(Pictures available, please contact Maricel at the contact link above)
In Residence: Tony Twigg
15 May – 26 June 2006
Ian Fairweather in the Philippines
27 June – 13 August 2006
The Lobby
From 15 May to 26 June, Australian artist Tony Twigg will be a visiting research fellow at the UP Jorge B. Vargas Museum & Filipiniana Research Center. “Ian Fairweather in the Philippines” opens at the Lobby Gallery of the UP Jorge B. Vargas Museum on 27 June 2006.
While in residence, Twigg will explore the Vargas archives to look for materials on Filipino National Artist Victorio Edades, whom Ian Fairweather met during his stay in the Philippines. Twigg’s investigation of the Edades-Fairweather interaction will add to the history of art prior to World War II. This will also remind us that the Philippines and Australia has had exchange and travel relations even before their governments created foreign policies.
Fellow artists regard Ian Fairweather as Australia’s greatest painter of all time, in addition to having an exciting, tragic, extremely diverse and interesting life. He was born in Scotland in 1891, extensively traveled during his years of early education, attended an officer training school and became a POW during WWI. He studied art in Holland, London, Munich, the Hague Academy, privately with Johannes van Mastenbroek, the School of Oriental Studies, and the Slade School in London. Fairweather arrived in Melbourne, Australia in 1934, and much later that year, he traveled to the Philippines. Here he acquired the oriental sense of space vis-à-vis European context. This became the prevailing feature in his paintings from this period onwards.
Fairweather achieved what few artists have accomplished --- the combination of western and Asian influences in his work. Among these few artists who combined occidental and oriental influences are American artist Mark Tobey and Filipino National Artist Edades.
After the residency, Twigg will present his explorations in “Ian Fairweather in the Philippines.” He will mainly feature seven scrolls of reproduced artwork of Fairweather. In addition, historic and contemporary photographs and artworks by other artists similar to the oriental influence of Fairweather’s artworks will also be shown.
The show will run until 13 August 2006. For inquiries, please call Linda at 928-1927, or email [email protected].
