DESIGN HAS HAD A historic link with the visual arts. But coming as it does in the new century, the exhibit of the “10 Most Exciting Young Artists,” which opens tonight at 7 at The Gallery of Greenbelt 5 at the Ayala Center in Makati, should drive home the point anew of that age-old “connectivity.”

In fact, connectivity is the theme of the exhibit. And to explore this connection are 10 artists who are pushing the frontiers of art and design to new levels: Buen Calubayan, Kiri Dalena, Kawayan de Guia, Farley del Rosario, Dina Gadia, Raymond Legaspi, Lindslee, Winner Jumalon, Mark Salvatus and Clairelynn Uy.

The artists were chosen by a panel composed of internationally renowned sculptor Ramon Orlina; award-winning artist Guillermo “Ige” Ramos, also art director of Cocoon magazine; and Inquirer Lifestyle editor Thelma San Juan.

The exhibit is curated by artist-filmmaker Jaime “Jay” Pacena.

The connectivity between art and design results in “the beautiful.”

“We focus on making devices and services that are beautiful to use,” said Nikka Abes, Nokia corporate communications manager.

Nokia devices, according to Abes, seek to “beautifully fit your lifestyle—how you work, play and where you live.”

The Nokia mobile phone, for example, is “something special—its attention to detail makes it a joy to use and look at.”

Art and design play a big part in the Nokia way. “We have a very competitive design portfolio addressing the needs of many different types of people,” Abes said. “We have a strong track record of trend-setting. In fact, many of the things that you see in all mobiles come from our original ideas; for example, the cluster of keys that control the phone, the cluster of central buttons and red and green keys began with Nokia phones and are now used in virtually all phones.

“We also have led many trends, introducing colors and new materials into phones which are increasingly seen across the industry, and have led the way in the shift from mobile phone design to creating multimedia computers introducing a new phase of digital design in this area.”

To be sure, “young” may connote a certain ageism. But exciting art is not really the monopoly of the young. Thus, “young” here does not so much mean chronological age, as much as it does exciting or “emergent.”

Exciting emergent art, according to Ige Ramos, “employs a gamut of materials.” It is art that is multimedia and even “intermedia.”

“The current art scene is cross-pollinating, where you see session guitarists for an underground rock band participating in performance art (as opposed to performing arts),” Ramos explained.

The multimedia and intermedia dynamism of contemporary art could be seen in the young Kiri Dalena, for instance, who carves a separate identity from her famous parents (sculptor Julie Lluch and painter Danny Dalena) via her video art—an art of sight and sound.

Buen Calubayan marries traditional graphic visual arts with cutting-edge installations in his works, sometimes throwing video art as well into the merry cauldron in order to create pieces that may turn off religious sensibilities while testing the limits of art-making.

Some artists create exciting art out of the orthodox canvas, such as the naïf figuration of Farley del Rosario; the comic but socially coruscating representationalism of Raymond Legaspi; and the anti-portraiture of Winner Jumalon. But they’re exciting because they seem to reinvent genres into forms that are surprising, even shocking.

In the same way, abstract artist Lindslee hews close to the tradition of art-making, except that his abstracts are situated in a context where they take their place with taxidermy and very blatant forms of mimesis, provoking a new clash between representationalism and abstractionism.

Other artists explore psychological complexes, especially those engendered in childhood, such as the recasting of toys and child’s playthings into stark images that look more adult than childish, such as the works of Dina Gadia and Clairelynn Uy.

Then there are the socially involved works of Kawayan de Guia and Mark Salvatus, the former seeking to make his art both embody his multicultural background and advocate the conservation of the indigenous culture of Northern Luzon in a highly intense interplay of totems and icons; and the latter making use of the spirit of street art to revivify the present and reinvent the urban landscape.

Exciting art is critical art.

“Young artists today are more critical and more sensitive in choosing what and what not to show,” Pacena said. “More artists are now making statements.”

All these artists seek to express the contemporary pulse in works that connect the moment and the universe. And Nokia tries to hasten the connectivity by mounting the exhibit “The 10 Most Exciting Young Artists.”