While Art Fair Philippines officially launched as a fair in 2013, its origins trace back to a community-driven initiative conceived by Trickie Lopa and Lisa Periquet in Makati City, the business and financial center of Manila. Initially envisioned as a grassroots effort to engage their neighborhood, the two first introduced Art in the Park in 2006, and what began as a spontaneous gathering has since become an annual event held on a Sunday in March—a laid-back, family-friendly day where art is sold by art schools, established galleries and artist collectives with a price ceiling of approximately $1,200. The success of Art in the Park, combined with the rise of new fairs in the region—first in Hong Kong, then Singapore—prompted a group of galleries to approach Lopa and Periquet with the idea of establishing a proper art fair.
At the time, Lopa, a passionate collector of both Filipino and international artists, was already actively engaged in the art scene through her blog, Manila Art Blogger. She used the platform to amplify gallery exhibitions and highlight local artists at a time when information about the art scene was scarce in mainstream media. “Because then, you could not source information about the art scene and gallery exhibitions through the mainstream media,” Lopa tells Observer ahead of the twelfth edition of Art Fair Philippines.
“When we decided to set up an art fair in 2013, we had already been involved in art as more than just collectors. To this day, the goal has always been to widen the audience for the visual arts and elevate the exposure of our visitors to its varied forms,” she says. “Modesty aside, the art fair has played a key role in establishing the country’s art ecosystem. Eleven years later, we have a thriving gallery scene, auction houses and art collectives all over Metro Manila.”
While Manila and the country as a whole still lack a dedicated national museum for modern and contemporary art, university museums have developed contemporary art programs, and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila has begun hosting contemporary art exhibitions, often backed by private initiatives. Local collectors have played a significant role in this expansion, with many actively planning to open their collections to the public in the coming years—whether through new museums, foundations or loans and temporary exhibitions modeled after their international peers. One of the first to take this step was Dr. Joven Cuanang, who in 2010 established what became the Philippines’ first contemporary art museum, the Pintô Art Museum. Nestled within pre-colonial traditional buildings and a botanical garden filled with native species, Pintô showcases Filipino contemporary art in a setting that is particularly striking.
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While the country’s fair and museum scene is still relatively young, the Philippines has a long-standing tradition of art collecting and gallery culture dating back to the postwar era—and, on the amateur and religious levels, even earlier. As Isa Lorenzo and Rachel Rillo, founders of one of the most internationally recognized Filipino galleries, Silverlens, explained in another Observer interview, this history is intertwined with the evolution of the local art market. Manila-based art collector Timothy Tan, known for assembling an impressive collection of artists who have risen to global prominence over the past decade, echoes this sentiment.
“One of the most prominent Filipino collectors once told me that he only buys Philippine art because he can get the best work from each artist, especially because of the price points he is willing to pay. If he were to venture into collecting global names, their galleries would subject him to waiting lists and other acquisition requirements that the art market imposes,” Lopa explains. “But we also have a group of collectors who collect international names, and they do so very aggressively. They are not in the majority, but they acquire major work, and their collections are quite impressive.”
Lopa, an avid collector, began collecting work by local artists before expanding her focus overseas. “My collection, while maybe modest, aims to reflect the art of my time. My involvement as a co-founder of Art in the Park allowed me early exposure to the works of artists who, in the mid-2000s, were considered emerging,” she says. “Now, these artists are established here in the Philippines, and I have their early work, which I still love and enjoy. I suppose that is a hallmark of my collection: most of them are early works. Mainly because that’s when artists are affordable!” Lately, however, she’s been looking at ceramics and textile pieces by artists all over the world.
As Manila’s art ecosystem has matured, other regional art scenes have also emerged across the country. “Outside the National Capital Region, cities like Bacolod in the south and Baguio up north have also benefited from this interest and support for art. We even have regional art fairs in other parts of the country now.”
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The 2025 edition of Lopa’s fair will take place in a new location. “Makati City is in Metro Manila, one of sixteen cities and a municipality that make up our National Capital Region,” she clarifies. “We are very excited to move into Ayala Triangle, just a few blocks away from The Link, the parking building we had converted into the fair’s venue every February for the past eleven years. While the previous venue is only a few meters away, Ayala Triangle lies at the heart of Makati City, the country’s financial and commercial capital.” The move to this prime location, Lopa says, underscores the fair’s growing significance in the country’s cultural landscape.
