Victor Espinosa (Bong Espinosa)

Breaking tradition

To the man on the street, talking about innovation in the world of visual arts seems almost superfluous. A single glimpse of the interiors of museums, galleries, and art schools—or simply the buildings that house them or gardens that surround them—would reveal a world where to be creative and original is not only a trend, it is a way of life. In this constantly shifting field, where the terms “innovative” and “alternative” take on a degree of vitality rarely found in any other art form, how does one begin to define what makes a work of art innovative? Breaking tradition “The term ‘alternative’ is part of the jargon in the field of fine arts,” writes Prof. Marco Ruben T. Malto II, assistant professor at the Studio Arts Department of the College of Fine Arts in UP Diliman. In his unpublished essay, “Tradition and Change: Alternatives and Innovations in Art,” Malto explains that “[what is ‘alternative’] is defined in relation to what is ‘traditional.’ In laymen’s terms, it simply states that what has been in the practice for so long is somewhat boring, and therefore the need to have a ‘newer’ approach is necessary. This newer approach is what we call innovation.” While tradition is a concept anchored to time, Malto points out that it is misleading to define innovation simply as anything that goes against tradition, that is, anything “modern.” Yes, Pablo Picasso showed artists how to look at things from a different perspective, and yes, things were taken a step further when artists began using non-traditional materials in their work, so that scraps of clothing, pipes, train tickets, beer bottles, and even broken couches soon found themselves upon canvases and plinths in art exhibitions. But art innovation began when the thinking humans used pigments and dyes to paint the first murals and fired the first decorative clay vessels. In our own country, our ancestors established the practice of art innovation through their implements and ornaments of beaten gold and precious stones. Cycles of time Prof. Leo Antonio C. Abaya, assistant professor at the Department of Art Theory and an award-winning film production designer, makes a similar point. “Many so-called innovations, if we trace them and study them correctly, are actually things that have been done in the past. It was stopped for some reason or another, and then was revived.” He refers to the case of Jasper Johns, one of the very first twentieth-century artists to use encaustic or wax-based paint in his paintings. “At the time he used it, he was hailed as a great innovator,” Abaya says. “But the use of encaustic as material in painting actually started in Egypt. So it’s a revival or a recon-textualization of the use of a certain material.” When asked about some of the new innovations—or revivals, as the case may be—in the international art scene today, Abaya mentions the coming of age of photography as a fine art. “There are many, many galleries in London dedicated to photography as a fine art, not as a craft. Also, some artists are starting to paint in the traditional way again, using oil and acrylic, “except that the figures are a little edgier now. For a while, [the practice of painting] was forgotten when artists started doing mixed media, mixing paints and conceptual art. People said painting was dead.” “I also think the penchant for decoration has come back,” he adds. “Unabashedly, no apologies, the decorative stuff arts making a comeback, But they are edgier. In short, they are recycled.” However, Abaya emphasizes that merely recycling old materials and old techniques is not enough for something to qualify as innovation. Wax-based paint has always been there, but Johns deviated from the Egyptians’ style and technique because his imagery was contemporary. The same goes in the case of oil painting, which is often said to have been “invented” in the fifteenth century but was actually used by the Egyptians. “What is innovative is actually linked not so much to the newness, but to the freshness in the use of certain things. It seems new because nobody has done it in recent memory. That, for me, is innovation.” Presenting reality The relationship of time to art innovation is given a different spin by Studio Arts Department assistant professor Prof. Roberto B. Feleo. “What they call the contemporary artist is actually an artist who tries to solve contemporary problems [through his work],” he says. “So innovation comes into the solutions he presents in his work, or the way he portrays a particular problem, how he approaches a work of art.” Among the issues a contemporary artist has confronted in recent times, according to Feleo, is the question of identity in the arts, a main concern of the post-colonial era. “Artists turned to practices and materials that existed before the Western tradition of painting, such as weaving, woodworking, pottery, and metalsmithing. Confronting such issues, according to Feleo, “results in the innovations in the works of young artists.” Basis in culture Malto also cites the idea of art innovation and the exploration of different materials and techniques as something stemming from our culture and experience as a nation. “[Art comes] naturally to us Filipinos,” he says. “Marami tayong nakikita at magaling ang mga kamay natin.” In his paper, he mentions various ways in which art manifests itself in Filipinos’ daily lives. “To turn food into colourful forms, such as the pastilles de mayumo or kakanin, is a creative and appetizing way of presenting food as art. The festive moods of colourful forms of pahiyas and ati-atihan in a multi-media atmosphere, the vintage US army jeep turned into vibrant Sarao jeepneys…the Eloys and ukay-ukays…All these present a unique parallelism to the exploration of alternative materials in a broader scope of art.” Malto suggests that those in the fine arts can take their cue from local art found in everyday life and break away from the concepts and norms of art dictated by the dominant and powerful culture. “Efforts being undertaken by the artists include the search for indigenous materials in art-making.” In the last two decades, standard art materials such as oil and acrylic for painting or bronze and marble for sculpture have reached a plateau, as artists search for alternative raw, indigenous materials in art-making. Feleo adds that the need for cost-cutting is another motivation for the artist’s exploration of alternative materials. “What you have [available] is brought into the classrooms [of art schools],” he says, adding that this presents another dimension in the challenge of creating art from non-traditional objects and materials. “The mother of creativity is really scarcity.” Viewer reactions “I come from the school of thought that holds that art is nothing without the viewer,” declares Abaya. “Art cannot stand alone. The whole business of art is actually the interaction between the objects and the audience.” Judging what is innovative in art, then, depends partly upon the scholarship of the artist and the work’s audience. “We live in a very visual world,” says Abaya. “We know when something is innovative, or what if what we’re looking at or appreciating is something that we’ve not seen in the recent past.” Feleo also mentions the need for innovations to enter into the mainstream where they can more effectively change things for the better. “All of these innovations would have [to be] filtered down, or up or sidewards or backwards, as long as they filter toward the needs of the greater number. And so you have these new ideas in industrial design, in advertising. All of these ideas you see in the most common objects, such as pens and ball pens.” Being True to Oneself Beyond the considerations of time, culture, tradition, and national and artistic concerns, innovation stems essentially from one’s knowledge of himself and his art. Being true to yourself, as Abaya tells his students, is a foolproof way to ensure that your work will stand out. “You want to be fresh? You want to be unique? You don’t look anywhere else. The individual is unique, [so you must be] able to know yourself well and express [that self] as eloquently as possible. Of course the eloquence will be based on how well you know your theory and your practice, how good you are in your techniques. But if you use yourself as a source, it’s like finding your own voice. Lucky the artist who in his lifetime finds his voice.” Finding one’s voice—and hence, one’s own uniqueness as an artist—entails a constant self-awareness and unshrinking self-inquiry. “Art, in my own definition, is a constant striving to outdo yourself,” Feleo says. “To the point where it becomes a lifestyle, and it cannot be contained. It comes out even when you’re involved in the most mundane activity. If 70 or 80 million Filipinos thought that way, maybe this country will finally get moving.”