MANILA, Philippines- As Beijing launches the Olympics this year, the entire world is caught up in the excitement of the main sports events. The world-class athletes in all the competitions will display their prowess and breathtaking brilliance. But behind the games is the desire to give a fitting role to art, since the sports themselves are part of the culture of all countries, thus completing the global circle of achievement.

This year for the 2008 Sports and Art Contest, sculpture takes the lead as the First Prize in Sculpture was awarded to a Filipino artist by an international jury. The prize-winning artist who has given his country the most recent international acclaim is none other than Jose Datuin for his winning piece, “Dancing Rings.” Doubtless, the judges found his sculpture the most expressive of the spirit of the Olympics and its aspirations.

As explained by Joe Datuin, the work consists of five rings and a ball very aptly symbolizing the theme of this year’s Olympics “One World One Dream.” Crafted in stainless steel, the ball lightly welded on the central ring represents the World while all the rising interlocking rings denote One Dream. While simple and compact in form, its significations are threefold. For it likewise strongly suggests the form of a dancing human figure, indeed, an Olympian in action with the rings forming the body and the ball as the head, thus creating an exciting infinite movement to show his best form. Indeed, many Olympic games suggest infinite energy resonating in space. The body launches a continual movement that does not end with the physical body but races on its own momentum. The virtue of fluidity is brought out in an exciting manner as represented by the rings’ continual circular and interlocking movements shifting foci and defying gravity.

Another surprise

Another surprise awaits the viewer in the work’s unfolding meaning: the graceful rings in an ascending direction resemble the body of a dragon that frolics around the ball. This is China, this year’s host country of the Olympic games in its famous dragon dance, symbol of infinite dynamism and invention that is both new and old. The upward movement signifies the Olympic motto: Altius, Citius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger)! reflecting the success of the Olympic games—peace, friendship, and progress.

The earlier works of Joe Datuin consist of several series: Ballerina, Dance of the Rings, and Bosom. Separate pieces are Pearl of the Orient, Winner, Madonna, Bosom, and Dagupan Bangus. All made of stainless steel, these are marked by a casual elegance by the use of simple forms such as the circle, the ball, and fluid, seemingly spontaneous lines, in ingenuous combinations. Circles of stainless steel lightly and exquisitely welded together without the least heavy trace, singly with a perfect orb, sometimes like translucent glass or pearl ensconced in the middle or at the side, or rings that seem to dance in opposite or relative directions are the products of his art.

Dagupan-born Joe Datuin studied at the University of Santo Tomas where he graduated with the Benavides Award, the highest award in fine arts. In 1977, he had his first solo show in paintings at the lobby of Citibank, Makati. While he garnered the outstanding Olympic prize for sculpture this year, this is not the first time he won in the Olympics: he won a Gold Medal in 1980 in the Moscow Poster Design Competition. He was also granted residency at the Vermont Studio Center in 2002. Meanwhile, he is assiduously pursuing his sculptural art to bring out new discoveries and surprises.

The artist will exhibit his Olympic Spirit and Dancing Rings series in a show, “Dance of the Rings,” Aug. 15 to 24, at Gallery Nine, 4L Art Walk, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City. Call 9108016 or e-mail g9photos@yahoo.com.