Ateneo Art Award Winners Announced

The recipients of the 2019 Ateneo Art Awards were announced at a ceremony at Ateneo de Manila University on August 18.

The Fernando Zóbel Prizes for Visual Art were awarded to Costantino Zicarelli, for his graphite-on-paper drawings from his solo show “Years of Dust Will Build A Mountain” (2019) at Manila’s Artinformal Gallery; Keb Cerda, for his Super Nardo: False Profits (2019) augmented reality project, comprising paintings of deserted landscapes that become “virtual playgrounds” in a game when viewed using a mobile app; and muralist Archie Oclos, for Lupang Hinirang (2018), referencing social injustices and extrajudicial killings taking place under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Oclos additionally picked up the People’s Choice Award for his monumental work. The three winners will each receive a residency grant endowed by Ateneo Art Gallery in partnership with La Trobe University in Bendigo, Australia; Artesan Gallery + Studio, Singapore; and Liverpool Hope University, in the United Kingdom. 

Doktor Karayom clinched the Embassy of Italy Purchase Prize. The Italian Embassy will acquire Karayom’s Isla Inip (2018), a large-scale installation featuring a board-game design on the floor and a four-meter-long sculpture of a partially dissected figure representing 19th-century Filipino nationalist José Rizal.

The Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism went to Mariah Reodica for her essay “Saltwater Trajectories: Bisan Tubig Di Magbalon, And Viva Excon as Cartographer”; and John Alexis Balaguer for his piece “Everywhere is Here: The Museum as Heterotopia in Mark Lewis Higgins’ ‘Gold in Our Veins’.” As part of the award, Reodica and Balaguer will contribute regularly to The Philippine Star and ArtAsiaPacific, respectively, over the next year. They will also be published in Perro Berde, an annual publication produced by the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines and the global Spanish cultural nonprofit Instituto Cervantes.

The awardees in the visual arts category were selected from a shortlist of twelve that also included Zean Cabangis, Lesley-Anne Cao, Ronyel Compra, JC Jacinto, Lilianna Manahan, Krista Nogueras, Henrielle Baltazar Pagkaliwangan, and Jel Suarez. Nominees for the art criticism prize were Janina Gwen Bautista and Jeckree Mission.

An exhibition of works by the shortlisted artists is on view at Ateneo Art Gallery until October 27.

To read more of ArtAsiaPacific’s articles, visit our Digital Library.