK ON INSTALLATION ARTS

I. INTRODUCTION
This annotated work determine some of the installation arts in the Philippines. The importance of this
annotated work on the installation of arts is to identify and understand the visual choices of the artist
has made in creating the artwork. As a result, this annotated work on the art installation provides a
better understanding of what exactly the artist wants to convey. Thus the purpose of this annotated
work is to offer a critical analysis for selected examples of installation of arts on the Philippines as well as
to ensure a clear and concise overview.

II. ANALYSIS

Figure 1. "Siete Pintados by Junyee". From

https://aaa.org.hk/en/collections/search/library/siete-pintados-junyee-derelict-penthouses-jose-
tence-ruiz

ARTIST: Luis Yee, Jr. or Junyee

DATE OF EXHIBITION: Nov 8 to Dec 2, 2008
MEANING:
Junyee’s Siete Pintados one-man exhibit showcased seven life-size wood sculptures of
pre-colonial Filipino men covered in tattoos depicting indigenous and contemporary
designs at Galleria Duemila. Approximately five feet tall, the figures are carved from
discarded acacia and santol hardwood, in accordance with the artist’s intention to use
only native objects, without cutting down any living trees. The works and the symbols in
these embody the collision of cultures, as art critic Alice Guillermo terms it, induced by
uneven and transitional spheres of development within the context of Philippine society
and culture.
PURPOSE:
Siete Pintados draws on two periods of Filipino representational heritage as a
springboard for creativity, to bring across a personal testimony of how the advancement
of modern civilization (and its ills, such as development aggression) creates a litany of
unexpected and stark impacts for the inhabitants of a Third World country where the
majority are left behind. The works articulate apprehension of losing individual and
collective identity in this period of transitional trauma.
 Figure 2. "Passage III: Project Another Country by Maria Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan". From
https://morethanrelo.com/en/japan-alps-art-festival-2017/alfredo-and-isabel-aquilizan/

ARTIST: Maria Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan

DATE OF EXHIBITION: The exhibit runs from the 4th of June to the 28th of August,
2016 at the Singapore Art Museum along Bras Basah Road, Singapore City.
MEANING:
In the installation, cardboard boxes were sculpted in the form of shanty houses,
assembled on top of each other while perched on a boat. The large number of made-up
houses give the impression that the entire structure is unsteady. Perhaps, it is through
this that the artists express the struggles in the process of relocation — the adjustment
to a new phase and environment, while carrying along the memories of what was left
behind. In addition, the work may also examining how feasible and possible it is to
actually transfer what we refer to as our own concept of “home”.
PURPOSE:
This quarter’s exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum, titled Odyssey: Navigating
Nameless Seas, focuses on select artists ’explorations of the elements of water forms,
and their historical and contemporary connotations. The only Filipino work in the
exhibition, Passage III: Project Another Country by artist couple Alfredo and Isabel
Aquilizan, contributes to the purpose of the exhibition by exploring the human
experience of personal and social movement level.
 Figure 3. "Cordillera Labyrinth by Roberto Villanueva". From
https://members.tripod.com/in_the_bag/roberto.htm

ARTIST: Roberto Villanueva

DATE OF EXHIBITION: April 22, 1989
MEANING:
The center of Cordillera Labyrinth is covered with rocks from a river bed, creating a
sacred space filled with spirit figures from which the power of life emanates. The
installation art looks real and the artist combines the use of organic materials and
natural locations to integrate the lives of people in the community.
PURPOSE:
The installation consists of a spiral labyrinth made of bamboo and reeds. Through his
use of organic materials and natural locations, along with community engagement,
Roberto Villanueva has created an art that is integrated into people’s lives. The
proportions of the artwork are realistic. The artwork emphasizes the details of the
labyrinth and a person can actually walk around. There is also a repeating spiral pattern
that forms the labyrinth.

Figure 4. "Wood Things by Junyee". From https://janellerenee.home.blog/2019/05/11/iconic-art-

pieces-you-can-find-in-metro-manila-museums/
ARTIST: Luis Yee, Jr. or Junyee
DATE OF EXHIBITION: Junyee, 'Wood Things', 1981, installation view
MEANING:
Jun Yee did this installation, most likely, for us to remember that there are things in this
world that can be destroyed if not taken care of like wooden furniture. If the furniture is
not cared for properly, termites will destroy it until you can no longer use it. Also, he
probably wants to tell us that there is nothing permanent in this world. Everything is
about to disappear - with or without a valid reason.
PURPOSE:
The installation’s name is “Wood Things”, probably because these insects that are
made of Banana stalks and Kapok pods are termites — pests that eat woods, and
usually found in wood furniture and other wooden structures. Jun Yee made this piece
as part of his unconventional set to continue to confuse critics and amaze academics
with their ivory towers.

