LESSON 3:

THE CONTEXTS
OF ART
From the brief art historical review, we learn that art does not
have one, single context but multiple and varied contexts.
History is one important context and that was discussed in
Lesson 2. In this lesson, you will learn about other contexts. It is
important that we discern various context so that we may have a
better grasp of art’s complexity and diversity. By recognizing its
many contexts, we acknowledge art’s interaction with active
forces in the society: social, political, economic, religious, and
historical to name a few. Art draws inspiration from the society
and at the same time, art is honed by the specific conditions that
engendered its production.
Analyzing its contexts allows us to establish the synergy of art
and society and recognize the former’s ability to function as an
agent of change. Moreover, it also enables us to critically look at
some of the widely held notions on culture and to reexamine
them from a perspective grounded on a diligent study of specific
contexts.
What is context?
Context refers to settings, conditions, circumstances, and
occurrences affecting production and reception or audience
response to an artwork. It is a set of background information that
enables us to formulate meanings about works of art and note
how context affects form. For example, the bulul, an indigenous,
pre colonial ritual object and motif in everyday life of the people
of Cordillera region. Bulul believed to be a granary god that
assures community’s bountiful harvest. Although bulul contains
elements of sculpture, it is not exactly regarded as such by its
makers and by the people who continue to find value in its rich symbolic
functions. Thus, we can conclude that bulul, though ancient in origin,
continues to be valued and made by the people of the present. However,
its contemporariness is situated in the domain of everyday life.
GASTON DAMAG’S this artworks employ the bulul and other
mundane objects from his native Ifugao homeland as subject matter. He
often utilize industrial materials and processes with traditional bull
imagery to form installations in museums and galleries in various part of
the world. The bulul crosses over from everyday as exhibition system,
either as collections in the gallery or museum context, or as material or
subject matter for a contemporary artist.
What are the different contexts of art?
a. Artist’s Background
Background artists or sometimes called background stylists the
one who is involved in the process of animation who organize the
color, style and mood of a scene drawn by an animation.
Traditional method involved painting entire production scenes.
Current Methods, may involve painting primarily background
artists paint the corresponding background painting. Some artist
deliberately foreground their cultural identity in their works. The
Tausug National artist Abdulmari asia Imao (awarded in 2006)
integrated motifs from the culture of Mindanao, like the
mythical sarimanok, mythical bird with fish figure, okir, design
in his painting and sculptures using modernist style of
figuration. There are some of painting/artwork of Abdulmari
Imao: The Naga, a sea serpent in Filipino mythology. Pako
Rabong, design entailing styles of ferns. Ukkil, sinuous relief
woodcarving tradition found in houses and boats. The talaandig
artist are one of the indigenous groups in the province of
Bukidnon, Mindanao Philippines who has continued to preserve
and promote its indigenous customs, beliefs and practices
despite the strong influx of modernization and change.
Julie lluch, was an artist of “cutting onions always makes me
cry”, she emphasize the female identity and personal experience
in many of terracotta works.
b. Nature
Nature can be seen as a source of inspiration and a wellspring
of materials for art production. The t’nalak for example uses
abaca fibers stripped from the trunk of the banana tree, and
colored with red and black dyes naturally extracted from roots
and leaves of plants. Using a back strap loom, the weaver
produces t’nalak designs including stylized forms inspired by
nature: kleng (crab), gmayaw (bird in flight), tofi (frog), and
sawo (snake skin). As with other traditional textile traditions in
the Philippines, the process of making the t’nalak is evocative of
the people’s belief that spirits reside with people in the natural
environment. While nature is regarded as a provider and as a
source of inspiration, it is also seen as a force that one has to
contend with. When it comes to the built environment, the
availability of resources for construction is not the only factor
taken into account but also environmental conditions such as
topography and climate.
Junyee’s ephemeral installation at the backgrounds of the CCP
titled Angud, a forest once in 2007 was posed as commentary
on the abuse of nature. It involved 10,000 pieces of gathered
tree stumps to recreate a deforested landscape. Similarly,
photographers alert the public about the alarming effects of
climate change, and how it forces people to become “refugees
in their own land.’’
