38th National Artist Jose Joya Awards and 39th Annual Student's Exhibit

The University of the Philippines-Cebu Fine Arts Student Organization presents the 38th National Artist Jose Joya Awards and 39th Annual Student's Exhibit. Different artworks were presented at the second floor of New Annex, Ayala Center Cebu. The said exhibition opened last February 17.

The event started in 1976 in honor to the then-Dean of the University of the Philippines-Diliman Fine Arts, Jose Joya who supported and initiated the establishment of a fine arts school in the Cebu branch of UP, the first to set up a fine arts school outside Visayas. Jose Joya, aside from being the former dean of the College of Fine Arts of UP, is also known for his works such as Granadean Arabesque and Nanking. Together with Napoleon Abueva, he represented the Philippines to the XXXII Venice Biennial in 1964. In 2003, Jose Joya was awarded as National Artist posthumously.

"Innocence"

Both the award and the exhibition showcases the diverse talents of UP Cebu students in creating artworks and expressing their thoughts visually to the public. I was lucky yesterday to be able to talk with the grand winner of the said competition, Mr. Ferdinand Aragon. His inspiration for his collage, "Innocence" was from the recent news of young girls who became victims of child pornography in some towns in Cebu. The collage were made of newspapers and magazines cut and molded and fitted to be an image of a young girl.

Here are some of the artworks featured in the exhibit:

"Janus"

"#Throwback Thursday"

"The Pearl Atlas"

"Calypso's Clavier"

"The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil"

If you are interested and have plans to see these wonderful artworks, you can still catch the exhibition. It will last until February 28.

A quote from Degas, "Art is not what you see but what you make others see.”