LA SALLE ACADEMYSENIOR HIGH SCHOL DEPARTMENT

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GENTLE AND NOBLE MODERNIST: A CRITIQUE PAPER OF THE ARTWORKS BY ABDULMARI ASIA IMAO

Performance Task for the Third Quarter in Arts

Submitted by:Ardiente, Veronico Jr.

Moctar, AzeezaPitogo, Winzil Khaye

STEM 103

Submitted to:Ma’am Michelle Tumbagahan

December 2018

ABDULMARI ASIA IMAO

Mari is the First Muslim Recipient of Philippine National Artist Award for Visual Arts (2006). He was born 14th of January 1936 and later died 16th of December 2014. He is also called “The Gentle Tausug and Noble Modernist”. He is a sculptor, painter, photographer, ceramist, documentary film maker, cultural researcher, writer, and articulator of Philippine Muslim art and culture. He had a unique adaptation of Traditional Muslim Mindanaon motifs: 1) Ukkil, on sinuous relief woodcarving in houses and boats; 2) Pako Rabong, on fern motif; 3) Sarimanok, on mythical bird with fish figure. He pursued arts through creating vivid works that yearn for local color and the dream of a unified nation.

CHOSEN ARTWORKS BY IMAO

SARIMANOK/SARIBONG UNTITLED AP MONUMENT

1. SARIMANOK/SARIBONG

Saribong means fusion of the Sarimanok, Pako rabong, and Islamic motifs. Sarimanok is a legendary bird, of the Meranao people, that has become an ubiquitous symbol of Meranao Art. It is depicted as a fowl with colorful wings and feathered tail, holding a fish on its beak. It is said to be a symbol of good fortune.

Abdulmari Asia Imao, a Tausug artist, is known for using Okir(Ukil), Sarimanok and naga. Imao, grew up in an island in Sulu, already immersed in organic richness of his surrounding, the colorful patterns and ornaments of Mindanao. His works mainly focus on cultural work from indigenous forms. His source of inspiration are Tausug art, Meranao art, and Islamic faith. Imao’s background helped him a lot as evidenced in his artworks which also helped him popularized the creatures. His works is a tool of unification, a tool of progress, a tool of brotherhood according to Sen. Grace Poe.

Abdulmari Imao redefined the various symbols of his heritage, transforming them into the native components of his iconography replete with folkloric, mythic and archetypal resonance. Imao exuberantly rendered, usually in acrylic on canvas, wood, and brass, the naga and okir. Saribong is an artifact art based from his most famous symbol, the Sarimanok. It is a history painting type. The art lives with the Meranao art. It tackles the history of the legendary bird of Meranao people and mixed with the geometric and flowing designs called Okir. Imao started painting Sarimanok when he went off to a university after applying to a government scholarship. Even after succeeding with his talent, he continues to make work about his origin and looked for thematic solutions in translating indigenous forms into contemporary imagery. The materials used for the art were encaustic painting. It was made through canvas with liquid paste on it. In this work, Imao used colorful as well as series of geometry line to highlight the subject. It allures the eyes of the viewers as it gives us the identity of being a native Filipino. The colors used in the painting complement each other. It gives repetition of geometrical patterns that gives empowerment to the art’s context and all the of the hue blended with each other. The space gave by the artist was enough to avoid overpowering one another and the deliberate of individual elements, it create stunning effects and to signal which parts of the painting are more important and which are less. The Saribong, beautifully balanced, layers various shapes of different colours, sizes, and opacities to create a truly beautiful graphic. It emphasise the layers and shapes in a unique and striking way and the texture was made moderate to avoid overwhelming the design and the art itself.

2. UNTITLED

The untitled piece or artwork made by Abdulmari Asia Imao last 1984 could still be seen in front of the Vargas Musuem which have a dimension of 406.4 x 353 x 121.9 cm. Calligraphic in form or structure, this large scale piece rests atop a concrete platform. The work is an example of Philippine modern sculpture that expresses Muslim ethnic identity through abstract form. This brass piece combines three themes from Islamic iconography. One is the 5-pointed star atop the structure reminiscent of the sari-mosque. The core of the sculpture evokes the figure of the sari-manok, a mythical rooster carrying a fish in its beak. The curvilinear shape reminds us of the motifs pako rabong and naga from the Tausug and Maranao woodcarving traditions.

