Roy Veneracion

Artist's Statement/ SYNCRETISM MANIFESTO

Ever since the world began for me as an artist, with my first one-man-show in 1974, ( not counting my art life as a child), I've set about to find the visual equivalents of the thoughts and experiences of a human in our own time.

In the words of the art critic-historian Reuben Ramas Canete: "Veneracion's aesthetics argues for a reintegration between concepts of beauty and irony, order and chaos..." and "...the conditions by which we understand and accept art as a consequence of our lives..."  A tendency to combine diverse visual languages in my art led me to "Syncretism", the merging of opposing principles in art such as: "bricolage" and "tromp l'oeil". high culture and low culture, painting and installation, found objects and painted objects, representation and abstraction. My production is deliberately pluralistc and diverse, mixing styles and techniques in a single artwork or a single exhibition. This is the type of Art for me that is contemporaneous and truly reflective of our times.

Colors reflect emotions and serve as vehicles for free associations, i.e. blue may signify 'abandonment' but also the clear blue sky of our tropical setting, pink may symbolize lust, but also vulnerability and tenderness. Lines follow the dictates of the 'unconscious' or channeled to indicate the contours of  a body or create the illusion of photo- realist  figures. Beneath the abstract language of the material, the 'Alucinary' is induced in the mind of the viewer through 'aleatory' methods intended to make the painted surface breath and teem with imagined landscapes and apparitions.. To quote Pablo Picasso: "The painting exists in the mind of the perceiver". Certainly, they require a modicum degree of receptive focus to be understood. SYNCRETISM is the combination of all these aesthetic functions, but artistic creation, to  be truthful and reflective of the artist's unique vision needs to be untrammeled by any and all established orthodoxy, fashions, bourgeoisie pretensions of taste and commercial mindedness.

 To define Syncretism is to contextualize it against the background of its evolvement: The  close of the 19th Century furrowed the fields for the germination of  20th Century Modern Art. Impressionism and Post Impressionism gave the impetus for Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Abstract Art.  The Anti-Art stance of Dada reflected the disillusionment of a generation with the Modernist Philosophy  of a cultural condition of complete faith in Technology, Scientific Reason, unbounded progress,and continuous change.  When the impetus of technological advancement brought with it the destructiveness of WWI &WWII, Auschwitz and Hiroshima-Nagasaki, and Stalin era, the meta-narratives of Positivist Science, Structuralism, and Marxism, brought with it much darkness not Enlightenment. Modernism became defunct.

The postwar years brought prosperity to the U.S.A and the World, and with New York as the new center of Art, Abstract Expressionism became the New York School. By the 1950s, Manila was a-buzzed with the Modernist Art Movement while an intellectual battle ensued between the vanguards and the rear-guards of Art. Cut from all links with its past, by the burning and systematic erasure of all vestiges of its Heathen Culture by the colonist- missionaries whose religious zeal was matched only by the Spanish Inquisition back home, the Philippines was re-inventing its culture as it regained its Independence from its second colonizer, the U.S.A.

The socio-political culture we were re-inventing was closely linked with the West, and by the 1960s Modernism was drawing to a close with Minimalism, Op Art and Pop Art as its last important offerings. Meanwhile, the Cold War escalated and the 'iron curtains' divided Germany, Europe and Russia, and the threat of a nuclear Armageddon gripped the world. Minimalism and Op Art were assimilated in our culture but Pop Art was left alone as irrelevant and not serious enough. Yet Pop Art and Neo-Dada were the pre-cursors of Post Modernism. Said to be the Movement of Counter- Enlightenment, Post modernism set about to undermine the Modernist myths of the avant-garde as cultural heroes. Dada and Duchampian aesthetics, hitherto considered to be merely the childish prelude to Surrealism, became pivotal in defining the new movement.Through appropriation and borrowing, it created new cultural identities. Low culture was in ascendancy as a cultural symbol. Pastiche, discontinuities, parody, irony and multiform content questioned notions of authenticity, originality, and genius. Post Modernism sprouted multiple branches:  Concept Art, Performance Art, Earth Art, Installation, Video, Assemblage, Neo-Expressionism, Pop Surrealism, Classical Realism, among others. Words became prominently the central artistic element in many works. Parody,Irony, and humor were the only  stances that cannot be overturned  by critique and revision. While Modernism was ethnocentric, white, and male dominated, Post Modernism de-centralized Art, integrated Outsider Art, Trans-gender and Feminist Art.  Simultaneously, it subverted  and installed ideologies.

The New Millennium is said to signal the end of the Post Modernism as Status Quo. A new group of artists and architects from the United States who call themselves ReMo or Remodern and  Neo-Modern from the U.K., propose a return to the old values of Modernism. They seek to re-introduce 'spirituality' in art. This sentiment is shared by the Stuckists and the Anti-Anti-Art artists as the name would imply.

