The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Nunelucio Alvarado was born in 1950 in Barangay Fabrica, Sagay, Negros Occidental in theVisayas, the Philippines. As an art stu­ dent, he received the Kabayao-Ledesma Scholarship Grant in Painting. Since 1980 he has been active as a founding member of several organisations. In the Black Artists of Asia, the word 'black' comes from Negros Occidental, his home province, and also connotes a strong and militant sense of oppositional identity and solidarity with marginalised groups. Alvarado is also co­ founder of Pamilya Pintura, another Bacolod­ based visual arts group. These groups have stimulated artists' social involvement in the rural communities, especially in Bacolod in the Visayas where a crisis in the sugar industry triggered widespreadhunger among the sugar workers, although exploitation has always been their traditional lot. Thus, much of Nunelucio Alvarado's work has dwelt on the plight of the sakadas or contract workers under highly militarised conditions. A strong aspect of these community­ based organisationshasbeen theexploration of alternative materials in art to make art­ making an accessible activity to all. With Charlie Co, a Bacolod ar tist, Nunelucio Alvaradohas worked in terracotta, stones, as well as with popularised silk-screen-designed T-shirts with strong folk/social themes from the sugar industry. Aside from showing the THE PHILIPPINES NUNELUCIO ALVARADO productive interaction of artists and the community, the Black Artists of Asia and Pamilya Pinturahave significantly contributed to stimulating regional art, thus providing a model for other regional artists. Alvarado himself has always had close links with the Social Realists and hiswork contributes to the development of political art in the Philippines. He has had at least ten solo exhibitions of works of strong social impact, his first in Sining Kamalig Gallery, Manila in 1979. His third show, 'Welcome toyour Nightmare', was held at the Manila Peninsula Hotel. Since then he has exhibited almost annually in Manila, Bacolod and other par ts of the Visayas. He has par ticipated in almost twenty-five group shows. A striking aspect of Nunelucio Alvarado's sociopolitical paintings is his original style of figuration. Anticlassical in form, he has developed a style suitable to his folk subjects - the peasants and farm labourers. He portrays them in a squat, angular style, with articulatedmuscles, to show their closeness with the earth as well as their strength in production. He also uses vivid colours to further enhance the sense of vitality and energy, while at the same time conveying strong emotion. His labourers are often shown with their tools, in their setting of canefields. More importantly, the artist uses symbols to convey the inimical forces that 31 Detail, Duta lndi Bala (Land not bullets) 1992 Oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas 11 panels: 270x 1500cm (overall) Collection: The artist surround them: the crocodile at the heart of the sugar central, the thorns in the cornfields. Often he shows peasants in family groups, but they are also often in mourning over the grave of a victim of their harsh society. These images abound in allusions to violence to which his peasant figures show dignified and moving strength and defiance. In recent works, Nunelucio Alvarado has combined painting with elements of installation. Alice Guillermo