Ivi Avellana-Cosio — Journey: Art: 50: Part IV: BAYBAYIN (alibata)

1 ARTIST’S NOTES

Journey: Art: 50: Part IV: BAYBAYIN (alibata)

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HIS EXHIBIT IS THE FOURTH IN A SERIES of retrospectives marking my 50 years of artmaking. It showcases my major work of abstractions based on motifs, designs, patterns, weavings, carvings, ornaments, and metalwork, among others, of our non-Hispanicized, nonChristianized indigenous peoples. Sometimes I use illustrations from the Boxer Codex, a manuscript commissioned in 1595 by the Governor General of the Philippines, Luis Pérez de Dasmariñas, as his report to the King of Spain, Carlos V. Apart from descriptions and data regarding territories in the Asia-Pacific region under Spanish rule, the Codex also contained 75 colored paintings of the inhabitants of these colonies, among them 15 from the Philippines – specifically, the Tagalog, Bisayan, Zambal, Cagayano and Negrito. These ancestors are depicted as they appeared at the time of Spanish contact in the 16th C. They are, for the most part, finely dressed, owing to a history of trading with many other foreigners, long before the Portuguese Fernão de Magalhães (or Ferdinand Magellan), sailing under the aegis of the Spanish king Carlos I, landed on these shores in 1521. He did not discover an unknown, uncharted territory, but rather a country whose natives were familiar with silk and other rich materials, spices, gold, ivory, and precious stones.

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All of my paintings in this “neo-ethnic” series are inscribed with the characters from the baybayin, more commonly but erroneously called alibata, which is a term derived from Arabic. Not considered an alphabet, because each character represents a syllable instead of a letter, the baybayin is dated by the eminent anthropologist Dr. Jesus Peralta back to the 10th C., much earlier than was previously thought. In pre-Spanish times, at least seventeen groups of coastal Filipinos communicated using the baybayin. There are different views on its origin (Sumatran, Sanskrit, Buginese, etc.) and there are only 4 tribes left that still use this exotic script – the Pa’lawan and Tagbanwa of Palawan, and the Buhid and Hanunoo of Mindoro. But with just twelve consonants and three vowels, communication was entirely possible, even if the characters were incised only on tree barks, palm leaves or bamboo tubes. Thus, one could write a poem, a chant, a love letter, a folk tale, or a business transaction using this system. The famous Jesuit missionary and historian Fr. Pedro Chirino wrote in 1604: “All these islanders are much given to reading and writing, and there is hardly a man, and much less a woman, who does not read and write in the characters used in Manila, which are entirely different from those of China, Japan and India. By means of these characters, they make themselves understood and convey ideas marvelously, he who reads supplying with much skill the consonants which are missing.”

During his assignment in the Philippines, Fr. Chirino also recorded the eventual transition of the native writing from the baybayin to the Latin alphabet. Traditionally written from bottom to top, the syllabary underwent a major change as the Spanish missionaries preferred to spread the Christian faith using the more familiar Western custom of writing, left to right and starting at the top, causing some characters to acquire a different axis. When I use the characters of the baybayin, they will not necessarily form a familiar word. I may use parts of different syllabaries; for example, Tagalog beside Bisaya, Mangyan beside Tagbanwa, or I may repeat a single character over and over, depending on my composition.

The calligraphic quality of the baybayin lends itself well to a combination with the color field, a preference in my work as an abstractionist.

The patterns and motifs are picked up from the different tribes; for example, Bagobo, T’boli, Yakan, Mandaya, Tagakaolo, Kalagan/Talaandig, B’laan.

The respected critic and xylographer Dr. Rod. Paras-Perez wrote about my 1992 baybayin project grant installation (48 ft. x 12 ft.) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Little Theater Lobby: “Avellana-Cosio’s appropriation of ethnic motifs, and the way she endowed these with meaning, partly personal and partly anthropological, actually gives to her series-cumsingle-installation, a voice clamoring to be heard in the now. As a modern voice: almost like putting ethnic voices and imagery into a time machine....

Investing images from the distant past with personal meanings (as Avellana-Cosio did) is a way of domesticating, once more, such images alienated from us by time. This is part of the new mission of the contemporary artist. Also, the very act which updates for us, ancient images......

Avellana-Cosio creates her visual myths, her coping-symbols, using all the recent visual idioms available, plus other means from other disciplines like anthropology. The idea of identifying cultural roots in order to more easily understand the present is an insistent leit motif in her works.”

