Good Morning Class!

Contemporary Philippine
Art from the Regions
Jeffrey de Belen, LPT
OPENING PRAYER
Unit 1:

Integrative Art as
Applied
to
Contemporary Art
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Introduction

The term “visual arts” encompasses a wide range of forms created by Filipinos. It
ranges from Western-influenced visual art forms to works created by folk and
indigenous people. Traditionally, these visual art forms include painting, sculpture, and
architecture. However, there are other functional visual art forms in the country that
need to be appreciated as well. Some of these forms include advertising art, basketry,
metal craft, mat weaving, pottery, and textile weaving.

Each visual art form not only exhibits the skills of the artist, but also showcases the ideas
coming from the mind of that artist. Understanding the different visual elements of art is
vital in appreciating all these visual art forms. Using a visual element of art in creating an
artwork may entail a certain idea or meaning. Thus, it is appropriate to first review the
different visual elements of art before discussing the different visual art forms.

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Lesson 1:

ARTS
AND ITS
VISUAL ELEMENTS 6
Lesson Proper

In order to understand how to describe a painting or a sculpture, it is important

to comprehend first the visual elements of art. These visual elements of art are line,
color, shape, space, value, texture, time and motion.

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Line
This refers to a prolongation of a point, or a mark on a surface. Solid lines can
be used in order to define form while broken lines are typically used to suggest hidden
forms. Lines are also used to suggest dimensions, and to guide visual movement.

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Shape and Mass
This element of art refers to an area with boundaries identified or draw using a
lines. A shape may be used on natural or living forms. This shape is called an organic
shape, and can be irregular or rounded. A shape may also be on measured forms.

This shape, on the other hand, is called a geometric shape. In contrast to

shape, which is two-dimensional, mass refers to solid portions of a three-dimensional
object.

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Color

This refers to visual perception that allows a person to differentiate objects due
to the way various wavelengths of light are reflected. Color is a very important element
because it can communicate information and emotion to the viewer. Color has three
properties, which are as follows:

• Hue, which refers to the basic or pure color, and is represented in the color
wheel.
• Value, which refers to the lightness and darkness of color. A light color or tint is
the result of adding white to hue, while a dark color or shade results from
adding black to hue.
• Saturation, which refers to brightness and dullness of color. It is also referred to
as purity of the color. A bright color can be produced by adding more pigment
to the same hue, while a dull color can be produced by adding gray or the
color’s complement to the pigment. 10
Color Schemes
 Monochromatic
This color scheme involves using the same hue but with different gradient of value.

 Analogous
The analogous color scheme entails the use of three of four adjacent colors in the
color wheel.

 Complementary
The complementary color scheme involves the use of a color and its complement-,
meaning the color located opposite of the first color.

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Color Schemes
 Split-complementary
This color scheme is a close relative to the complementary color scheme. But instead
of using the color’s complement, this scheme uses the two colors adjacent to the
complement.

 Triadic
This color scheme uses three colors that are of equal distance with each other.

 Tetradic
Also known as double complementary color scheme, this uses two pairs of
complementary colors.

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Value

This element refers to lightness or darkness of an area. This element is evident in

creating shadows for a two-dimensional object to give an illusion of depth.

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Texture

This element refers to the feel or appearance of a surface. A person

may describe texture if the surface is either smooth or rough. Texture may also be
described as actual or implied texture can be exhibited, for instance, in a painting
of fur of an animal.

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Space
Space refers to the area that is occupied by an object or a subject, as
well as the area surrounding that object or subject. There are two types of
perspective: atmospheric perspective, which utilizes the properties of light and air
in depicting the illusion of distance; and linear perspective, which involves the use
of vanishing points and receding hidden lines.

Atmospheric Perspective Linear Perspective

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 Time and Motion
Movement in the visual arts can either be an illusion or an actual
motion. An illusion of movement is more common in two-dimensional artworks.
On the other hand, actual motion is easily seen in kinetic sculpture, a type of
sculpture that moves with the wind or are vibrating with the surrounding air.

