Samsung partners with contemporary artist Leeroy New

Samsung continues to highlight its commitment to #EverydaySustainability as they partnered with contemporary artist Leeroy New to create a sustainable art piece for the launch of their flagship line-up, the Galaxy S23 series.

Leeroy’s art installation called Ectoplastic Fantasia was the centerpiece in Samsung’s Epic Sustainability room during the Epic House Event. The installation featured ambiguous forms of marine life made from discarded plastic that lined the ceiling of the room.

On the inspiration behind his newest piece, Leeroy explained, “These prehistoric-looking sci-fi creatures hanging above us right now made out of discarded plastics speaks about how a lot of these end up in our ocean. Having done large scale works, I have learned to think about the life cycles of the materials I use and I have put it on as a personal challenge to strictly use materials that are already available instead of buying new ones.”

Leeroy has been a catalyst in the Philippine art scene with his visions of nature and science-fiction across different fields of theatre, fashion, film, and visual art. Born in Mindanao, Leeroy has created eye-catching works of art to shine the spotlight on the problem of climate change such as his latest piece Mebuyan’s Vessel, made from discarded materials, offering an interesting meditation between science-fiction and Bagobo mythology while simultaneously raising the issue of sustainability and the climate.

Leeroy shared his rationale behind using discarded, recycled materials behind his masterpieces as he sees art as a tool in opening the discussion of sustainability and the state of the environment. 

“Art can be one of the many ways we can address the issue. Art doesn’t necessarily have to represent the problem but it can be a proposal for the solution. Instead of using new materials, I challenged myself to strictly focus on making my works using surplus materials,” New explained.

Leeroy commended Samsung’s efforts of sustainability with the Samsung Galaxy S23 series, underlining how companies can have a big impact in combating climate change.

“I’m in support of big companies who can make a change and move towards a greener and sustainable way of production. Awareness is key. Taking into consideration the effects of mass production on the environment, I’m just happy to support these companies that are becoming more mindful of how they source materials, how they produce things, and their carbon footprint. It’s a slow process but the first step is becoming aware of it and moving towards [sustainability].”

Aside from Leeroy’s installation, Samsung’s epic sustainability room also encouraged guests to make a promise towards creating a greener planet at the Pledge Wall, a digital display where guests can use the S-Pen to write pledges on the wall in real time. Guests were invited to make their own commitments on sustainability by asking them “What can you do for the planet?”

Samsung has emphasized their mission to contribute to global sustainability efforts with the release of the Galaxy S23 Series to meet the urgency of the global climate crisis. Designed with the planet in mind, parts of the Galaxy S23 Series are made of recycled materials. For instance, the front case and back glass of the smartphones are made with 80% recycled PET bottles, 20% recycled, ocean-bound plastic, and 22% recycled glass for its screen. It is also the first Galaxy flagship device to integrate recycled aluminum, used in the side key, volume keys, and SIM tray of the phone. The packaging of the new series is also made with 100% recycled paper.

#ShareTheEpic with the Galaxy S23 Series

The Galaxy S23 currently retails for PHP 53,990 for the 128GB variant, and PHP 57,990 for the 256GB variant. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S23+ starts at PHP 68,990 for 256GB variant, and PHP 76,990 for the 512GB variant. Lastly, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is available at PHP 81,990 and PHP 89,990 for the 256GB and 512GB variants respectively. A Samsung Online Store exclusive 1TB Galaxy S23 Ultra is also available at PHP 103,990.

From February 2 to April 30, 2023, Samsung is offering 30% off on the Galaxy Watch5 Series, and 50% off on the Galaxy Buds2 Pro with every purchase of the Galaxy S23 Series. What’s more, customers can avail of 0% installment plans for up to 36 months starting at PHP 1,499.72/month. The Galaxy S23 Series is available through Samsung Experience Stores, Authorized Samsung Stores, Lazada, Shopee, Abenson.com and MemoXpress Online.

Cracking the Conventions of Creativity

The first step to creating art involves both the artist and their imagination. How to get to that end point, however, asks a more complex question: Does the imagination lead the artist to break new ground, or is the artist fueled to keep creating because of unbridled imagination? While this delineation may forever be unanswered even to the artist himself, what remains clear is that it’s important to have a venue and a foundation to let imagination rise and run.