(Taipan Magazine, January 1993)

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IVI AVELLANA-COSIO Born in Manila, Philippines Educated at University of Sto.Tomas, Manila, Fine Arts, Major in Advertising (undergraduate) 1959-1960; Philippine Women’s University College of Music and Fine Arts (painting classes); Contemporary Graphic Arts Workshop, Manila (printmaking) Has exhibited professionally since 1967 to the present in over 250 group shows of Philippine and international art (paintings, prints, sculptures, photographs, installations) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines; Museum of Philippine Art; Metropolitan Museum; Philippine International Convention Center; National Commission for Culture and the Arts; Alliance Française de Manille; de la Salle Museum; Ayala Museum; Lopez Museum; Vargas Museum; Yuchengco Museum; Maryknoll/Miriam College; Ateneo de Manila; University of the Philippines; Phil-American Life Insurance Corporation; Luz Gallery; Sining Kamalig; Finale Artfile; Arts and Associates Gallery; Avellana Art Gallery; Galleria Duemila; West Gallery; Heritage Art Gallery; Galerie Bleue; Cosmopolitan Gallery; Galerie Astra; Capitana Gallery; Tin-Aw Gallery; Panublion Museum; Archivo 1984 Gallery; Yuchengco Museum; other private galleries and venues in Manila.

Has shown in exhibitions of Philippine and international art in Brunei; Bangkok; Kuala Lumpur; Jakarta; Singapore; San Francisco; Fukuoka; Beijing; Toronto; Melbourne; Munich; Valparaiso; Valencia; Madrid; Athens; United Arab Emirates. Has had joint exhibits with husband Allan locally and in Cividale, Italy; Vientiane, Laos; Budapest; Melbourne.

Represented in over 500 local private collections; private collections in Udine, Brescia and Palmanova, Italy; Lausanne; Valencia and Zaragoza; the Netherlands; Israel; Vientiane; Dammam, KSA; and institutional collections in Nauru; Hong Kong; Singapore; Taipei.

Has had 36 solo exhibitions of paintings, prints, photographs and installations since 1987.

AWA R D S & D I S T I N CT I O N S

2017 Top 100 Artists; 2012- Top 100 Professionals; 1992- World Who’s Who

of Women 1992-93; as named by the International Biographical Society,

Cambridge, England 2005 1st Runnerup Prize for “Portrait: Rediscovering a Filipino Film Classic”,

19th Gawad CCP Film and Video Competition (co-written with award winning filmmaker Butch Nolasco, narrated by Ivi Avellana-Cosio); named

among top 20 documentaries in festival history 1999 Araw ng Maynila Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award for Painting

given by the City of Manila 1997

Finalist, Philip Morris ASEAN Art Awards Top Five, Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards

1996

Honorable Mention, Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards

1995

Juror’s Choice, Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards

1994

Juror’s Choice, Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards

1991 Project Grant awarded by the Cultural Center of the Philippines for a large scale installation (48ft. x 12ft.) exhibited 1992-93 at the Pasilyo Carlos V.

Francisco (Little Theater Lobby) of the CCP 1975 2nd Prize, Sculpture Division, 28th Annual Art Association of the Philippines

Competition (first sculpture) 1971

Grand Prize, 4th Annual Philippine Association of Printmakers Competition

1968 1st Honorable Mention, Mixed Media Division, 1st Annual Philippine

Association of Printmakers Competition 1967

2nd Prize, Graphic Arts Division, 1st Philippine Air Lines Art Competition

Has had short stories, columns and articles published in local periodicals. Awarded scholarship in 1962 by the Ateneo de Manila Graduate School for a seminar on Creative Writing conducted in Manila by Prof. Leonard Casper of the University of Boston. Has acted since childhood on radio, stage and television. Has appeared with the Barangay Theatre Guild, Arena Theater, Repertory Philippines, Family Theater, Ateneo Playhouse. Has done stage management, costume design and production work for the Barangay Theatre Guild, Repertory Philippines, Zarzuela Foundation of the Philippines, Diadem Productions (filming of Nick Joaquin’s “Portrait of the Artist as Filipino”)

Founding member and past president, Philippine Association of Printmakers (1969)

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LIST OF WORKS

1

Ginto II 2004 mixed media

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30.48 × 30.48 CM / 12 × 12 IN

2

Ginto I 2004 mixed media

91.5 × 91.5 CM / 36 × 36 IN

10

30.48 × 30.48 CM / 12 × 12 IN

3

Tagakaolo/B’laan 1992 mixed media

T’boli 2004 mixed media

11

Hanunoo 2004 mixed media

12

Ukit Tagbanwa 2005 mixed media

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Bulan 2015 mixed media

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Sulát Para Sa Cay Mama 2014 mixed media 121.92 × 121.92 CM / 48 × 48 IN PRIVATE COLLECTION

