The Asian Cultural Council Philippines Foundation (ACC Philippines) celebrates 25 years of solid commitment to nurturing Filipino artists and fostering cultural exchange. To mark ACC Philippines’ silver year are a series of special events beginning with its much-anticipated annual Asian Cultural Council Auction set to take place on February 22, 2025, at 2:00pm at Leon Gallery.\
The fundraising auction directly benefits the ACC Philippine Fellowship Program, which empowers Filipino artists by providing opportunities to engage in apprenticeship programs, pursue research and studies, participate in international collaborations, and learn from esteemed mentors and experts abroad. These initiatives align with ACC’s overarching mission to advance international dialogue and cultural exchange, fostering mutual understanding and respect across cultures.
Since 1963, when ACC started giving grants to support artists in their self-exploration and development through cultural exchange in the United States and/or intra-Asia, the growing list of Filipino artists who have received the ACC fellowship grant continues.
ACC Philippine Grantees
Nine Filipino artists and art specialists representing Visual Arts, Theater, Literature, Conservation, and Art Criticism are the recent additions to the roster of ACC’s outstanding fellows and alumni all over the world.
Currently on their ACC fellowship are dance artist MARIA PATRICIA BERNAS who is pursuing her Master of Science in Dance Movement Therapy at Sarah Lawrence College in the United States; theater arts practitioner AINA RAMOLETE who is pursuing her MA in Puppet Arts at the University of Connecticut; Literary artist PADMAPANI PEREZ who is conducting her research in India; visual artist ARCHIE OCLOS is conducting his research in Coney Island; dramaturg and educator SIR ANRIL TIATCO is training on dramaturgy in New York; curator and critic JOHN ALEXIS BALAGUER is also in New York for his research on exhibition writing and art criticism. Conservation specialist PETER JOHN NATIVIDAD has just returned from his fellowship in Japan for his research on the techniques used in the mounting and seismic control system of display and storage in museums; while theater artist TONI GO and stage writer and director JOSHUA LIM SO are set to leave in July for their New York fellowship.
Through the years, ACC is proud to have supported almost 300 exceptional alumni, some of them have become revered National Artists such as Jose Joya, Lucresia Kasilag, Lamberto Avellana, Alejandro Roces, Francisco Feliciano, Jose Maceda, Kidlat Tahimik, Ramon Santos and Alice Reyes. They are joined by icons of contemporary art and some of the most promising young creatives of this generation. From the year 2000, grants were supported and sustained through the fundraising projects of the ACC Philippines Foundation Trustees and the donations from ACC sponsors and benefactors.
The ACC Auction, with Preview starting February 18, 2025 at 6:00pm, has become a highly anticipated event in the art and cultural community, bringing together esteemed collectors, patrons, and art enthusiasts to support a meaningful cause. Among the important pieces up for bid are by ACC alumni, starting with 1967 ACC Fellow and National Artist JOSE JOYA, 1968 ACC Fellow, Gawad CCP Awardee and Father of Philippine Conceptual Art ROBERTO CHABET, and ACC 2012 Fellow RIEL HILARIO. The proceeds from the auction will help sustain the foundation’s grants program, ensuring that Filipino artists continue to have access to invaluable learning and growth opportunities on the global stage.
For more information on the auction, visit www.leon-gallery.com. To know more about the ACC and how to support its programs, visit www.asianculturalcouncil.org
León Gallery and the Asian Cultural Council Philippines Foundation, Inc. welcome everyone to the Asian Cultural Council Auction happening on February 22, 2025, Saturday, at 2 PM. This 2025 marks 10 years of collaboration between Leon Gallery and The Asian Cultural Council, a partnership that has continuously devoted itself to the mission of granting multiple talented Filipino artists the opportunity to broaden their artistic horizons in international waters.
“The past ten years have been fruitful; collaborating with the ACC in their pursuit of granting numerous talented Filipino artists the opportunity to spread their creative wings abroad has always been our utmost privilege,” says León Gallery director Jaime Ponce de León in the auction catalog’s foreword.
