2007 Ateneo Art Awards Winners Announced

2007 ATENEO ART AWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The 2007 Ateneo Art Awards, the country's premier contemporary art prize,
were conferred on three young Filipino visual artists for their
outstanding contribution to the definition and development of modern and
contemporary Philippine art at a formal ceremony at the Rockwell Tent on
8 August 2007 following the 2007 Ateneo Art Awards exhibition at the
North Court, Power Plant Mall from 2 - 7 August 2007.

The three winners are Lyle Buencamino for the exhibition "A Bowtie for
John Lyle" at Mag:net ABS, Wawi Navarroza for the exhibition "Saturnine:
A Collection of Portraits, Creatures, Glass & Shadow" at the Silverlens
Gallery and MM Yu for the exhibition "Thoughts Collected, Recollected" at
Finale Art Gallery.

The winners were also each bestowed with the Ateneo Art Gallery
International Studio Residency Grant, the only program of its kind
organized by a Philippine cultural institution. Buencamino received the
Ateneo Art Gallery - La Trobe University Bendigo, Australia Residency
Grant, Navorroza the Ateneo Art Gallery - Artesan Gallery Singapore
Residency Grant and Yu the Ateneo Art Gallery - Common Room Bandung,
Indonesia Residency Grant. It provides them with roundtrip airfare,
allowance, accommodation and a work studio for three weeks, as well as an
invitation to exhibit at their respective host venues.

The other artists short-listed for the awards were Racquel de Loyola,
Bembol dela Cruz, Nona Garcia, Winner Jumalon, Yasmin Sison, Jay Ticar,
Mac Valdezco and Jevijoe Vitug.

The theme for this year's exhibition, Global/Vernacular, is recognition
and credence, acknowledging Philippine art has its own nuances yet
believing it moves beyond local context to reverberate cross-culturally.
The theme realizes the question of national identity in the face of
increasing globalization and the challenge to increase the profile of
Filipino art and artists abroad.

Ateneo Art Awards 2007: Global/Vernacular is presented by the Ateneo Art
Gallery together with Unionbank, Metro Society, Power Plant Mall,
Rockwell Land, Smart Gold and Y Style with the support of Artesan
Gallery, Common Room Networks Foundation, Arts Network Asia, La Trobe
University Bendigo, Timbuk2 and Absolut Vodka. The exhibition runs at the
Ateneo Art Gallery from 21 August to 24 September 2007.

For further inquiries on the Ateneo Art Awards, please contact Clarissa
Chikiamco at 426-6488 or at cchikiamco@ateneo. edu.