CCP: The Mona Lisa Project by West Gallery





The Mona Lisa Project
Presented by Cultural Center of the Philippines and West Gallery

Filipino Contemporary Artists
Travel Philippines
Art Gallery in Metro Manila
Contemporary Art
Visual Arts
Filipino Visual Artists

The Mona Lisa Project
April 24 to June 16, 2013
Bulwagang Fernando Amorsolo (Small Gallery)
4th Floor CCP Main Theater Building

the mona lisa project

Featured artists include Allan Balisi, Bearded Ladies, Lyle Buencamino, Zean Cabangis, Annie Cabigting, Froilan Calayag, Bjorn Calleja, Roberto Chabet, Jonathan Ching, Iya Consorio, Louie Cordero, Jigger Cruz, Don Dalmacio, Kawayan De Giua, Bembol Dela Cruz, Ranelle Dial, Dex Fernandez, Dina Gadia, Mark Andy Garcia, Nona Garcia, Sarah Geneblazo, Carlo Gernale, Edric Go, Raymond Halili, Troy Ignacio, Nilo Ilarde, Jon Jaylo, Pete Jimenez, Sam Kiyoumarsi, Romeo Lee, Jacob Lindo, Dave Lock, Luis Lorenzana, Jason Montinola, Jason Moss, Raffy Napay, Elaine Navas, Epjey Pacheco, Lynyrd Paras, Neil Pasilan, Raul Rodriguez, Arturo Sanchez Jr., Kaloy Sanchez, Carina Santos, Luis Santos, Stevesantos, Frederick Sausa, Yasmin Sison, Tatong Racheta Torres, Manok Ventura, Olan Ventura, Gail Vicente, Marija Vicente, Ryan Villamael, Tanya Villanueva, MM Yu, and Christopher Zamora.


Curated by Nilo Ilarde.
The exhibit is presented by the CCP and West Gallery and will run until 16 June 2013.
Gallery hours: 10 am to 6 pm, Tuesdays to Sundays.
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Press Release
The image of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (c. 1503 – 07) has been the subject of many discussions related to art history, art theory, aesthetics, and the art market. It has been borrowed, reinterpreted, and ridiculed by artists and the media since the late 19th century. The earliest satirical take was made on a photo-relief illustration of the portrait executed by Coquelin Cadet for an 1887 edition of Le Rire (The Laugh). On this print, Eugène Bataille drew her a pipe with smoke circles emerging from it. The more popular of course is Marcel Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q (1919) when he drew a goatee and moustache on postcard reproduction of the Mona Lisa. Both artists did not just criticize the painting itself but also its popularity as a cultural icon, attested by its reproducibility.

The appropriation of the Mona Lisa, its image and what it represents, has since been an issue artists would attempt to explore, examine, and understand. This may happen in the form of a single work or a series of works done in succession or over a period of time. Perhaps the question is what makes the Mona Lisa a subject of these acts of appropriation? What makes artists want to take this image, seize, recycle, and claim it as their own? Undoubtedly among the reasons is its stature as one of the masterpieces in Western art and how it has been mass-produced in different forms and contexts. Thus appropriation is in many ways a critique on the notions of originality, identity, and property. It has also been noted that the ambiguity that surrounds the Mona Lisa, has lend itself vulnerable to various reinterpretations – from its historical background, the sitter’s smile, position and disposition, and the artist’s technique (Da Vinci’s use of perspective and sfumato or blurring of lines). It has, thus, become a “terrain of infinite variations.”

The works in this exhibit, The Mona Lisa Project, is a merging of varied interests and perspectives on this iconic portrait. It began as a personal long-term project for Soler Santos, a visual artist, as a present for his wife, Mona, also a painter. He began a modest collection of works acquired from artist friends that integrate the image of the iconic portrait. He eventually continued to commission other artists of different styles and genres. The parameters Soler defined were open enough (limiting only the physical scale of the works) to allow each artist to engage with the subject from their respective aesthetic concerns.

For some, the project started as an attempt to “copy” but eventually disputing that same act. For others, the aesthetic philosophy inherent to the Mona Lisa provided various avenues to explore and assess. While other artists took the Mona Lisa simply as a preset format or a template to engage with using their own conceptual approach and distinct styles. Some artists opt to interpret the subject within present day conditions and concerns, either in an apocalyptic tone or in a pop and playful mood. The resulting collection is varied in style and provides a sampling of works by some of the most dynamic artists in the Manila art scene today.

Cultural Center of the Philippines
Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, Philippines
Visual Arts and Museum Division
[t] (632) 832-1125 local 1504/1505 and (632) 832-3702
[em] ccp.exhibits@gmail.com
[w] www.culturalcenter.gov.ph

 

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