Further reinforcing its role as a cultural catalyst, Art Fair Philippines will be accompanied this year by the 10 Days of Art initiative, a city-wide celebration of contemporary Philippine art extending beyond the fair’s venue. The program features public art exhibitions throughout the Makati Central Business District, including outdoor sculptures by Briccio Santos in Legazpi Park, an immersive installation by Kim Borja in Glorietta and JEFRË’s Talking Heads at Circuit Makati. Neal Oshima and Fotomoto will transform the Legazpi Underpass and Greenbelt 3 Sunken Park into exhibition spaces, while TYLR Collective will present works at Paseo Villar Underpass.
This year, the fair will feature over forty exhibitors, primarily from the Philippines and the region. While some international exhibitors from Austria, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Spain are participating, attracting more overseas galleries remains a challenge. Despite the Philippine art market being well-established, solid and largely self-sufficient, it is still perceived by many as an “emerging market,” a label that continues to shape international perceptions.
“When we started the fair twelve years ago, we had twenty-four galleries, all local. You would never get the average Filipino art collector to look at art from outside the Philippines. In time—and again, the fair can take some credit for this—with continued exposure to the pieces from overseas galleries who started joining the fair, the market has become more open to acquiring non-Filipino art, though largely within a certain price range, probably on the lower end of the spectrum of global prices,” Lopa says. “Based on the sales achieved by the international galleries that join our fair, I can say there is a market here for non-Filipino art at specific price points, but not necessarily for the buzziest global names.”
And the market remains largely insular. “You can tell by the auction records achieved for Philippine art: unbelievable prices, but only here in the Philippines, sold to Filipino buyers. I think this has its pros and cons: the insularity has perhaps protected the local commercial space from the vagaries of the global market, but it also keeps Filipino artists existing in a bubble, and I don’t necessarily mean just the art market bubble.”
A seasoned collector and regular presence at international art fairs, Lopa reflects on how the self-sufficiency of the local market shields it from global downturns while also reinforcing a tendency for both collectors and artists to remain inward-looking. “In a sense, they’re satisfied with being big fish in a small pond,” she says. At the same time, she questions the necessity of global expansion, asking, “Is it necessary to venture into the wide ocean? What for?”
Due to an interwoven colonial history, the Philippines has deep cultural and historical ties to both the U.S. and Spain, as well as strong connections to Latin America through trade. The Manila-Acapulco route was the first truly global trade line, linking Asia and the Americas, while in the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. exerted significant colonial influence over the islands. Yet, despite these pivotal historical intersections, neither of these relationships has been fully explored in contemporary art or academic discourse.
“Our current ties to Latin America aren’t very strong. We don’t keep tabs on what occurs on that side of the world. So while we have shared history, it seems just that to the average Filipino: part of our history with no bearing on the present,” Lopa explains. “You can’t say the same thing regarding our ties to the U.S. and Spain. The American influence is obvious. But the ties to Spain have remained intact, especially for a certain population segment.”
However, as the art world increasingly turns its attention to the Global South and more Southeast Asian artists gain international recognition, there is a real opportunity for the region—and the Philippines in particular—to step into the spotlight. In response to this shifting landscape, the fair has introduced a new Curator’s Grant Program in partnership with Ateneo Art Gallery, its Education Partner. “You could say this is our way of making the mountain come to Muhammad,” Lopa jokes, describing the initiative. “We invited selected curators working in the international space to apply for a residency in the Philippines, and we hope this will pave the way for our local artists to receive exposure in the global space and open up opportunities to work with mid-career curators.”
At the same time, Southeast Asian galleries with well-established networks have become regular participants in the fair, not only showcasing but actively supporting Filipino artists who resonate with their collector base. Singapore and Yogyakarta-based Gajah Gallery, for example, has not only cultivated a Manila collector base for its Indonesian artists but has also begun representing and exhibiting Filipino artists in its Southeast Asian spaces. Similarly, Ames Yavuz, a gallery with locations in Singapore and Sydney, will soon open a London outpost featuring Filipino artists Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan.
“We always strive to bring something new to the fair and put out what we believe to be the best art our resources can manage, and we will continue to do this because we believe in delivering the best programming for our audience,” says Lopa. “As eyes turn to our side of the world, it would be wonderful if this leads to wider recognition for our artists, for others to appreciate what we have always valued.”
Art Fair Philippines runs from February 21-23, 2025.
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