Figure 5: "Address by Maria Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan".

Fromhttps://neatlyart.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/alfredo-and-maria-isabel-aquilizan/amp/

ARTIST: Maria Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan

DATE OF EXHIBITION: Maria Isabel and Afredo Aquilizan installation “Address”, 2008
MEANING:
“Belonging Series-Address” (2007-2008) are things and packages that signify the
material and affectual unpacking and repacking of agencies and its belongings as the
bodies situate itself within the flow and circulation of global capital between home and
abroad. The material belongings represents not only materiality of global products but at
the same time the anxieties and social guilt and relations of being detached from their
love ones at home. The “Address” raises the notion of home and affiliation among
diasporic Filipinos and migrant workers with nomadic experience and displacement in
their mental, social, economic and physical lives.
PURPOSE:
The collaboration between the communities and the Aquilizans provides a platform for
dialogue and exchange of ideas and as a result, new understandings and relationships
are formed. These tools and objects, along with their aggregated histories and personal,
physical interactions with individual users, seem to contain people’s experiences and
lives. When presented in vast numbers in the artists’ installations, an overwhelming
sense of shared and varied lived human experiences are communicated. Therefore,
Aquilizans engage in a process of collecting and presenting that is aware of what they
have observed both outside and within their own experiences.

III. EVALUATION:

1. Siete Pintados by Junyee

The artist uses integrated tattoos as a symbol and metaphor for cultural contradictions.
The tattoos came from two representational traditions: from illustrations in the book of
tattoos worn by pre-colonial Filipinos from the Mountain Province and Leyte islands and
from contemporary tattoos prevalent in popular culture influenced by foreign images,
such as the iconography of the Americans hip hop group, beatnik culture or the protest
movement.
2. Passage III: Project Another Country by Maria Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan
Alfredo Juan and Isabel Aquilizan y Guadinez were born in Cagayan Valley and Manila
respectively. Their artworks are usually comprised of sprawling cardboard box
installations or personal artefacts that speak to the transience of human endeavour and
place-making.
3. Cordillera Labyrinth by Roberto Villanueva
The details and the realistic size of the artwork made me feel amazed. Humans are also
able to use this art and it was built for rituals and other traditional purposes. The artist
created an illustrated art with life-sized proportions and with organic elements that he
got from nature.
4. Wood Things by Junyee
I was amazed at the way it was shown to tourists and at the thrill it left on the
spectators. In addition, the materials used were overwhelming. The creator did not
waste the resources available in his area. He thought of an idea of how he could use
those resources or he thought of what resources would be used in his creations. I like
how Jun Yee developed this idea. He really thought about it carefully and what effect it
would have on the audience.
5. Address by Maria Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan
Aquilizans are particularly focused on conveying the complexity of emotions associated
with social dislocation, arising from need or a need for change. Overall, I enjoy their art.
I love their exploration of the meaning behind of home, belonging, and identity because
those are all important things to me. I also really appreciated that they turned the
balikbayan boxes (something so simple) into amazing works of art. They make me
proud of my culture.
V. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chicxulub (Ed.). (2008, November 15). Up painters' club. Siete Pintados art exhibit - UP
Painters' Club. Retrieved from https://123521.activeboard.com/t22349536/siete-
pintados-art-exhibit/
Louie. (2016, October 13). Unsteady Homes: A review of passage III: Alfredo and
Isabel Aquilizan - Dia•Lou•Gue. Dia. Retrieved April 16, 2022, from
http://dialougue.com/unsteady-homes-review-passage-iii-alfredo-isabel-aquilizan-1677/
Sanchez, A. (February 16, 2016). Archetypes: Cordillera labyrinth. Retrieved April 16,
2022, from https://prezi.com/hb1f9nntjfqo/archetypes-cordillera-labyrinth/
Morales, J. (2015, July 06). Metropolitan Museum of Manila. Retrieved April 16, 2022,
from https://medium.com/@jaimorales/metropolitan-museum-of-manila-bfe5e4dc0af5
Ngui, M. (2008, September). Alfredo & Maria Isabel Aquilizan. Retrieved April 16, 2022,
from https://universes.art/en/magazine/articles/2008/aquilizan