Roy Lagarde’s black and white photographs documenting the
effects of typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) one year after it struck the
Visayan region in 2013, show melancholic images suggesting
absence or loss caused by natural disaster. Fernando Amorsolo,
the first to be named National Artist (1972), has painted
landscapes as romantic pictures, capturing the warm glow of the
sun on vendant land or clear waters. On the other hand, the
modernist painter Ricarte Purugganan depicted nature as an
uncontrollable force in Toilers of the Sea, 1980, the thick
turquoise brushwork suggests the rough rolling of the waves
threatening to engulf anything that comes its way.
c. Everyday Life
Philippine traditional art has always been an integral part of
daily life. Its significance lies not only in its aesthetic appearance
but also in its functionality and its value to the community that
produced it. Because traditional forms may also be used in daily
private situations, it is experienced more intimately, and engages
many senses simultaneously. Changes in landscape, innovations
in technology, and the popular types of media have dramatically
influenced our relations and the way we live. Artists working in
the contemporary idiom have been increasingly drawn to scenes,
objects, and issues in everyday life. Some would anchor
inspiration from personal memories and reveal the latter’s
emotionally charged features. Many artist have also found the
changing urban landscape as an exciting subject matter. The
photographer MM Yu has captured the details of interesting
patterns and forms often overlooked in the city. She has also
photographed unexpected and unsightly piles of garbage and
somehow transformed them into aesthetic pictures. The group
Cavity collective does graffiti in the streets of Cavity. They are a
group of young artists who create temporary yet arresting images
in public spaces.
d. Society, Politics and Economy, and History
Although art is a form of expression, we discern that
throughout its history, the works are not always created out of the
artist’s full volition. As we have learned in the previous lesson,
the artist’s creative process is affected if not compromised by
patronage, such as of the State or the Church. The communicative
and evocative potentials of art have been harnessed to support
the colonial order, as exemplified by the proliferation of religious
art during the Spanish colonial period.
However, we will also discover how the language of art has been
employed to assert the artist’s creative agency, to resist
ideological structures, to inspire people, as well as to initiate
change. Changes in the society, politics and economy affect
artists, the work that they do, and the structures that support their
production. The 19th century is a period which brought much
economic prosperity to a segment of Filipinos who later became
the elite. This was partly caused by the opening of the Suez
Canal which made travel and trade more efficient between Spain
and the Philippines.
Technological innovations engender shifts in artistic production.
It was only in the early 20th century when photography became
accessible to local photographers as Kodak set up shop in the
Philippines in 1928. The first film ever to be directed by a
Filipino was based on the play Dalagang Bukid by Hermogenes
Ilagan and Leon Ignacio. Directed by Jose Nepomuceno in 1919,
at the time when the technology integrating sound in the movies
was not yet developed, live music was synced with the moving
image. We can think of art not only as a document that gives us
clues about the historical conditions surrounding its production,
but also as a means to re-tell history itself.
The painting of National Artist Benidicto Cabrera titled Brown
Brother’s Burden, ca. 1970, approximates the look of an old
photograph which, presents an aspect of colonial history from
the gaze of the colonized. The technique of transforming
existing materials through the juxtaposition of elements taken
from one context and placing these in another to present
alternative meanings, structure, ad composition is called
appropriation. This technique helps present alternative
meanings, structure, and composition to an art work.
e. Mode of Reception
Aside from considering our personal identity as a perceiver of
art as well as the contexts discussed above, it is also important to
note when, where, and how art is encountered. Most often, art is
encountered via the museum; arranged and categorized before a
public for the purpose of education and leisure. Owing to its
longstanding history as an institution that exhibits art or other
objects of value, we automatically assume that what is shown is
of value. The museum’s power lies in its ability to construct
knowledge for us. Over the years, many artists have questioned
such powers that institutions like museums maintain. To return to
our very first example: Gaston Damag’s striking appropriation of
bulul makes us rethink how cultural representations and methods
of display shape our consciousness. Reception is very much
affected by our level of exposure to art forms that may be
unfamiliar or have startling or shocking images. In 2010, Mideo
Cruz rose to national prominence or notoriety, depending on your
point of view, over his work Poleteismo at an exhibit titled Kulo
or boil the CCP. His installation which featured a sculpture of
Christ with a phallus on his nose, among other provocative
elements, shocked a vocal segment of the Filipino public.
This reaction was not only incited by the imagery, but
circumstances surrounding the work also fueled the controversy.
The reproductive health law was at the center of public
discussions at the time; the media linked the work to the issue
without proper framing about process and meaning; and the more
visible and media savvy interpretation of the work became the
dominant reading of the piece. The attitude toward the issue and
the reaction of the public are symptomatic of many deficiencies
in our art education in schools as well as in homes and the media.
There are varied contexts or conditions that affect the way art is
produced, received, and exchanged. In the first part of this
lesson, we were alerted to how display practices in museums
tend to remove certain forms from their everyday context, like a
ritual object severed from its original use. The artist’s personal
contexts like age, gender, and cultural background may strongly
influence the form and content of their works. Larger milieus
such as nature and the social environment shape the artist’s
disposition and access to resources. Lastly, the mode of
reception is an important context which considers the moment
(time and space) by which we encountered the artwork and how
we might respond or engage with it in relation to our personal
experiences and that of the wider public’s. In succeeding lessons,
we will find out the role of institutions and award giving bodies
in privileging or excluding certain values and forms.