Kinetic Sculpture

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Lesson 2:

PAINTING

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 Forms of Painting

Easel Painting
The easel painting is perhaps the most common form of painting. As
the name implies, this involves applying color to a board or canvas that is fixed on
an upright support called an easel. Easel paintings are meant to be framed and
hanged on a wall after creating them.

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Forms of Painting
Murals
A mural is described as a huge wall-sized painting. During the 1980’s,
some artists believed that the mural should be used to impart messages to increase
social awareness especially to issues at that time. However, a new form of mural, a
portable mural, was developed in order to prevent the mural from being erased
from the wall. The portable mural was created by using bold strokes in applying
bright colors on pieces of cheesecloth or canvas. Nowadays, murals are created by
younger artists through outreach programs carried out by organizations.

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 Forms of Painting

Telon Painting
A telon is described as a backdrop or background for the stage.

These backdrops are used for komedya, sarswela, and sinakulo which are popular
forms of theater in the country.

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 Forms of Painting
Jeepney and Calesa Painting

The calesa is typically painted using one color. The borders of the
calesa are decorated with geometric patterns, repetitive patterns, and/or thin lines.

Jeepney painting evolved from calesa painting. In a typical jeepney, a

logo, number, or painting is covered near the driver’s seat, as well as near the seats
adjacent to it. Typical subject matter of jeepney painting ranges from landscapes to
scenes from comic books.

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 Forms of Painting
Collage

This refers to a form of painting that involves combine images in a

single artwork. This entails cutting and pasting materials such as paper, fabric, tin
foil and other relatively flat materials onto a board or canvas.

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 Themes of Painting
Genre Painting

Genre painting portrays people in daily activities. Subjects include

planting and harvesting rice, a young woman singing in front of guests,
barongbarong, vendors, and fiestas. During the contemporary period, genre
painting took several directions.
One of these new approaches is folk genre, which mainly focuses on
the everyday activities of the folk. Another approach is using the style of cubism in
depicting folk or urban subjects. On the other hand, folk-naïve is another style
wherein it uses a lot of color and spontaneity.

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 Themes of Painting
Historical Painting

The historical painting depicts a scene from the past. It often has a
lesson concerning national values.

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 Themes of Painting
Interior Painting

This refers to painting of the space inside of a part of a house or a

building. This usually reveals the social class of the family living in that particular
house, as well as the traits of the people living in it.

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 Themes of Painting
Landscapes Painting

These paintings portray natural scenery or urban scenes, Mixed media is now used
in creating landscape paintings. Closely related to landscapes are seascapes, which
focus on large bodies’ of water, particularly the ocean or the sea.

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 Themes of Painting
Portrait Painting

This refers to a painting portraying one or more specific individuals, this usually
portrays the physical characteristics of the subject and seeks to show an
understanding of that person's character.

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 Themes of Painting
Nude Painting

These are paintings that portray the unclothed human figure.

Nowadays, a wide variety of materials and styles can be used in painting nudes.
Nude painting sessions are conducted in galleries.

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 Themes of Painting
Religious Painting

Common subjects of religious painting include a lone religious image, lives of the
saints, and scenes based from the Scriptures like the Nativity scene, and the
Stations of the Cross.

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 Themes of Painting
Still Life Painting

This refers to a painting that depicts natural or man-made objects that

form a composition in a natural setting. There are still modern artists who did still
life paintings, such as Ang Kiukok, Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, and Manuel
Baldemor.

Each artist uses his own style in portraying still life.

A lot of styles can be used by artists in painting, ranging from Baroque

and Rococo, to impressionism, expressionism, and abstract. In the Philippines,
popular styles during the contemporary period include neorealism, which involves
creating representational figures that also 100k abstract; hyperrealism or magic
realism, in which the subject is painted in a highly realistic way that it resembles a
photograph; and social realism, which entails creating paintings that depict
socioeconomic and problems.

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