“Monumental pieces await in honor of this watershed moment in our fruitful relationship,” says Ponce de León.
Works of three ACC grantees are going under the block. National Artist Jose Joya – ACC’s first Filipino grantee for the visual arts – has his work Evening in Shanghai, an important historical artifact of the Philippines’ friendship with China.
There is also ACC 1968 Grantee for Museology Roberto Chabet’s 1978 work from his “Pillow Series” and 2012 grantee Riel Hilario’s mixed-media work tackling the intersection of folk art and spirituality.
Another highlight of this landmark auction is Anita Magsaysay-Ho’s On the Beach, a work belonging to her inkblot series that is part of her “Hong Kong Paintings,” a 17-year-long period Anita herself described as her “most productive years.”
On the other hand, Anita’s terracotta work titled Mother and Child is one of only three sculptures made by the foremost Filipina modernist, a must-have rarity.
Two facets of Vicente Manansala are equally represented in this sale. On the one hand is his Neo-Realist phase represented by the 1957 work Dambana, depicting the baroque grandiosity of our Spanish colonial heritage and is the worthy heir to the “Dambana” of 1956, the much-beloved, acclaimed, and widely exhibited work of Manansala in the late 1950s. On the other side are two rare works from his Cubist, stained glass-style period of the early to mid-1960s: Mother and Child from the collection of Arch. Gabriel Formoso, eminent designer of beloved Makati CBD landmarks, including the Manila Pen; and Sabungero, from the collection of noted diplomat, Ambassador Jose Vicente “J.V.” Cruz.
Two highly important works from eminent Filipino artists who found success overseas are also going under the block in this auction.
Fernando Zóbel’s Septiembre, a las siete de la tarde, en Tres Juncos was featured in the July 1966 reportage of TIME Magazine on the artist’s brainchild, Cuenca’s Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, and deservedly put Zóbel on the global art map.
Juan Luna’s Portrait of Irene della Rocca depicts the sister of Adele della Rocca, whose portrait, also by Luna, was sold at a record-breaking price in Leon’s September auction of last year. Irene and Adele were the nieces of Gen. Enrico della Rocca, the senior aide-de-camp of King Umberto I of Italy.
The ACC auction is also presenting three important paintings by three artists that set the trajectory for their respective legacies in Philippine art.
Hernando R. Ocampo’s Terminal is one of the first pieces he painted in his much-coveted Visual Melody Period, painting the work in the same year as the iconic Genesis of the CCP.
Ang Kiukok’s Android from his eponymous series of robotized humanity was featured in a landmark 1966 Luz Gallery exhibit that manifested his artistic coming-of-age, the birth of his trademark Cubist-Expressionist idiom.
Elmer Borlongan’s Pahinga, from his early artistic years, is considered one of his most important works by none other than the influential art patron, Dr. Joven Cuanang.
Two masterpieces from the collection of Arthur Hill, Philippine representative of the Ford Foundation and his wife, Julie Hill are going under the block for the benefit of bright yet underprivileged provincial students who passed the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) but do not have the means to afford the cost of living in a UP campus. These are H.R. Ocampo’s spirited A Song for Summer and Ang Kiukok’s tender Mother and Child.
Regarding the sale of these two works, Ponce de Leon says, “We are very privileged to be a part of this generous undertaking in support of our youth.”
Mr. Ponce de Leon earnestly invites everyone to partake in this another momentous occasion in Philippine art. “We would like to thank everyone who has always devotedly joined us on our continuing mission to foster and champion the genius of the Filipino artist,” he says. “On behalf of Team León Gallery, we invite you to this yet another exciting milestone in Philippine art. We look forward to celebrating more anniversaries with all of you.”
The Asian Cultural Council Auction is happening on February 22, 2025, 2 PM, at Eurovilla 1, Rufino corner Legazpi Streets, Legazpi Village, Makati City. Preview week is from February 15 to 21, 2024, from 9 AM to 7 PM. For further inquiries, email info@leon-gallery.com or contact +632 8856-27-81. To browse the catalog, visit www.leon-gallery.com.
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