SYNCRETISM calls for the globalization of Art. It welcomes diversity, multiculturalism and polystylism. It subscribes to the Chinese Yin-Yang philosophy that dualities of experience are just parts of the larger whole. East and West are not separate but just continents that comprise our world.

SYNCRETISM is a strategy for making Art in the 21st Century.  It is not an Art Movement in the sense that it proposes to replace the old order with a new order- it is the future order. It's intent is not to promote 'novelty' for its own sake, or 'nostalgia' for some glorious past. It accepts the constancy of change and welcomes it. It calls for constant re-invention of Art, It questions the myth of the narrative of artistic direction and linear progression. The singular artistic vision is just a habitual ploy to disguise the lack of inspired visions. It rejects 'formula- assembly line' production  of art as insincere and mercenary.

SYNCRETISM calls for artists to continue being the cultural antennae by which they continue to re-emerge and to 'move-on' while picking up the 'usable' and the 'beautiful' from the ruined and the discarded, and joining together the various art forms thus chosen from Art's historical past.

SYNCRETISM finds hope for a future where mankind is seen as dehumanized and destroyed by the very machines that were supposed to improve their lot. My artist son Mikhail is right on track in imagining that the solution to ' Global Warming' are machines that will suck-up the carbon from the air, to turn them into rocks and sediments, thereby accelerating nature's processes.

Not all Syncretists are Syncretists all the time, but like a passionate love or a drug, an adrenaline rushing experience, or an obsession, the Syncretistic idea crosses over to the other side and leaves its tracks behind. There are Syncretists in our midst, past and present, and in this list are plenty: 

St. Agustine, Tchaikovsky, Beatles, Picasso, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Bob Dylan, Sting, Santana, Lucresia Kasilag,  Sigmar Polke, Georg Baselitz, Willem de Kooning,  Roy Veneracion, Manuel Ocampo, Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, BenCab,  all Multi Media Artists,  Ronald Ventura, Gerry Tan, Mikhail Veneracion,  Alberto Giacometti,  the new Damien Hirst,  Gus Albor, Nestor Vinluan, Tony Leano,  Street artists Banksy, Swoon,  among others.

*Syncretism Exhibitions:
2000 SUPERIMPOSE, West Gallery, Glorietta, Makati City,
2005 SYNCRETISM & BEYOND , Mag:net+, Paseo de Roxas, Makati City
2006 3-MAN-SHOW: Roy, Ian, & Mikhail, Mag:net+ The Loop, ELJ Center, ABS-CBN Compound, Quezon City
2008 SYNCRETISM-ROY VENERACION, Union Center for the Arts, L.A. Artcore,Los Angeles, CA. USA

* other Syncretists:
SYNCRETISM -Steven Rehfeld, Guy Clement Cohen, Art People's Gallery,San Francisco, CA. USA

ARTIST'S RESUME:

artist: ROY VENERACION
born:  1947
studies: Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines  1970
awards and distinctions:
1990 Cultural Center of the Philippines' Gawad CCP Para sa Sining Biswal or 13 Artists Awards
1982 Art Association of the Philippines Recognition of Excellence in the Arts Award
1968 1st Prize - College Thesis, U.P. college of Fine Arts
1960 1st Prize -Student's Art Contest, San Juan de Letran College, Intramuros, Manila

Residencies:
1983-1984 Cultural Center of the Philippines Artist in Residence- Creative workshops for the Arts

Grants:
1989 CCP Mural Project, Bulwagang Carlos V. Francisco
1990 CCP 13 Artists Awards Exhibition

Bibliography:
2008   Syncretism-Roy Veneracion, USA
2002   17th Asian International Art Exhibition
1997   Who's Who In International Art - Switzerland
1999   CCP Encyclopedia of Art
1992   Art Philippines
1991   The National Museum Collection Book

*Two major works are in the permanent collection of the Philippine National  Museum.
"Ika-13 Pangitain ni Juan" 1982 on permanent display.

Selected One-Man-Shows:

2009   SYNCRETISM-ROY VENERACION
           Jack Miller & Associates Gallery, La Cienega Blvd., L.A. Ca., USA
2008   SYNCRETISM-ROY VENERACION
           Union Center for the Arts, L.A.Artcore, Judge John Aiso Blvd., L.A. Ca., USA
2005   SYNCRETISM & BEYOND
           Mag:net+ Gallery, Paseo de Roxas, Makati City
2004   CHAKRAS-the regions of power
            West Gallery, Glorietta, Makati City
2002   Galleria Duemila, Artwalk, S.M. Megamall, Mandaluyong City
2002   Mag:net+ The Loop, ELJ Center Bldg., ABS-CBN compound, Quezon City
2000    SUPERIMPOSE  West Gallery, Glorietta, Makati City
1995    Solar Drive, Hollywood Hills, L.A. Ca. USA
1994    TO YOUR UNCONSCIOUS  Galleria Duemila, Artwalk, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City
1991    RANDOM EXPLORATIONS  Brix Gallery, Makati City
1991    PAINTED OBJECTS  Alliance Francaise, Makati City
1989    MURAL PROJECT "Ito na nga ang Paraiso ni Juan Tranquilino"  Bulwagang Carlos V. Francisco, CCP, Manila
1987    LUZVIMINDA  Finale Art File, Makati, MM
1986    SKITZO  Penguin Cafe and Gallery, Malate, Manila
1983    CCP Small Gallery, CCP, Manila
1982    FIFTH ONE-MAN-SHOW, Gallerie Bleue, Rustan's, Makati, MM
1981    Hiraya Gallery, U.N. Avenue, Ermita, Manila
1975    Philippine Art Center, Quad, Makati, Rizal
1974    Ist ONE-MAN-SHOW  Miladay Art Center, Quad, Makati, Rizal

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2009    KWATRO KANTOS  Sining Kamalig, Gateway, Cubao, Quezon City
2008    JACK MILLER & ASSOCIATES GALLERY la Cienega Blvd., L.A. Ca. USA
2007    PEERS ENSEMBLE  Pinto Gallery, Antipolo City
2006    3 MAN-SHOW -Roy, Ian, & Mikhail , Mag:net+ Gallery, The Loop, ELJ Center, ABS-CBN, Quezon City
2004    FORUM FOR FOUR  Art Forum, Cairnhill Rd., Singapore City
2002    17th ASIAN INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION,  Daejeon Municipal Museum, Daejeon, Korea
2001     HECK FINAL  City Gallery, Los Feliz Blvd., Ca. USA
2001     GALLERY 8, BERGAMOT STATION, Santa Monica, Ca., USA
2000     TRANSMODERN TRANSGRESSIONS 3 Artists Show- Roy, Ian, and Chati, Bulwagang Fernando  Amorsolo, CCP, Manila
1999      THE 14th ASIAN INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
1999      LABINTATLO, CCP Main Gallery, CCP, Manila
1998      EROS, Crucible Gallery, Artwalk, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City
1997      MODERN ART,  The Art Center,  Megamall, Mandaluyong City
1996      UNBOUNDED,  The Australian Center, Makati
1992      ASIAN INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION, Indonesia
1991      DANGEROUS BUT ORDAINED, University of the Philippines, Quezon City
1990      CCP GAWAD PARA SA SINING BISWAL,13 ARTISTS AWARDS, CCP Main Gallery, CCP, Manila
1989      SEGUNDA BIENAL DELA HAVANA, Wilfredo Lam Center, Havana, Cuba
1988      2nd ASIA-PACIFIC ARTS FESTIVAL, Club Med, Cherating, Malaysia
1986      BAGKUS-BUGKUS (BECAUSE WE'RE TOGETHER), Metropolitan Museum of Manila
1986      PIGLAS (BREAK FREE), CCP Main Gallery, CCP, Manila
1985      2nd ASIAN ART FESTIVAL, Fukuoka Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
1984      A ROADSHOW EXHIBITION, People's Republic of China
1983      SITEWORKS II, U.P. Los Banos, Laguna
1981      ASEAN TRAVELING EXHIBITION, ASEAN Nations
1980-1988  CCP ANNUAL EXHIBITIONS FOR THE VISUAL ARTS, CCP, Manila
1980      SEVEN FILIPINO ARTISTS, Philippine House, San Francisco, USA
1979      MUSEUM ARTISTS 1979, MOPA, Manila
1978      SEPIA WORKSHOP, Soho, New York City, USA
1978      INSIGHTS INTO PHILIPPINE CONTEMPORARY ART, IMF Building, Washington, D.C., USA
1977      CANADIAN NATIONAL EXPOSITION, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1977      Amerasian Center, Washington, D.C., USA
1976      Mullen Hall, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., USA.
1976      FOUR FILIPINO ARTISTS, Oxon County Library, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
1976      FIVE FILIPINO ARTISTS, Philippine House, Mainz, Germany
1976      KONTIKI, Kowloon, Hongkong
1973      MINI-MAXI EXHIBITION, Gallerie Bleue, Rustan's, Makati

Kulay-Diwa Gallery of Philippine Contemporary Art is a privately owned venue for artistic expression. It is strategically located within a cluster of progressive communities South of Manila. It has an independent exhibition area able to accommodate large-scale works, and a spacious garden ideal for outdoor programs, performances and sculpture installations.

Goals of Kulay-Diwa

To discover and promote the works of talented, young and deserving Filipino Artist;

To serve as a cultural outpost and make the arts more accessible to the fast-growing communities South of Manila; and

To foster cultural interaction and exchanges with the local regions and other countries.

Kulay(Color)

Diwa(Spirit, Thought)



 



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