The Work of Art

The Work of Art
9 October – 12 December 2020
1F Galleries
UP Vargas Museum

The UP Vargas Museum presents the exhibition The Work of Art on 9 October, Friday, through the social media platforms of the museum. The exhibition is physically displayed at the 1F Galleries.

The Work of Art pursues the trajectory of the exhibition The Nature of the Collection, exhibited last year at the Vargas, which sifts through the philosophical contexts evoked by the pieces in the collection. The Work of Art gathers art works from various artists that are centered on labor–be it in public or private, domestic or social, personal or historical, thus bringing to light conditions of making and doing. It also attends to the iconography of work and how it translates into the moment of art, from seemingly banal scenes of washing and mothering, to the picturesque rendering of tilling and fishing, and on to the handiwork itself. 

To inflect this instinct is Stone Marker, a video work from 2012 by Mervy Pueblo. The artist describes it as a reflection on the process of making and the experience as maker: “I use video and photography to see the moment when the material is alive and animated during the ritual-like process of mark making. I see stone as my gong, while the chisel and hammer as my dorje.”

The Work of Art runs until 12 December. 

The Work of Art will be virtually on view on the social media platforms of the Vargas Museum as part of the #VargasMuseumVirtualMode campaign; like us on Facebook via https://fb.me/vargasmuseum.upd, follow us on Instagram and Twitter via @upvargasmuseum. For more information, please send an email to vargasmuseum@up.edu.ph. You may also check our website at https://vargasmuseum.wordpress.com.