Philippine Artists Leeroy New and Issay Rodriquez on the aesthetics of zero-waste art

In conversation with Rafael Schacter and Arianna Mercado

Speaker Biographies

Leeroy New (b. 1986, General Santos City) is a Manila-based artist-designer whose practice overlaps and intersects with film, theater, product design, and fashion. He is a graduate of theUniversity of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. Primarily a practicing artist, he has staged numerous exhibitions and public art projects, including the Psychopomp's Reef (2011) installation for Bonifacio Global City's Offsite public gallery and Chrysalis(2012), and a 40ft bamboo and rattan boat-like structure for the Himala sa Buhangin festival in Ilocos Norte (2012). New has also been invited to participate in the 2008 Singapore Biennale and the 2009 Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale.New has recently ventured into product design and his works have been exhibited as part of the Design Philippines pavilion in the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan last 2013 and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York this 2014. His pieces have also been annually exhibited in Manila FAME since 2012.
He has received several citations for his work, including: the grand prize for sculpture in the 2005 Metrobank Art Awards; the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards, wherein he was awarded the La Trobe Residency Grant in Australia and the Artesan Gallery Residency Grant in Singapore; a nomination for the 2011 Signature Art Prize, Singapore; the 2012 Cultural Center of the Philippines 13 Artists Award and the 2014 Metrobank Foundation Award for Continuing Excellence and Service. Leeroy New is presenting his first UK large-scale installation, The Arks of Gimokudan , a major new commission at Somerset House this April.

Issay Rodriguez, Artist (b. 1991, Philippines) obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of the Philippines. She was a Jose Moreno Foundation scholar and received a bursary to attend the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris before graduating with the Outstanding Thesis Award in 2013. Rodriguez’s current art practice revolves around projects that deal with themes on humanism and ecology. Through research and community engagements enabled by artist residencies and interdisciplinary collaborations, she is able to work on projects that allow oneself to think about how thoughts, emotions, and values can be explained or expressed through art and technology. Recent projects and residencies include: BRIGHTER THAN MANY EVER SEE, Silverlens, Makati (2021) DOON AR/VR Project, art n/23 AFP incubator space, (2020); B+, Bamboo Curtain Studio, Taipei (2019); VANISHING IN THE PROCESS: Exploration of Dream States and Symbolism, between LIR Space, Yogyakarta, and 98B Manila; Bellas Artes Projects in Bataan (both 2017-18); and a collaborative project for Viva Arte Viva 57th Venice Biennale (2017)
Her works were shortlisted for Fernando Zobel Visual Arts Prize (2018); awarded Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan for Visual Arts (2017); First Grantee: Portfolio Art Prize | 10 Artists Supporting Artists (2020); and is the 6th Filipino Artist Resident: Gasworks, London Artist Residency (2022)

Dr Rafael Schacter is a Lecturer in Anthropology and Material Culture at University College London. Schacter works on public art and global art, writing and curating widely in both these areas. He has published books with Lund Humphries (2018), Yale University Press (2013), and Routledge (2014), and has curated exhibitions at the Brunei Gallery (SOAS), the Tate Modern, Somerset House, amongst other national and international projects in the Netherlands, Mexico, Madrid, Manila and beyond.

Arianna Mercado is a cultural worker from Manila. She co-founded Kiat Kiat Projects, a nomadic curatorial initiative with a focus on alternative exhibition formats. Arianna has worked on projects with Afterall, the British Council, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Her writing has appeared on Ocula, the Philippine Star, and Ctrl+P Journal of Contemporary Art.

Registration

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Organiser: SOAS, Somerset House, Gasworks

Contact email: philippinestudies@soas.ac.uk