CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE ARTS OF THE
REGION
LESSON 1:
➤ What is Art?
• Art can be defined as a human activity that
involves the creation of visual, auditory or
performed artifacts known as artworks.
• Art may also defined as a way of life.
• Art can also be defined through its nature and
characteristics.
➤ Why Do We Need to Study Art?
Art is consumed everyday.
1. Studying art allows you to have an eye for
aesthetics.
2. It trains your mind to evaluate, scrutinize, and
criticize elements of an artwork.
3. Art allows you to be observant and look for
meaning in what you see, hear, and experience.
4. Art offers psychotherapeutic benefits.
➤ Nature of Art
❖ Mimesis - Greek word mimesis means to imitate. It
is the representation of nature, and all art that has been
created has undergone a form of imitation.
❖ Expression - It is taken from the idea that art serves
as a vehicle for conveying feelings and emotions.
• Leo Tolstoy - An expression and feeling felt by
the artist that lets the viewers share the same
thoughts and feelings.
• Benedetto Croce - Arises only when there is
intense feeling.
• John Hospers - Art might not stem from
emotions alone. Viewers may not feel what the
artist felt during the art production.
• RG Collingwood - Not an expression alone but is
also communication that conveys real emotions
and creates deep communion with those who were
able to witness it.
❖ Man-made objects, ready-made & found
objects - This is a concept of taking in pre-existing
objects and elevating them to the level of art.
• Marcel Duchamp (mostly credited for being
ready-made.)
❖ The Philippines has a rich culture of arts and has
produced art even in pre-colonial period.
LESSON 2:
➤ Indigenous Art Forms
A. It is an art form created by various ethnolinguistic
groups.
B. Uses indigenous materials that are assembled to
create comprehensive artwork.
C. It is an intangible art representing the
ethnolinguistic group where it came from.
➤ Tangible & Intangible Indigenous Art Forms
• Weaved Products
• Clay & Porcelain
• Stone Sculpted Products
• Wood Sculpted Products
❖ Oral traditions, Expressions, and Language - In
form of songs, epics, sayings, and community-based
language calls.
➤ Performance Art
• Moro Moro - Moro-Moro is a traditional Philippine
folk theater genre that depicts the conflict
between Christians and Muslims, often featuring
battles between the two groups.
• Moriones - The festival is held during Holy Week
and involves masked and costumed performers,
known as "Moriones," who reenact the story of
Longinus, the Roman centurion who pierced the
side of Jesus during the Crucifixion.
• Jousting & Balitaw – Jousting is a traditional
medieval martial sport in which two armored
knights on horseback charge at each other with
lances, attempting to knock each other off their
horses. Balitaw is a traditional Filipino song and
dance form originating from the Visayas region of
the Philippines. It is often performed as a
courtship dance, where a male and a female
dancer engage in a lyrical conversation set to
music.
➤ Social practices, rituals, and festivities
• Uyauy - Marriage ritual
• Pangasi - Making of rice wine
• Agsana - Salt making.
Atang - The ritual involves leaving a plate of food
as an offering for the dead or the spirits/wake
ritual.
❖ Cosmology - Influences art forms woven in fabric,
carved in wood and stones, or expressed in the creation
of coffins and burial sites.
❖ Traditional Craftmanship - Expressed in headwear
such as Salakot, transportation such as the wooden
boats, smithery such as that of Hinagiban or Sundang • Expressive Lines -
(long knives or bolos), tapestries and textiles. They are marks,
usually in the form of
LESSON 3: a curve, that creates
the dynamism of a
Art has a set of fundamental elements that, when work of art.
effectively put together, makes it pleasing to the senses.

1. Line - It is technically defined as a mark connecting

the space between two points. It helps to determine • Outline or
the work’s direction, motion and energy. Countour Lines -
2. Value - is the addition of either light or dark in an Outline: the edge of
artwork and is often characterized by tint and shade. a shape or figure
3. Color - It is a fundamental artistic element in many depicted by an actual
visually sensed art forms, such as paintings, dances line drawn or painted
and theater. on the surface.
4. Texture - It is the tactile quality of the surface or Contour line: the
the perceptible sense of touch of an art. perceived line that
5. Form - It is the overall physical nature that the marks the border of
work occupies. an object in space.
6. Space - It is the area that exists between two
identifiable points. • Hatch Lines - They are
7. Shape - It refers to the area, defined by boundaries short, repeated lines
and edges, in a two-dimensional space. typically in a single direction
• Volume - It refers to the height, width, and and are used to add volume
depth. and texture to a flat surface.
8. Text - Letters or text are overlooked as an element
of art. Each letter can be illustrated in various font
designs and colors, which enhances the meaning of ➤ Kinds of Texture
an artwork. • Visual Texture - It is an
implied sense of touch
➤ Types of Lines made by using artistic
• Actual Lines - They are elements such as lines,
physically present, acting shades and colors.
as a solid connection • Actual Texture - It is
between two points. the physical texture or
the real tangible texture
• Implied Lines - They that can achieved
are paths that the through how the
viewers’ eyes take as they medium is applied.
follow through the other
components such as
colors, shapes, or forms. LESSON 4:

• Classic or Straight ➤ Principles of Design

Lines - They are used to 1. Proportion - It is the relationship between
add stability and are elements and the whole work. (Golden Ratio: 1.618)
usually in the form of 2. Balance - It is also called as “Compositional
vertical, horizontal, and Balance. It is used in such a way that the elements
diagonal lines. of art are positioned where no one overpowers the
others
3. Movement - It is an art principle intended to show
static, time-based, or direct action that creates a
path for an audience’s eye to follow.
4. Unity - It is also called cohesion. It is the
positioning and use of elements that create cohesive
aesthetics.
5. Contrast - It is the observable difference between
the elements being used and is often employed to
create a sense of comparison or boundaries.
6. Patterns and Rhythms - These are movements
marked by an intended succession of the repetition
of elements or parallel or opposing conditions.
5. Performance - Art can also be considered
performance when it employs movement and time,
which are important facets of performance.
6. Hybridity - It is mixing two or more elements to
create a cohesive artwork. The main idea of it is to
create relationships between various realms in art
creation.
7. Technology - Its integration in art have fully
formed a new sphere in art creation.

➤ Types of Balance
• Symmetrical
balance
(elements evenly
distributed on
either side of a
central axis).
• Asymmetrical
balance (elements
unevenly distributed
but creating a sense of
equilibrium).

• Radial balance
(elements
arranged around
a central point
or axis,
radiating outward in a circular or spiral pattern).

➤ Creative Elements
1. Material - It is also called a medium. It is any
material along with an accompanying technique that
produces a work of art.
2. Meaning - In art, in can be defined as having an
intentional cost or having a story to tell.
• Representational Art - Derive its meaning from
real objects, often retaining a strong reference to
the real world.
• Non-representational Art – Abstraction. It
takes liberty in the meaning that the audience gets
from viewing it.
3. Context - It consists of all the elements and things
that influence the created artwork or the artist who
created it.
• Contextualism - It is the idea of looking at the
cultural context of an artwork, may help artists
and viewers better understand the artwork.
4. Appropriation - In art, it does not only refer to
respecting the context of an artwork but also to
acknowledging the owners and the original intent of
the artwork.