MAKATI – Ayala Museum is going beyond the walls of its galleries to launch OpenSpace, the new series of outdoor exhibition area at the Museum Plaza. Ayala Museum senior curator Ditas Samson describes OpenSpace “a public site for dialogue and interaction with contemporary art and artists.”
To launch OpenSpace, Ayala Museum has invited celebrated artist and sculptor Toym Imao to display Last, Lost, Lust for Four Forgotten Episodes; a carroza-like art installation inspired by his childhood love for Japanese animation and memory during the Martial Law years.
Toym Imao was born in 1968, just four years before President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law in the country. There were few viewing options in 1970s television, having only five broadcast channels to choose from. During this time, Toym and his siblings were avid fans of weekly Japanese cartoons, the super robot series Voltes V and Mazinger Z. However, with only four episodes left before the finale of Voltes V, the cartoons were banned from broadcast due to its alleged “excessive violence,” leaving its young fans devastated and distraught.
Now, almost four decades later, Toym used that initial sting of anger experienced during the Marcos years to create this installation work. This art installation was born out of the childhood memory and experience of the artist, shaped and formed with academic training in architecture and fine arts, harnessed with the rigor of professional practice, and inspired by the heroes and ideals of history, and the character and gravitas of public art.
Toym Imao is multi-media visual artist. He is a sculptor (brass, bronze and wood), painter, writer and filmmaker. He first trained in the arts under Philippine National Artists for the Visual Arts Napoleon V. Abueva and Abdulmari Asia Imao (his father.) His formal training came from the University of the Philippines (Architecture) and Maryland Institute College of Art (Sculpture). He studied film under premier Philippine director Marilou Diaz-Abaya. He credits his mentor National Artist for Literature Alejandro R. Roces for his passion for Philippine history and culture.
Last, Lost, Lust for Four Forgotten Episodes, supported by Ayala Corporation, Ayala Land, Inc., Ayala Foundation, Inc., Ayala Center Estate Association, and LG Electronics Philippines, will be on display at the Museum Plaza until June 15.
OpenSpace will follow up with another Toym Imao creation later this year, and will continue to host compelling contemporary works by Filipino artists.