For three imaginative artists—Leeroy New, Ivan Roxas, and Ronald Ventura—they found this first seed to their blossoming art careers in that first competition win that changed the course of their journey in different ways.

Leeroy New

Ivan Roxas

Ronald Ventura

A conduit for talent

Fifteen years since his first win at Shell’s National Students Art Competition, Leeroy New brought and reinvented the idea of mythology and madness to transform the Philippine art scene. Taking inspiration from folk tales and sci-fi, Leeroy transforms imagination and vividly recreates them right before your eyes.

Now, his newest venture aims to transform the world of artists, by providing a venue to channel the madness and creativity into a space where it can connect with the industry and the people. 

Located in Poblacion, the heart of Makati’s art sector, Kondwi is Leeroy’s newest venture, a long-time passion project that has finally come to life. 

“Kondwi is a combination of many different functions: a black box theater, bar and cafe, a retail space, and gallery,” says Leeroy. “It’s basically a creative space, one that’s so unpredictable, even we are not sure how it will turn out.”

Leeroy also considers it a lab where he can do projects that previously had no platform for them. Known for art that traverses thought and terrains, he recreates sinewy, scary, and surreal landscapes, which can be a nightmare or a dream depending on who views his work. Kondwi then acts almost like a conduit, not only for him and his team, but also for other creatives whose talent he wants to house in the space.

“I like collaborating with other specialists and creatives, especially those whom I admire and those who I know could lead to new work that I would not have thought of on my own,” Leeroy adds.

One inspiration for this space is the NSAC, which Leeroy describes as one of the support he was able to get so he could further his career as an art student. “It’s a major help at that point in any college art student’s career, when most are still figuring out what to do when they graduate,” muses Leeroy.

Imagination breeds imagination

Few artists can make viewers and critics get lost in their work. Fewer still are those who manage to make people forget that they are looking at art rather than real life. In realist painter Ivan Roxas’s case, his works, some of which have ethereal beings, engage and challenge the viewer’s imagination, hoping for a glimpse of the story behind the captivating image.

As one who has never had a conventional path in the arts—taught by his brother at a young age, a full-time painter in his teens, and no one mentor as master—Ivan’s journey in the arts was fueled by one thing: his own imagination.

“The good thing about the arts is that it’s a craft where I don’t need to please anyone,” shares Ivan. “I don’t really need anyone else besides my canvas, colors, and brush.”

This conventional approach met its match when Ivan joined the NSAC in 1997. Here, he was confronted with the realities of what it meant to have criteria and standards for his creations, and what it meant for paintings to embody good values and positive messaging. There is a sense of merging of art as a medium and art as an outlet for the curious artist. 

The experience taught him that being an artist means being a student for life. “I still consider myself as a student, and I think that’s for life. One lifetime is not enough for you to really know everything about the arts or your craft,” he muses.

As Ivan continues to discover just how far his imagination can take his works, the audience is kept captivated by the immortal and the usual depictions on his canvas, forever imagining the stories that can be told and retold by the strokes and colors of his art.

Breaking one’s own record

At the mention of “Grayground,” many art enthusiasts would perk up to visualize the hyperreal and surreal work that fetched Php47 million at the Sothebys Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings back in 2011.

While it has been eight years since he broke the record for the auction and almost three decades since his first prize win for the NSAC, Ronald Ventura has proven that he is far from being a one-hit wonder. If anything, the only thing he may want for is time; time to let his imagination out on the canvas, vision boards, and any available creative space possible.

Just recently, Ronald opened the Bobro’s World Tour Jakarta with a multi-sensorial experience. His exhibit was a space that deeply immerses the viewer in an environment of leisure and entertainment. His piece is an enclosed man cave, mounted within a golden dog sculpture. Inside is a sleek yellow and man cave, complete with a collection of shoes, the obligatory paintings, and a colorful graffitied karaoke booth. 

