(From left) Vice President of Arts Council of Cebu Maia Franco, Fair Director Allen Tan, Fair Curator Jay Nathan Jore, and artist and lawyer Jovi Neri pose for a photo during a press conference on Thursday, August 24, 2023. | CDN photo by Niña Mae Oliverio
CEBU CITY, Philippines –“Juxtapose” will be the theme of the fifth edition of the Tubô Cebu Art Fair that will be staged from September 15 to 17, 2023.
Allen Tan, the fair’s director, explained that to juxtapose is putting two things beside each other to highlight “how different they are, how the same they are, and to bring out the best of these things.”
From having 25 booths in 2018 in the fair’s first installation with more or less 100 artists, this year, there will be 112 booths and over 500 artists participating mainly from Cebu and some from other parts of Visayas and Mindanao.
The fair will highlight the masterpieces of artists from the Southern Philippines at the Ayala Center Cebu.
Among the partial list of exhibitors are Art Portal Cebu, KOMiWET, Bohol Pop, Mono8 Gallery, Qube Gallery, Manila Art Frames, 856 Gallery, Cebu Artists Inc., Toledo Neo Arts Group, Agurang Artist Group, Studio31, Iloilo Artists Group, and Palawan Artists Collective among others.
Meanwhile, some of the individual artists who will be participating are Alexa Jade, Clint Normandia, Jovi Neri, Luwalhati, Mia Go, Rhea Victoria Climaco, Wevarlee Patosa, and many others.
Tan said that the participating artists are very excited to share their works.
“We want to bring people there to appreciate what we have to offer,” he said during a press conference on Thursday, August 24.
He said that some of the reactions that they received last year and in the previous years was that people told them that they did not know there are a huge number of artists in Cebu who are producing quality crafts.
The Tubô Cebu Art Fair which started in 2018, is organized by the Arts Council of Cebu Foundation, Inc. with a vision of promoting cultural consciousness and creativity. In its fifth edition, the arts council continues to provide a platform for the artists to showcase their best works, hoping that the art fair will continue to operate for more years.
Among the highlights of this year’s Juxtapose art fair is the launching of the book by renowned lawyer and artist Jovi Neri.
Neri’s book entitled, “Just a Lawyer Drawing Sports Icons” will be showcased at the fair, and at least 15 pieces of his drawings featured in the book, including some cover art and matching stickers and postcards will be offered to the public in his booth.
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Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno, the most distinguished Filipino bowler will also be there as a special guest for book signing. He was also the one who wrote the foreword of Neri’s book.
“Since it’s an art fair, we also welcome the serious collector. We always have a signature collection which is a highly curated small set of pieces with no price cap by the best of the best of the time because people have different works at different times, so we invite a special selection of artists that can give works with bigger sizes and no price cap,” he said.
The said works will be displayed at the gallery area of Ayala Center Cebu.
The fair director is inviting art enthusiasts as well as art collectors to visit the fair in September.
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In its fifth year, the Juxtapose art fair will also be awarding the best booths according to the fair’s curator, Jay Nathan Jore.
“What we want also is to build a community of artists. We realized every year that it would be really nice for artists to gather to one place, [to] talk and interact because the rest of the mall hours, they are in their booths manning, selling, engaging with the clients,” Jore said.
On Saturday night, September 16, they will hold the first Tubô Artist Night at the University of the Philippines-Cebu Jose Joya Gallery.
Art and Fashion
Another event that art enthusiasts should anticipate this September is the one involving art and fashion, where, besides art, they will also be doing a mini fashion show.
In the fashion show, the artists will set out some things to some of Cebu’s top designers who will then interpret these pieces in dress form.
There will also be a panel discussion on September 17 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at The Gallery in Ayala Center Cebu, where guests and enthusiasts will have the opportunity to listen to the artistic practices of the invited panelists namely lawyer Jovi Neri, writer and filmmaker Januar Yap, and fashion designer OJ Hofer. /rcg
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