Visual arts and design competition Metrobank Art & Design Excellence or MADE continues its mission of discovering the country’s new promising artists as it announces this year’s winners.
MADE Painting Recognition Program has named two grand winners, namely Noel Elicana for the oil/acrylic on canvas category with his piece “Kanya-kanyang Tinik, Kanya-kanyang Landas, Iisa ang Ginagalawan,” and Alex Ordoyo for watermedia on paper category with his monochromatic piece entitled “Destroyed.”
Elicana, through representational surrealism, portrayed both creation and destruction in his award-winning piece.
A tree rooted in the artist’s deep familiarity of his hometown in Oton, Iloilo, serves as the center of the composition where otherworldly figures and flowers spring. Death and destruction are represented through bones and vultures.
Meanwhile, Ordoyo portrayed the devastation that enveloped Marawi City in his artwork. The painting stitches the various features of the capital city of Lanao del Sur through the presentation of the destroyed urban landscape—ruined houses, establishments, mosques, and fleeing figures.
In the spirit of representational cubism, the work frustrates perspective or any point of entry to sensibly navigate the piece, so much so that the viewer is confronted by the full intensity of a wreckage.
Maria Ronna Lara-Bes, on the other hand, has been named MADE’s grand awardee for the Sculpture Recognition Program, for her work “Interconnected,” a medley of spheres and lines symbolizing binding ties.
With three equidistant spheres representing Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao as a base, the indoor sculpture is interconnected by “stems” inspired by different indigenous fabrics and stainless spheres of varying sizes that serve as vital connecting nodes of the composition.
“Interconnected” is a visual representation of how the disparate islands of our archipelago are bridged together by its people. Whether the connection may be that of “familiar bonds, regional ties, or social media.”
Elicana, Ordoyo, and Lara-Bes will each receive a financial assistance worth P500,000 and the “Mula” glass trophy designed by 2009 Metrobank Prize for Achievement in Sculpture awardee Noell El Farol.
MADE has also announced two Special Citation awardees for the oil/acrylic on canvas category, namely Francis Eugene Andrade for his piece entitled “The Sacrifice” and Roland Llarena for “The Diminishing Memories of Home.”
The awardees with be formally recognized at the 2018 MADE Awarding Ceremony and Exhibit Opening as part of the 56th-anniversary celebration of the Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company on Sept. 20.
The awardees are also set to become members of the MADE-Network of Winners, the alumni organization of past MADE awardees implementing pay-it-forward projects that benefit marginalized sectors.
Now on its 34th year, MADE has set the benchmark among the country’s art competitions and has long served as the career launch pad of the country’s most admired contemporary artists and sculptors. Among its past awardees are Elmer Borlongan, Mark Justiniani, Jan Leeroy New, Salvador “Buddy” Ching, and Andres Barrioquinto.