A lot of the pieces have allusions to cartoons and pop culture, peppering the space in the same way that real life is bombarded with materialistic cues on end. Inspiration for his works, therefore, makes use of both imagination and the social reality that people live in. “When you are working, sometimes the concept just comes out. The creation of art is continuous, it’s unstoppable. There’s no definite process,” says Ronald. 

Part of this indefinite process is finding inspiration in almost every aspect. Ronald took the 23rd NSAC prize for the oil and acrylic painting category. While he still uses oil and acrylic in a number of his works, it is undeniable that this first step he took in the competition has now broken out into a run, chasing after the many outlets that could bring life to his imagination.

The NSAC may be the first step towards achieving one’s dream in the arts. This is the reason why, even after more than 50 years, Shell continues to fuel artists’ imagination with this venue for creativity.

“The NSAC goes beyond tradition—we believe it is one way for art to continue thriving in the country,” says Cesar Romero, CEO and chairman of Pilipinas Shell. “The masters of today began as students and winners of yesteryears, and we look forward to establishing masters of tomorrow by fueling their imagination today.”

As past winners and now-masters of their own art have shown, the National Students Art Competition is a strong foundation on which one’s imagined dreams can become a reality.

Samsung Electronics and Yuchengco Museum partner up for Relative Realities Digital Art Experience

Samsung Electronics Philippines and Yuchengco Museum
Present Relative Realities Digital Art Experience

Samsung Digital Gallery and Yuchengco Museum brings you a month-long digital art exhibit Relative Realities: Creating New Dimensions of Art through Technology, and is supported by a mobile app FACETS. It showcases the artworks of printmaker Ambie Abaño, painter Ernest Concepcion, painter Jason Montinola, sculptor Leeroy New, visual artist Arturo Sanchez, Jr., and multimedia and performance artist Josephine Turalba. They were  presented to the media last August 7, 2014 together with their art pieces.

 Relative Realities is powered by Samsung’s Ultra High Definition Smart TVs and tablets,  which uses augmented reality technology to create new museum experiences. Relative Realities is on view at Yuchengco Museum from August 7 to September 8, 2014.

Relative Realities is a collaboration between one of the world’s most recognized technology brands and one of the country’s most trailblazing museums. The exhibit showcases the artworks of six especially invited Filipino artists from a wide range of creative practices:

The exhibit promises to be exciting and novel for today’s young generation, which the museum hopes to further attract through supporting youth programs and tours on digital art. Relative Realities goes beyond the traditional museum experience of simply presenting art on a pedestal or wall.

 By scanning an artwork with an Android smartphone or tablet, museumgoers can experience the works they see in a whole new light. The exhibit is supported by a mobile app called FACETS, which presents to visitors a different side to the artwork, whether it’s information about the work and the artist or even 3D graphics, video, animation, or sound. “We want to break the practice where the museum’s curatorial direction of an exhibition collection sets the pace for the appreciation and understanding of art. Would not art be best understood in the pureness of subjectivity—where the artist presents and the viewers formulate their own understanding and experience of the artwork?” shares Jeannie Javelosa, curator of Yuchengco Museum.

FACETS mobile app
The exhibit is supplemented by the Futuristic Art Creations Enabled by TVs and Smart devices (FACETS) app, which is especially developed by Samsung Electronics Philippines. The mobile application features not only the artworks in Relative Realities, but also select paintings on view at the Yuchengco Museum’s Masters Gallery. Through the app, guests can learn about the museum’s master works, their styles, the meaning of their works, and their place in the development of Philippine art.
FACETS is available on Android smartphones and tablets through the Google Play Store: http://bit.ly/FACETS

Samsung Digital Gallery

After the month-long exhibit, the artworks highlighted in Relative Realities and select pieces from the Yuchengco Museum Collection will be incorporated into the new Samsung Digital Gallery at the museum’s third floor. The space will offer visitors an opportunity to create new human experiences where they can interact and learn more about the artworks they see at the museum. The Samsung Digital Gallery is due to open to the public in September 2014.
Relative Realities: Creating New Dimensions of Art through Technology is on view at Yuchengco Museum from August 7 to September 8, 2014. The museum is located at RCBC Plaza, corner Ayala and Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenues, Makati. Museum hours are Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call (632) 889-1234 or visit www.yuchengcomuseum.org.