THE ESSENTIAL EDADES AT SM LANANG PREMIER
NATIONAL ARTIST VICTORIO EDADES: THE FATHER OF FILIPINO MODERN ART
Davao’s beauty and bounty has served as an inspiration for many artists who have lived, studied or settled there. This includes a National Artist who spent his retirement years in this southern city and made it his home.
As it continues its cultural journey around the SM Supermalls, “My City, My SM, My Art” showcases Davao’s vibrant cultural scene — and how the late National Artist Victorio Edades made it his home and influenced a new generation of Davaoeño artists in an exhibit from Aug. 1 to 7 at the Atrium of SM Lanang Premier.
The exhibit will give mallgoers a glimpse of the essential Edades — the Father of Modern Filipino Art — through his life and works. We will also get to know two artists — surrealist Bones Bañez and sculptor Jimmy Ang — who were personally trained by him. “My City, My SM, My Art” will also highlight the works of artists who have studied at the Ford Academy of the Arts, the first college of fine arts in Mindanao, and have made their mark in the global arts scene. These include Rodney Yap, Raymond Tangiday, Joel Geolamen and Bryan Cabrera.
It will also feature Ford graduates who have chosen not only to become artists, but also mentor a new generation of artists through art education: Rey Bollozos, Banjo Satorre Jr., Romeo Dumuk III, Bong Perez and Jane Ramos.
A celebration of Philippine visual arts — painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and filmmaking, “My City, My SM, My Art” is a joint project of SM, the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, the Shell Companies of the Philippines, and the Philippine STAR with support from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and Centerstage Production.
The “My City, My SM, My Art” series brings art and people together by showcasing the works of masters, modernists and millennials around the SM Supermalls. Advocating art for all, the team works with communities to mount exhibits, workshops, and contests in key cities around the Philippines.
Victorio Edades and his family moved to Davao City in 1967, following his retirement from the University of Santo Tomas, where he spent many years as the director of Fine Arts and Architecture. At that time, he was already a great Filipino master and considered the Father of Modern Art in the country.
During his retirement years, he spent most of his time in his garden in Davao, listening to Chopin as he painted and received friends. He also taught for a time at the Philippine Women’s College and resumed his career as an artist. Edades also co-founded the Mindanao Ethnoculture Foundation, which focuses on the indigenous culture and heritage of Mindanao. During his later years, he indigenized the subjects of his paintings.
The Ubo and Manobo, who live in the mountains of Mindanao, were the subjects of his paintings during his 1976 show at the Metro Gallery. Two of his major works during this time reflect this indigenization: Demoiselles D’vao in 1976, which presents cultural types; and Kasaysayan, a mural for a Manila bank, which strives to dramatize the theme and vision of cultural identity with the added element of nation-building.
Victorio Edades was born of farming folk in Dagupan, Pangasinan on Dec. 13, 1895. The youngest of 10 children, his artistry was evident at an early age. By the time he was in seventh grade, his teachers were so impressed with his talent that he was fondly called “apprentice teacher” in his art class.
In 1919, Edades left for the United States to study arts. While in the US, Edades saw numerous works of European artists like Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, and the Surrealists, and was so impressed by the modernist style that he began to paint in this manner.
Edades returned to the Philippines in 1918, and joined the University of Santo Tomas in Manila in 1930, where he helped organize the school’s department of architecture. Guided by the existing American curricula, he designed the first liberal arts curriculum, which led to a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, a first in the Philippines. The essential Edades at SM Lanang Premier