The UPV MACH received a 2010 oil painting from eminent Ilonggo social realist Antipas Delotavo and copies of his book, Litanya 1972–2022 of Jose Tence Ruiz.

The masterpiece will now be part of the permanent collection of Hiligaynon art in Lubiok at the Taliambong UPV Art Gallery of the University of the Philippines Visayas Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage. 

Jose Tence Ruiz, on the other hand, donated four copies of his book, Litanya 1972–2022, a significant piece of material that shows 50 years of his creative practice as a Filipino artist.

The donation was received by Martin Genodepa, Director of the Office of Initiatives for Culture and the Arts (UPV-OICA), on July 29 and August 8, 2023, respectively.

The two prominent social realists were in Iloilo City recently for the 20th solo show of Antipas Delotavo, titled Iloilo Variants, at the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibit is curated by Tence Ruiz.

It opened on July 27 and will run until September 17, 2023.

Antipas Delotavo is an Ilonggo artist from the town of Dumangas. He left Iloilo in 1971 to study Fine Arts at the Philippine Women’s University in Manila.

Read: Antipas Delotavo’s Juxtaposition of Worlds

Delotavo became part of the group of artists who painted the lives of ordinary people and critiqued the administration of Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. during the Martial Law years. Delotavo’s works are included in collections of local and foreign museums, attesting to his stature in Philippine art.

Moreover, Jose Tence Tence Ruiz is a painter, sculptor, and illustrator. He worked as a political cartoonist and also did performance art.

Tence Ruiz has mounted over 30 solo exhibitions and participated in over 200 group exhibitions in Manila and in international art centers like Italy, Germany, and Australia, among others.

His self-published book Litanya is a photo documentation of his works. The book that he donated will soon be available for browsing at OICA and the UPV Library.

Antipas Delotavo and Jose Tence Ruiz, together with now-illustrious names in the Philippine social realist movement—Pablo “Adi” Baen Santos, Neil Doloricon, Renato Habulan, Albert Jimenez, Al Manrique, Orlando Castillo, Jose Cuaresma, Edgar Talusan Fernandez, and Charles Funk, among others—founded the art collective Kaisahan (Solidarity) in 1976.

Credits:
– Photos by UPV MACH and UPV OICA.
– Primary news source is a Press Release of UPV-MACH/UPV-OICA.