The exhibit Súpat at the University of the Philippines Visayas Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage (UPV-MACH) reveals the exceptional mastery of sculptures by esteemed Ilonggo artist Ed Defensor. The selection demonstrates his remarkable contribution to Philippine sculpture.

The collection compellingly illustrates Defensor’s skillful blending of traditional and contemporary aesthetics. Defensor’s unique modernist sensibility enriches his works, imbuing them with socio-cultural and historical motifs, making them strikingly timeless. His work retains freshness and immediacy as if it were created only yesterday, despite its origins spanning from the 1970s to the late 1990s, reflecting his visionary approach to artistic expression.

Materializing concepts

Defensor’s exploration of diverse materials—wood, terracotta, coral stone, and brass—demonstrates a refined dialogue between materiality and concept. It reveals his fascination with experimenting across a spectrum of textures, translating his vision through choices in wood grain, metal sheen, and the tactile qualities of clay and stone. Each element reflects the notion of “súpat,” or texture, in Hiligaynon.

Read about Ed Defensor sculptures and other art here: 
ED DEFENSOR: Reintroduce yourself to the life and art of Iloilo’s living legend

The various types of wood such as Lomboy, Kamunsil, and Philippine Hardwood that he used for his wood sculptures exhibited his sensitivity to textures, perhaps applying his visual and tactile senses to evaluate the possibilities of the material: the natural grain pattern—flowing, wavy, or swirling shapes; the variations of textures—smooth, rough, uneveness, even its imperfections, like ridges, pores, and cracks; and the natural hues—the subtleness or explicit color tone distinctive to the wood’s natural pigments.

How he materialized the concepts is shown by his nuanced approach to the material, like Lomboy Wood for his 1982 pieces “Untitled” and “My Erotica,” Kamunsil for “Folk Dancers” (1998), and Philippine Hardwood for “Pas de Daux” (1998).

The wood sculptures likewise bring to light how he integrated utilitarian function into his art, which allows the collector to constantly immerse with his art, like the 1998 to 2000 lantern series, which is made of wood, glass, and acrylic, namely “Dancers on Dance Lantern VIII” and “Dance Lantern I and II.”

Defensor’s adept manipulation of the complex interplay between materiality and concept is exemplified by several key works that display his ability to fuse material with meaning, like “Mother and Child” (1994), crafted from coral stone and emulsion paint; “Fire Dance II” (1999), done in copper nails on wood coated with resin; and “The Dancers” (1999), rendered in maquette resin.

Additionally, his terracotta sculptures done in 1999, “Dancing for the Moon Vase III” and “Dancing for the Moon,” further demonstrate how Defensor’s choice of medium enhances his conceptual exploration, blending texture and form to deepen the narrative of his art.

On the other hand, the brass reliefs mounted on wood stand out as particularly rare and significant within the art world.

Brass, having become an uncommon medium, requires a distinct technical proficiency that sets it apart from more conventional forms such as painting or sculpture. The creation of relief art, in particular, demands a meticulous approach to rendering intricate details with precision. Defensor ventured into this complex domain of artmaking early in his career, as shown by an exemplary piece titled “Barter of Panay” (36 x 89 cm, 1977), followed by the massive yet elegant “A Dining Room Piece” (94.44 x 213.36 cm, 2010), an elaborate assemblage of 18 brass pieces of different shapes with a strong resemblance to a rococo style, showing gastronomic abundance with roasted pig, fish, fruits, and fine drinks, most likely conveying bounty and prosperity or expressing our rich culinary culture and penchant for feasting.

Interestingly, although these two brass pieces were created 33 years apart, they both showcase Defensor’s undiminished precision. His skillful execution of intricate patterns not only highlights his pioneering efforts but also underscores his sustained excellence in this challenging art form.

The medium is the message

Ed Defensor’s mastery of form and texture embodies Marshall McLuhan’s concept that “the medium is the message.”

In Defensor’s art, the choice of medium significantly influences the expression and impact of his work, aligning with McLuhan’s idea that the medium inherently shapes the message.

McLuhan’s theory provides a profound framework for understanding how Ed Defensor’s material choices—be they bronze, wood, terracotta, or brass—play a crucial role in defining the viewer’s interpretation of his sculptures. Each medium not only conveys different aesthetic qualities but also carries its own set of cultural and emotional resonances, which in turn shape the message of the artwork.

Ed Defensor’s deliberate selection of materials reflects a deep understanding of how the medium interacts with the message, highlighting that texture and form are not merely embellishments but rather integral components of the artwork’s overall meaning.

See in reel of the Ed Defensor sculptures

This alignment with McLuhan’s concept reveals how the medium itself, through its inherent properties and symbolism, contributes to the expression and impact of Ed Defensor’s artistic vision.

Súpat, therefore, reaffirms Ed Defensor’s character as an artist who transcends rigid adherence to style, technique, or medium. Instead, his sculptures reflected a profound responsiveness to the spontaneity of his emotions and the subtleties of his creative impulses, and this is emphasized by his mastery of harmonizing medium and form in a manner that elicits no sense of incongruity. Hence, Súpat is a compelling demonstration of Ed Defensor’s artistic proficiency, marking his work as an enduring legacy for Philippine sculpture.

About Ed Defensor

A self-taught artist, Edward “Ed” Defensor (b. 1945) first splashed into Iloilo’s then arid art scene, with a sell-out first One-Man Show in 1980.