Multi-awarded Filipino publisher and artist Roy Espinosa just released the coffee table book “Contemporary Art by Asian Artists.” The art book explores the culturally diverse posits of 60 Asian visual artists as they “respond to personal and conglomerate notions of inner visions and exoteric realities projected in their art and art-making.”
The project by Filarts, Inc. featured artworks from the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and India. The artists involved articulated to a large degree the cultural identity of their nations.
Serving as content editor is one-time Manila Bulletin writer and National Museum art researcher Ben-Oliver Matias who worked with co-authors Vanessa Tan Gana and Ruth C. Espinosa.
Espinosa, himself a revered visual artist and international art exhibit organizer, was able to make the artists work for a common purpose despite the pandemic. He related, “The fluidity by which they address personal issues, societal concerns, and global discourses through the use of visual imagery and textual iconography is emblematic of a heuristic understanding of the role of art as an ever-evolving agency of change.”
Filarts, short for Filipinas Institute for the Advancement of Arts and Culture, advocates the development and advancement of Filipino art by providing the platform from which to navigate the country’s culture and identity. It previously initiated collaborative undertakings through the publication of several art books, namely, “Different Strokes 1” (2015), “Different Strokes 2-Watercolor Magic” (2016), “Art Saturday” (2017), “Grupo Kwad” (2017), and “Palettes Feast of Colors” (2017). To date, Filarts publishes the Filipino Artists magazine and South East Asian Artists magazine, and spearheads collaborative art exhibitions to create intercultural exchange between the Philippines and other countries.
Espinosa further explained, “Filarts’ sixth coffee table book also showcases a paradigmatic immersion on depicting universal theme unbounded by geographic border, social status, or race. A multi-faceted approach is shared across time and space by these uniquely talented visual artists as they present a united front in the promulgation of culture through the arts.”