Ulirang Halimbawa ni Efren Abueg: Tungo sa Mapagpalayang Sining = The Exemplary Art of Efren Abueg: Notes Toward an Emancipatory Art

E.  San Juan Jr.,

Ulirang Halimbawa ni Efren Abueg: Tungo sa Mapagpalayang Sining = The Exemplary Art of Efren Abueg: Notes Toward an Emancipatory Art

Abstract:

Sa isang maikli’t pahapyaw na sipat, mapapansin ang realistiko’t alegorikong pamamaraan ni Abueg sa ilang piniling kathang maituturing na mikrokosmo ng kaniyang sining. Sa bawat pagkakataong gumagawi ang naratibo sa sikolohikal o espiritwal na direksiyon, sumasalisi at umiigpaw ang kolektibong panlipunang lakas na siyang buod ng katuturan at bisa nito. Nakasalig, samakatwid, ang halaga ng indibidwalistikong karanasan sa pagsulong ng relasyong sosyal sa kasaysayan. Huwaran ito ng uri ng sining na bumubuhay sa diwa ng komunidad, bukal ng lahat ng sining, at nagpapasigla sa makabayang hangaring lumaya sa paghahari ng komoditi-fetisismong sandata ng imperyalismong sumusupil sa dignidad at potensiyal ng buong sangkatauhan.

In this brief, tangential appraisal, we foreground the combined realistic and allegorical methods of Abueg shown in a few selected works that can be taken as a microcosm of his art. At every moment the narrative verges toward a psychological or metaphysical direction, there intervenes and dominates the collective social force that constitutes the value and meaning of those personal experiences (for example, images of mass rebellion). Thus the value of individualist experience depends on the movement of social relations in history. This serves as the model of a kind of art that vitalizes the spirit of the community, source of all creativity, and invigorates the nationalist desire to liberate the nation from the tyranny of commodity-fetishism which functions as an imperialist weapon repressing the dignity and potential of all humanity.