ASSESSMENT TASK 7-1
1. What art form can you more relate to and appreciate? It may be architecture, sculpture,
painting, music, literature, film, dance, performance/theater, and living traditions.
I can most relate to music because I am a listener. Listening to a song I like improves my
emotional condition. It provides me relaxation and it distracts me from negative thoughts.
Listening to my favorite songs make me more peaceful.
2. Name an artist whose works you really like.
Van Gogh
3. Is there a particular work of art created by him or her that you related to and appreciate?
What is it and why?
Starry Nights, it conveys strong feelings of hope through the bright lights of the stars
shining down over the dark landscape and night.
4. What do you think is the role of the artist in the twenty-first century society?
The artist’s role in the twenty-first century society is to share a view that may clarify
what others feel or need to feel and help to the world grow. Also, to reveal and
communicate their deepest concern effectively, so they might be heard, seen, and
understood.
5. Identify and select one artist. He or she may be Filipino or foreign, and may be identified
with any art form: architecture, sculpture, painting, music, literature, film, dance,
performance/theater, and living traditions, among others. Make a research on him or her and
select five aspects of his or her life (events, ideas, works, awards/citations) that you think
have a substantial contribution not only to the local or foreign art scene, but also to human
history.
Van Gogh is one of the most well-known post-impressionist artists, for whom color was
the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland on March 30, 1853.
The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was
highly emotional, lacked self-confidence and struggled with his identity and with
direction. He believed that his true calling was to preach the gospel; however, it took
years for him to discover his calling as an artist. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally
decided to become an artist, van Gogh had already experienced two unsuitable and
unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art
salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium) where he
was dismissed for overzealousness. He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to
give happiness by creating beauty. The works of his early Dutch period are somber-
toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters"
(1885) . In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp where he discovered the works of
Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints. In 1886, he went to Paris to join his brother
Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon,
inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin. Having met the new Impressionist painters,
he tried to imitate their techniques; he began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint
in the short brush strokes of the Impressionists’ style. Unable to successfully copy the
style, he developed his own more bold and unconventional style. In 1888, Van Gogh
decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a
school of art. At The Yellow House, van Gogh hoped like-minded artists could create
together. Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. Van Gogh’s nervous
temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with
painting all day undermined his health. Van Gogh's Starry
Night, Sunflowers, Irises, Poppies, The Bedroom, The Mulberry Tree, Blossoming
Almond Tree and The Potato Eaters are just a few of the many pieces which are
covered. Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique
that grew more and more impassioned in brush stroke, in symbolic and intense color, in
surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's
inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic,
imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain
either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man
and nature.
In spite of his lack of success during his lifetime, van Gogh’s legacy lives on having left a
lasting impact on the world of art. Van Gogh is now viewed as one of the most influential
artists having helped lay the foundations of modern art.
6. How relevant still are the awards National Artists and GAMABA, not only to the art world,
but also to the Filipino society as a whole?
In 1992, Law No. 7355 of the Republic institutionalized the National Living Treasures
Award (Gawad sa Manlikha ng Bayan). The National Commission for Culture and the
Arts, the highest policy-making and organizing body for culture and the arts in the
Philippines, was responsible for implementation and awarding. This is in line with the
UNESCO Living National Treasures criteria. GAMABA stands for Gawad ng manlilikha
ng bayan, the very aim of this award is to honor and exalt pride traditional folk artists and
to conserve their work, skills and crafts. The Republic Law No. 23 July 2017 was
established in April 1992 by Gawad ng manlilikha ng baya or the National Living
Treasures Award (SLA). A traditional artist who holds all the attributes of a Manlilikha
ng Bayan candidate, but who, due to age or infirmity, has left him incapable of further
teaching his craft, can still be recognized if it has been instrumental in the reinvigoration
of the musical legacy of their culture and has passed on to other members of the group
the expertise of folk art that the community has historically known for.
