Essay About Philippine Art

To define is to limit.

For centuries, the world has been trying to explicitly put into words what art really is. For Socrates, art is simply an imitation of reality. His student Plato even believes that the material world is only a copy of how things are in the realm of ideas. Art, then, is a mimesis of this Material world. For Picasso, art is a lie that helps us realize the truth. To many, art is simply an expression. It is the freedom to translate our feelings and thoughts into visions that capture their essence. But even this does not completely capture the entirety of what art is.

Art has evolved through generations. It has manifested itself through different mediums. From the first paintings, art has travelled through the streets and theatres, and displayed itself through sculptures installations and photos. It has transcended traditional visuals forms, establishing its own right

It is essentially a walkthrough on how the face of Philippine art is changed and influenced by the multiple political, cultural, and social movements the country has gone through, and how it will possibly be presented in the years to

Traditional, Pre-Colonial Philippine art serve as a form of documentation in itself of the lifestyle and the culture during that time in history. The usual culprits that most are familiar with are the various potteries and jars were used for rituals, burials, or even for simple storage and everyday tasks. A famous example is the Manunggul Jar which dates back to the metal age. If we base our country’s history on Henry Otley Beyer’s wave migration theory, our pottery culture would have started approximately 60,000 years ago when the Indones migrated to our islands. Aside from pottery, other practices from the pre-colonial era could be considered today as