Daigdig Katutubo 1999 mixed media 183 × 183 CM / 72 × 72 IN PRIVATE COLLECTION

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91.5 × 91.5 CM / 36 × 36 IN PRIVATE COLLECTION

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Jangan Bagobo 2011 mixed media 121.92 × 121.92 CM / 48 × 48 IN

91.5 × 91.5 CM / 36 × 36 IN

7

Ginton 2009 mixed media 91.5 × 91.5 CM / 36 × 36 IN

61 × 61 CM / 24 × 24 IN

6

Maranaw Moon 2015 mixed media 91.5 × 91.5 CM / 36 × 36 IN

61 × 61 CM / 24 × 24 IN

5

S’lad 2009 mixed media 91.5 × 91.5 CM / 36 × 36 IN

208 × 141.5 CM / 81 × 55 IN

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Ukit Tagbanwa II 2009 mixed media

Ukit Tagbanwa II 2015 mixed media 121.92 × 121.92 CM / 48 × 48 IN

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Mamanuk 2005 mixed media 61 × 61 CM / 24 × 24 IN

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Kararaga III 2005 mixed media

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61 × 61 CM / 24 × 24 IN

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Ninuno Sa Puno I 2015 mixed media

61 × 61 CM / 24 × 24 IN

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61 × 61 CM / 24 × 24 IN

19

Ninuno Sa Puno II 2015 mixed media

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Talaandig 2005 mixed media

Yakan Sinaluan 2015 mixed media 129.5 × 129.5 CM / 59.5 × 59.5 IN

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61 × 61 CM / 24 × 24 IN

20

Bunga-bunga 2018 mixed media

Ninuno sa Timog 2004 mixed media 91.5 × 61 CM / 36 × 24 IN

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Ninuno sa ilalim ng puno 2015 mixed media

91.5 × 91.5 CM / 36 × 36 IN

61 × 61 CM / 24 × 24 IN

Sulat Hanunoo Mangyan 2018 mixed media

Sulát Para Sa Cay Mama (detail)

ON THE COVER

61 × 61 CM / 24 × 24 IN

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Sulat Tagbanwa 2018 mixed media 61 × 61 CM / 24 × 24 IN

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Kararaga II 2004 mixed media 91.5 × 91.5 CM / 36 × 36 IN

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Bituon 2018 mixed media 61 × 61 CM / 24 × 24 IN

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g al leria duem ila was established in 1975 by Italian born Silvana AncellottiDiaz. Duemila means “twentieth century”, and it was this vision that inspired Duemila’s advocacy in promoting and preserving Philippine contemporary art. To date, it is the longest running commercial art gallery in the Philippines maintaining a strong international profile. With the vision to expose its artists locally and within the ASEAN region, Duemila complements its exhibits with performances, readings and musical events in its custom-built gallery in Pasay City, Manila.

Galleria Duemila takes pride in being the only local gallery to publish and mount retrospectives of artists as part of its advocacy in pursuing art historical research and scholarship. With the collaboration of institutions, Duemila has mounted the retrospectives of

Roberto M.A. Robles (Ateneo Art Gallery, 2011), Duddley Diaz (Vargas Museum, 2009), Julie Lluch Dalena (Cultural Center of the Philippines, 2008). It has also published a book on Diosdado Magno Lorenzo (National Library of the Philippines, 2009) and produced a major Pacita Abad exhibition at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, 2004.

The gallery maintains close ties with museums throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States. Its futurist vision keeps it at the cuttingedge of Philippine art, making and archiving history as it happens.

s e rv i ce s : conservation an d r e s t or ation of p a i n t i n g s , consu ltancy s e rv i ce s , c om m issions and i n s t a llat i on

Ivi Avellana-Cosio Journey: Art: 50: Part IV: BAYBAYIN (alibata) M AY 0 5 - 2 9 , 2 0 1 8

A RT D I R E C T O R

Silvana Ancellotti-Diaz

EXHIBITION TEAM

Johanna Labitoria Vicente Amancio, Jr. Jose Jeoffrey Baba Gabriel Abalos Dianne Ong

Thess Ponce Bing Francisco Roy Abrenica Edgar Bautista

C ATA L O G U E D E S I G N

Anna Rafanan

Copyright Š 2018 Ivi Avellana-Cosio and Galleria Duemila, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system transmitted in any form or by any means without the written consent of the abovementioned copyright holders, with the exception of reasonably brief excerpts and quotations used in articles, critical essays or research.