The world of contemporary art will unveil to the public its newest array of artistic work this week at the “2017 Venice Art Biennale” in Italy, with two internationally-acclaimed Filipino artists Lani Maestro and Manuel Ocampo making doubly sure that the Philippines is amply represented.
In an exhibit that aims to present art as witness to life, and society’s ills and conflicts, two Filipino artists tapped into Rizal’s work to re-define 19th century political resistance for the 2017 Venice Art Biennale. This year, the works of Lani Maesto and Manuel Ocampo, dubbed as The Spectre of Comparison, and curated by Joselina Cruz, will be mounted at the Arsenale, one of the event’s main exhibition spaces. The Spectre of Comparisons was drawn from the phrase El demonio de las comparaciones of Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere, a book that reflected the Filipino society under the Spanish regime. “The phrase encapsulates the experience of Rizal’s protagonist, Crisostomo Ibarra, when he gazes out at the botanical gardens of Manila and simultaneously sees the gardens of Europe,” Cruz said in a statement.
“Manila as an international art city.” This is what widely and critically-acclaimed Filipino artist and curator Manuel Ocampo envisions for the country’s capital city. Ocampo, who has extensively exhibited his works in major art capitals around the world including Europe, Asia, and the United States, is on a personal mission to bring the Philippine art community at par with its global counterparts.
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