Seven Arts Forms of Philippine
Contemporary Arts
Painting Sculpture Architec- Film
ture
Literature Music Theater
PHILIPPINE
CONTEMPORA
RY ARTS
•Philippine contemporary arts can
be described into visual arts,
literary arts and performing arts.
•Visual art is an expression of artistic
ideas through images, structures,
and tactile work.
•Some visual artworks are integrated
which means it combines several
mediums to create new and unique
artwork. Painting, sculpture,
architecture, and film are examples of
visual arts.
Painting
•Painting the expression of ideas and
emotions, with the creation of certain
aesthetic qualities, in a two-dimensional
visual language. The elements of this
language – its shapes, lines, colors, tones,
and textures – are used in various ways to
produce sensations of volume, space,
movement, and light on a flat surface. The
first paintings here in the Philippines are
commissioned works during Spanish
colonization. Here are some paintings from
Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
•The sculpture is an art form in which hard
or plastic materials are worked into three-
dimensional art objects. Filipino sculptors
came to be known in the middle of the 19th
Sculpture century. These are some of the sculptures
in the Philippines.
Architecture is the art and practice of designing and
constructing buildings (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary & Thesaurus). In relation to that, Philippine
architecture was characterized as simple, rational, and
functional. In the 20th century, the young Filipino who
studied in American colleges and institutes introduced
Architectur the neoclassic style in building structures. However,
after World War II, real estate development started to
e take place (Sandagan & Sayseng, 2016). To illustrate
these architectural designs, these are some examples
from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Film
Film is a form of visual art use
to imitate experiences that
communicate ideas, stories, or
feelings with the use of moving
images. It is also called a movie
or motion picture. Moreover,
the art form that is the result of
the film is called cinema (Faber
& Walters, 2003). The film
industry in the Philippines
started in 1897. In the
contemporary period, martyr
wife, superhero, action,
melodramas, and comedies are
some of the usual subjects and
themes in the Philippine films.
Some films in the Philippines
are presented below.
Apart from visual arts, there are Philippine contemporary art forms that can be described as lit-
erary arts. Literary arts are an expression of ideas through writing. Literary arts can be catego-
rized as poetry, prose, and drama. In the Philippines, literary arts are greatly encountered in lit-
erature.
Literature
According to Lombardi (2020), literature is a term used to describe written
and sometimes spoken material. Derived from the Latin word literature mean-
ing "writing formed with letters," literature most commonly refers to works of
the creative imagination, including poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction, and in
some instances, journalism, and song. These are some
examples of Philippine literature.
Furthermore, there are also Philippine contemporary art forms that can be de-
scribed as performance arts.
Performing Arts is a person doing certain actions and movements in front of
an
audience that go along with sound in a space and time
Music and Theater
Music is a collection of coordinated sound or sounds.
According to Ramon P. Santos in his article entitles Contemporary Music, Contem-
porary
music in the Philippines usually refers to compositions that have adopted ideas and
elements from twentieth-century art music in the West, as well as the latest trends
and
musical styles in the entertainment industry. Filipino Music had already a rich and
unique musical tradition long before westerners set foot on our native land. Music
was present in every stage of our ancestors’ lives — from birth to death, in blissful
or tragic times. Below are some Music from the different Regions of our country.
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to
present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audi-
ence in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experi-
ence to the audience through combinations of 12 gesture, speech,
song, music, or dance. Some of the Theater Play in the Philippines are
the following.
Dance
•Dance, the movement
of the body in a
rhythmic way, usually to
music and within a given
space, for the purpose
of expressing an idea or
emotion, releasing
energy, or simply taking
delight in the movement
itself. Dances in the
Philippines vary from
Region to Region and
below are some dances
of the different regions.
