Here's a Look at Artist Ramon Orlina's Art Cars Displayed at ManilArt 2023
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One of the longest-running visual arts fairs in the country celebrated its 15th edition at SMX Aura Convention Center in October. ManilArt showcased some 28 art galleries and their featured artists over the four-day weekend show.
Orlina's Fiat 124 Spider and Porsche 993
The highlight of this year’s fair is Ramon Orlina’s art cars, a combination of classic and contemporary European cars that includes a 1996 Porsche 993, 2007 BMW 645i, two classic Volkswagen Beetles and an Italian 1970 Fiat 124 Spider. This year’s theme, “A New Contemporary,” gives attention to Orlina’s use of a playful and rather unique medium: the automobile.
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Displaying his art cars at the lobby of the convention center, Orlina collaborated with well-known Filipino artists BenCab and Marcel Antonio to use his cars as a canvas for their masterpieces. Both artists used a classic 1970s Volkwagen Beetle as their canvas. National Artist BenCab made an interpretation of his iconic “Sabel” series and hand-painted several drawings on the two door sides and hood of the Super Beetle 1303s. Sabel was a homeless, wandering woman whom BenCab often saw on the streets of Bambang, Manila in the 1960s and often used her as a subject of his works.
The iconic Sabel drawings were hand painted on the hood and doors by BenCab
On the same Beetle, Orlina also collaborated with sculptor Daniel Dela Cruz, who handcrafted a metal dashboard and steering wheel, while Orlina fitted one of his signature glass sculptures at the rear dash, which can be seen from the exterior through the rear windshield.
The other Beetle was a 1974 Super Beetle 1303s entitled the “Moon Buggy” by Marcel Antonio, who explained that, in Greek mythology, Selene is the goddess of the moon who fell in love with a mortal named Endymion. She asked Zeus to make her beloved Endymion into an immortal but Zeus only granted her wish with the condition that he would be eternally asleep. The metal automotive canvas articulated this story of love, beauty, and sad unending and ironic story of immortality.
Moon Buggy by Marcel Antonio
Orlina's Fiat 124 Spider
The BMW 645i and Fiat 124 Spiders were not hand painted by a famous painter but rather reflects on Orlina’s interplay of colors and shapes. The BMW uses modern day vinyl film and high-resolution printing technology to recreate his glass sculptures and reinterpreted them on a two-dimensional automotive canvas. Orlina was commissioned by BMW to create an art car in 2007 using a miniature BMW 645i. A decade and a half later, the artist was able to acquire the full-sized BMW and use it as his personal rolling canvas.
The Fiat 124 Spider, on the other hand, was painstaking restored by master car restorer Alex Isip with his team of skillful car painters and tinsmiths. The team meticulously repainted and refurbished the classic Italian open top sportscar with the vibrant colors of summer with the artful direction of Orlina.
The Porsche 993 on display was a reinterpretation of Janis Joplin’s famous car in the musical movie Across the Universe, which used a classic Porsche 356 with lively colors and artwork that expressed the elements of the 1960s counterculture of the time.
Orlina's BMW 645i and VW Super Beetle 1303s
Orlina's playful take on Janis Joplin's car from the movie Across the Universe
All five of the art cars were creations of Orlina with the collaboration of his famous artist friends, and all were well-restored and are in running condition despite their age.
Also included in Orlina’s display was an artwork that Orlina himself didn’t make but an acquisition that was created by Indonesian artist Ichwan Noor entitled “Beetle Sphere,” a yellow-colored metal ball of what looks like a classic 1950s Volkswagen Beetle artfully crumpled into a huge spheric ball. It was displayed at the main entrance of SMX Aura that served as the event’s main attraction, creating an interesting attraction even to regular mall goers.
Orlina's glass sculptures were also on display at the show
Aside from the art cars, Orlina also displayed some of his glass sculptures for which he is most famous for doing.
