Anna Vergel RS on her comeback solo, loving golf, and staying competitive
MULTIDISCIPLINARY artist Anna Vergel RS sits at a corner table of Sandtrap Bar in Manila Golf & Country Club. Her view covers the sprawling freeway, a verdant oasis in the bustling metro, girdled by towering condominiums and offices. It’s only been a little over a year since Vergel decided to play the sport her family has enjoyed for years. A week after wrapping up her most recent group show in 2023, the former athlete finally gave golf a shot, picking up the club and it never left her hand since. These days, Vergel finds herself teeing it up almost every day, as golf reignited her competitive spirit, while giving her the mental and physical space that her confined art studio could not.
“If I cannot swing my brush upward in my old small studio, then I can fully swing my golf club upward here on the golf course,” the light-hearted artist says, laughing.
EXCELLENCE IN ARTS AND ATHLETICS
NOT counting group shows here and there, it has been half a decade since Vergel starred in a solo exhibition. Her last was a massive 75-piece showcase that lit up the Edsa Shangri-la Hotel in 2018. Among the featured pieces were assorted sizes of the artist’s acclaimed Venus Stones series, which pop out in veridical textures and saccharine hues.
The series reflects Vergel’s training in different art forms and styles, from painting to sculpture, from figurative to abstraction. Even before entering the Visual Communications program of the UP College of Fine Arts, Vergel has always had a curious mind and a winning spirit, which she credits to her family.
Her father Philip was one of the pioneers of the Design Center of the Philippines and enjoyed extreme sports. Meanwhile, her mom worked in advertising and was more of a freehand artist. Together, they raised children that loved arts and sports, with Anna’s sister into shot-put and her brothers practicing mixed martial arts.
For her part, Anna was one of the pioneer triathletes in the UAAP, representing UP. She exceled in the pool and on the tracks, devoting herself to the art of pushing one’s self to the limit. That mindset stuck with her, which is why her competitive fire burns bright to this day. This is also the reason why she fell in love with golf instantly and deeply.
“I wish I started sooner,” she said. “I like the feeling of hitting the ball with good contact and accuracy that results in good alignment and distance. I like the feeling of winning, the feeling of having a healthy body, of being able to do lots of activities.”
Vergel pointed out that her role as an athlete and an artist requires great discipline, efficiency, and commitment to excellence. Being talented in both fields allows her to express herself in many different ways, wielding either the paintbrush or the golf club. Vergel’s push-forward approach also cultivated a growth mindset that brought her places in the art industry.
Her creations have been featured in several publications alongside the greats, including National Artists Napoleon Abueva, Botong Francisco, and Jose Joya, among others. In 2016, Vergel received the Distinguished Artist in the Field of Visual Arts in Painting award by Consul Helen Ong and Jaime Laya from the Society of Cultural Enrichment, an organization dedicated to conserving, promoting and developing Philippine culture and arts. The esteemed recognition was likewise bestowed on art titans Ryan Cayabyab, Lisa Macuja- Elizalde, Ramon Orlina and Jose Tence Ruiz. Vergel’s pieces also reached the global art market, figuring in shows in New York and Singapore.
THE DRAGON REIMAGINED
WHILE Vergel intended to follow up her grand 2018 solo after two years, her plans were disrupted by the global pandemic. It is only now that she is finally getting ready to return to the solo exhibition spotlight with a freer schedule. For one, she said, the demands of motherhood are not as stringent anymore, as her kids enter early adulthood.
Vergel looks to mount her comeback solo—her sixth total one-man show—in the fourth quarter of this year, somewhere close to home in Bonifacio Global City. The show is nowhere as sizeable as the last, she added, with only 20-some pieces to be presented, including sculptures and painted-on dresses made from canvas.
“I’m getting back to rhythm,” Vergel added. This being the Year of the Dragon, Vergel decided to pay homage to the mythical creature in her return solo show, titled Fortuitous Basilisk. Through uniform 14” x 18” oil paintings and other pieces, Vergel portrays the dragon not as monstrous, but motherly, humanizing the subject by projecting on it her own experiences.
In particular, Vergel depicts the dragon as pregnant, rendering it vulnerable yet still allpowerful in its majestic appearance. The expanded belly enlarges the scales, glowing in gradient green against a striking red background.
But what does the gravid dragon bear in these paintings? Is it its actual offspring to be delivered in a strong dragon egg, or is its state merely representational, alluding to the great fortunes often ascribed to the creature in Chinese beliefs?
While it is the dragon in her paintings that’s pregnant, it is actually Vergel’s upcoming show that’s giving birth, as the artist feels reborn in her return to top-billing solo exhibitions.