His exhibited works at the famed Academy included a huge painting of Filipino fishermen at midnight, a virtual sculpture of Venus de Milo, and a handpainted silk scarf.
The oil painting on canvas entitled “Night Fishing On Manila Bay” measuring 326 cms width x 193 cms height, and composed of panels, covered a whole wall of the venue and viewers will need to go back a bit in order to view the whole landscape.
David Medalla, the artist with his short white hair and silk scarf, said — “Alam mo ito, gumawa ako ng 24 na mga paintings ng buhay sa atin mula sa bukid hanggang sa lungsod, magmula sa umaga hanggang hatinggabi tapos umaga na naman. You know, sa liwayway ng araw. Nag-umpisa sa bayan, nung hatinggabi ganyan, naging turning point. So it’s a celebration of life in our country.”
[Trans – “You know what, I made 24 paintings of life back home from the fields to the city, from morning to midnight until morning again. You know, from the rising of the sun. Starting from the town, then like this at midnight, it became a turning point. So it’s a celebration of life in our country.”]
His Venus de Milo is meant for active participation of the gallery-goer in the way they interact with the virtual sculpture. The way the participant poses gives the impression of giving the world famous sculpted woman arms and hands which would otherwise be missing.
Medalla has been living in Europe for more than four decades, and is based in Bracknell, Berkshire. Ever since he was a student at Columbia University in the 1950s he was already known for what he calls ‘visionary art’ and performance art.
Guy Brett, the art critic & author and long time friend of Medalla, in his black beret and glasses, said – “Yes, well I’ve known David since 1960. I met him in 1960 when he first arrived in London from the Philippines and I followed all the different phases that his work has been through but I know that he’s always painted from the beginning from the time that he was a teenager in Manila and he’s still painting. Every now and then he produces a painting which somehow has a style which is not really like anybody else’s. “
Looking at the fishermen painting, Brett said, “Ah so this is the first time I’ve seen this painting it tells me he’s still working on it. It’s not finished yet.”
In addition to the Royal Academy, Medalla was also the first Filipino artist whose work was purchased by the Tate Modern in the Southbank, for the whopping sum of £30,000 (around Php 2-3 million).
This was “Cloud Canyons No. 3”, one in a series of his iconic “Bubble Machines”, which is now on permanent exhibit at the huge warehouse-like art repository by the River Thames.
Another art historian/critic who was at Medalla’s opening, Alison Green, with her black swept back hair and dangling earrings, confirmed his role in modern art – “Ah I think this is a great opportunity to get to know David Medalla’s work. Since the mid 1960’s David Medalla’s a major international figure in contemporary practice. Except he’s done this by intentionally occupying the peripheries of art making and the art establishment and playing the provocateur in that relationship, ah challenging the viewers in terms of their preconceptions of art.”
She continued, “What’s interesting about him is his longevity, the fact that he has continued to be innovative and to respond to challenges to himself and to his work and to continue in a way to stay relevant to what is happening right now. It’s a major achievement, I believe.”
Whilst his name is already known in modern art circles worldwide, Medalla continues to show his Filipino roots in his artistic creations, and on a more practical and nationalistic level, by continuing to hold on to his Philippine nationality and passport, despite having been a permanent resident of the United Kingdom for many years.
Medalla was one of seven artists invited to bring out a limited edition of scarves so that art lovers attending the Academy exhibit could bring home an affordable souvenir with them. Truly a limited edition, Medalla only produced 30 scarves and even at the rate of £120 each, the lot went very quickly.
It would be very difficult indeed for any other artist to achieve what David Medalla has already done in international art, and with his exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art his name, and the country he represents, will take on extra brilliance.
[Written in November 2008]
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