MANILA, Philippines – One Saturday afternoon in March, a friend and I headed to the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts thesis presentations to check out what the new batch of artists was up to.

Half afraid that all that awaited us was work derivative of the painting trends seen in the countless galleries mushrooming all over Metro Manila, we were thrilled to discover that students graduating from the Studio Arts program had used their theses as an opportunity to explore their own aesthetic concerns.

We arrived at the second half of the presentations, so we didn’t get to hear the presentations for the hanging sculpture consisting of a semi-circular copper panel with interior etchings of map-like images topped by an orb of what seemed to be metal twigs, or Adeo Sta. Juana’s strangely shaped sculpture in red, yellow, orange and blue sitting on a platform in the center of the room, or the Color Experience of Kathleen Beredo which was an interactive installation that seemed to be a hit with the students and the panelists.

The work was a six-foot high, 10-foot long, and three-foot wide corridor, the entire length of which was filled with curtains of colored plastic tubes that the viewer had to walk through. It was a straightforward exploration of colors, what the visual sensation of being surrounded by red or green or blue or orange would be.

Some students took inspiration from the ubiquitous mall. Ryan Villamael’s white-wood-and-glass display case contained brightly colored statues, an obvious reference to shop displays, but rather than popular anime or cartoon figurines, what we saw in bright pink, green, yellow, and aqua were comic-like renditions of the monsters of Filipino folk tales.

There were about two dozen “manananggal,” not the stuff of nightmares but the bottom half of a woman’s body with a Beyonce-like bottom and neon guts spilling out on top. There was also a rather cute “tiktik” bird with large animé eyes, sucking the neon pink blood out of the fetuses in the pregnant women lying asleep on a white shag carpet. A display of Philippine monsters would not be complete without the famous “aswang” —the catch-all term for any Filipino monster—in this installation: an old, bald man with bad teeth and a large mouth spewing a rainbow of vomit, body organs, a chick, and a couple of crosses. Villamael’s treatment demystified the monsters that have frightened generations of children.

Perfumed garden

The most striking and unexpected of all the artwork was an installation by Goldie Poblador that transformed the lobby of the faculty area into a gleaming white perfume boutique. Glass boxes housing the most exquisite hand-blown bottles sat on the shelves that lined the lobby walls. Each glass case had a single vessel, all of them artworks in themselves, one with a fine flower topper; one an orb with fine tendrils extending from its body, so fluid it seemed to be in perpetual motion; another, an ovoid with small tentacles resembling a beautiful, transparent sea urchin. Although the bottles were a visual treat in themselves, the slick packaging was also a visual attraction: in sky blue and white with grey branding, it evoked elegance and wealth in an understated, old world manner.

The artist’s humor was revealed, though, upon closer inspection; the illustration on the perfume box was of an urban cityscape complete with unsightly wires; the names of perfumes—Squalor for Women: Eau de Pasig, Unconscious Consumption, Ilog Marikina. It seemed a beautifully executed, witty commentary on consumerism, but apparently there was more to it. The artist invited the viewers to open the cases and smell the bottles, and this took the experience to another level altogether. The artist’s interest was in the idea of memory and power of scents to evoke them.

Using fairly generic scents, she allowed for the viewers to have their own experience of the installation. Pahinga, for example, was a coconut-based scent, which for me evoked the coco jam on pan de sal eaten in merienda of my childhood; for another person, it called to mind the smell of coconut suntan lotion and lying on the beach. Ilog Marikina and Squalor for women were as stinky as they sound and quite a jarring surprise if you hadn’t noticed the label of the pretty bottle that you were about to smell. Goldie’s installation literally and figuratively took our breath away.

If this batch of UP fine arts students is indicative of the future of Philippine contemporary art, then the future is bright . . . neon bright!

The works of the UP Studio Arts graduates will be on exhibit in Tin-aw Art Gallery starting on June 5. Tin-aw Art Gallery is located at the upper ground floor of Somerset Olympia Building, Makati Avenue, Makati City.