"Litanya, 1972-2022: The Works of Jose Tence Ruiz" Artist's Walkthrough

Ateneo Art Gallery invites the community for an Artist's Walkthrough of Litanya, 1972-2022: The Works of Jose Tence Ruiz happening this 3 July 2023, Monday at 10:30 AM.

FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | LIMITED SLOTS ONLY

Registration REQUIRED at https://go.ateneo.net/LitanyaWalkthrough

Deadline for registration is on 2 JULY 2023, 11:59 PM

Visual artist Jose “Bogie” Tence Ruiz talks about works featured in the exhibition spanning from paintings, sculptures and editorial illustrations, detailing his creative process and multimedia art practice.

This is a public program for “Litanya, 1972-2022: The Works of Jose Tence Ruiz” — ON-VIEW until 2 September 2023, Saturday at the Wilson L Sy Prints and Drawings Gallery, 2F, Ateneo Art Gallery, Soledad V Pangilinan Arts Wing, Areté, Ateneo de Manila University.

Jose “Bogie” Tence Ruiz (b. 1956) marks 50 years since his first “attraction” to art with a book featuring most of his major works and an exhibition at the Ateneo Art Gallery. He considers the self-published book project “Litanya, 1972-2022, The Works of Jose Tence Ruiz” as a chronological diary or personal compilation, covering most of his art practice as a painter, sculptor and performance artist. As a complement, the exhibit of the same title presents selected works to give an overview of his prolific practice, including original editorial cartoons and illustrations produced for major daily and weekly publications in Manila and Singapore.

Rallying forward from the pandemic, Ruiz acknowledges how facing one’s mortality has steered him towards the task of compiling what he recounts as an “anxious inventory of my practice as an independent visual artist.” This exhibit is a modest sampling of Ruiz’s art practice but encapsulates the artist’s commitment to his vision and vocation.

The title “Litanya” aptly captures what Juaniyo Arcellana (2006) describes as the artist’s “continual search of the substance and grit of daily realities.” Referring to a long, repetitive list or series of grievances, Ruiz lays bare the recurring political and social ills and human frailties. Ruiz’s illustrations are provocative and humorous. Going beyond social commentary, he has created archetypes of the everyday hero as well as the corrupt, the abusive, and the abused, which sadly remain common and familiar to this day.

Copies of the book “Litanya, 1972-2022” are also available at the Ateneo Art Gallery Museum shop for Php 3,000, with four cover variants available.

For further inquiries, please email aag@ateneo.edu.