Base from the description of the artwork or sculpture, the brass sculpture made by Abdulmari Asia Imao classifies the ethnic identity of the Muslims through the combination of ideas or thoughts about Muslim identities creating an abstract form. Abdulmari possibly made this artwork or brass sculpture to give the world a creative message in an innovative way on who are the Muslims for them to be known so that people would be aware that Muslims also existed and should be respected for they are human and had the rights to live and have a religion.

The untitled artwork made by Abdulmari Asia Imao had a flowy arrangement of the visual elements. It shows the elements of art and design specifically the line, shape, color, value, texture, form, and space. They are organized and composed according to the principles of art and design specially the balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, unity or variety giving the painting structure and convey the intent of the artist in promoting the ethnic identity of the Muslims. He expressed his thoughts, feelings and emotion through an abstract sculpture that defined his creativity and reputation as an artist on how he could contribute to his fellow Muslims and as a FIlipino artist in the country.

To fully analyze the artwork, understanding the design elements must be followed. The artwork could be classified as a contemporary art for it was made and produced by Abdulmari Imao during his time and it reflected the reality of Muslims that makes their culture and traditions be passed on from generations to the other through the message of the artwork or piece. The sculpture had space wherein it is enclose in various shapes, lines that form curved lines and produces direction of the structure, shape and form through abstract shape that is free flowing. The piece also had value as a representation for the distinctiveness of the Muslims. On the principles of the design, Abdulmari Imao applied scale and proportion since size or parts of the sculpture had highlighted the three elements found in the artwork. The brass sculpture is in harmony with its structure for it produces a positive impact to the eyes of the viewers. It had a variety of shapes, forms, and lines producing different elements to make the artwork more interesting. The untitled artwork have a balance principle of design for it followed equal distribution of elements. In conclusion, the brass sculpture artwork by Abdulmari Asia Imao is a combination of traditional Muslim tradition and modern or contemporary kind of work promoting his region’s distinctiveness.

3. AP or ANTONIO PIGAFETTA MONUMENT

As Abdulmari Asia Imao is known to be the first ever Muslim to be a recipient of the Philippine National Artist award way back in year 2006 9th of June, he came from the roots of poverty and slowly came into recognition by making visual arts since the 60s. His artworks even focused in the styles and techniques of Okir wood carving, brass casting, paintings and etcetera in popularizing Filipino consciousness with the inspiration from Maranao and Tausug culture. A strong foundation of his artworks would be his Islamic faith in his sculptures that are composed of Allah’s name through Arabic calligraphy. Abdulmari Imao’s gratitude to the Philippine state must have allowed him to apply the intellectual liberalism to push through art through human figures That must have led to the articulation of Antonio Pigafetta’s monument which stood at Fort San Pedro in the city of Cebu. Antonio Pigafetta’s relevance in the Philippine history comes down as being the eyewitness to the battle of Mactan who was an Italian an scholar when the sides of Ferdinand Magellan whom Pigafetta was with and Datu Lapu-Lapu fought for god, glory and gold against freedom. Pigafetta died and was able to leave a diary to unveil the story. The monument must have been stood in memory for Pigafetta’s great contribution in a huge part of the Philippine history. It ensembles Abdulmari Imao’s thought of it for him “represents the pinnacle of achievement of the human race and his admiration for the human spirit inspired him to focus much of his sculpture on historical figures and national heroes,” according to Bluprint in 2017.

Talking about hybridity, it is evident that the monument is indeed sturdy looking enough or the materials being used are appropriate enough to be placed of a statue. This artwork of Abdulmari considered as a part of visual arts because it is a sculpture, a 3-dimensional piece of work. In space, the monument added a more historical feel to Fort San Pedro. Thus, space was transformed by the contemporary artist into someplace more valuable and added recognition to the person being acknowledged. In disseminating this artwork, it is efficient over the internet since information can be easily accessed, thus making use of technology. The artist was able to revive a form of art to keep this person in the memory of people and that is the element of appropriation. Lastly, in performance, Imao’s skill enabled us citizens to envision the real Antonio Pigafetta behind all the metal put together and worked on. The elements were all presented by the contemporary artist. This artwork was made by a professional and as expected, one can be able to relate oneself to the piece as one piece fits a whole to our past and history is one big puzzle.