Where do we begin envisioning the future of Cebu’s art scene?
Tubô Cebu Art Fair 2025 answers this question with this year’s theme, “Provenance.” Held at Ayala Center Cebu last August 29 to 31, the three-day fair hosted a series of community-driven activities to celebrate Cebuano artistry.
From full-circle moments, spotlighting both veteran mentors and emerging creatives through the display of their work and open discussions on their creative processes, to immersive educational workshops and live demonstrations of their craft—Tubô 2025 takes a new approach in fulfilling their mission of growing regional art, one where it meets past with present to build its future.
Provenance with Purpose
The word “provenance” may be defined as the place of origin or earliest known history of something, but for fair curator Prof. Jay Nathan Jore, there’s more to it than what meets the eye.
“The theme provenance actually comes from the idea that in order for us to really grow as an art community, we have to ground ourselves in the development of art,” he shares, emphasizing this year’s focus on groups and stories that once left their mark on Cebu’s art scene.
“…where did the art come from, who made it, who bought it, from what institutions collected it, and passed it on to the next owners until it would be handed down to new owners in the present time?,” he adds.
Executing this theme already eight years in, Tubô 2025 then teaches us that opening new paths might also mean taking three steps forward and one step back. In the context of today’s art scene, provenance is simply one of the many lenses we can look through to give today’s creativity more meaning and understand how its contexts continue to shape it to become what we know now and what we have yet to see in the years to come.
The Marks of Martino Abellana
In line with this conversation on provenance and Cebu art history, it should come as no surprise to the average Cebuano art enthusiast that Tubô 2025 also took the opportunity to spotlight Martino Abellana as one of their main inspirations for this year’s theme.
Held during the second day of the fair, Tubô hosted Revisions and Rebellions: Martino Abellana and the Making of Cebuano Contemporary Art—a standout discussion led by curator and art historian Prof. Jore, who highlights Abellana’s place in Cebu’s art scene.
The talk pointed straight to his legacy in craft and mentorship. Often credited as the cornerstone of the Sugbuanon Realism art style and widely known as the Dean of Cebuano Painters for guiding many of today’s veteran artists during their formative years, Martino Abellana’s artistry became the ground on which Cebu’s visual arts would take root and grow.
Decades on, with traces of Martino Abellana’s contributions and commitment still thriving across generations of Cebuano creatives, this year’s theme of provenance brings his story into focus, calling for the recognition of his legacy among the masses and echoing the campaign to grant him the long-overdue title of National Artist.
Where We Are Now: The Image of the Fair 2025
As Tubô 2025 traces the roots of Cebu’s art, it also turns its gaze to the present with this year’s Image of the Fair—a collaboration that not only represents this year’s theme, but also speaks for Cebuano contemporary art and what it looks like today. Unveiled during the opening, the work brought together four artists: Gabi Nazareno, Jonathan Abellana, John “Nark” Villoria, and Khriss Bajade.
Each of them carried a piece of their own practice into the canvas. For the background, Nazareno’s rubbercut relief print collage places a man and woman flanking a DNA strand, a reminder to each of our origins as humans and artists. Abellana, on the other hand, anchors the work with a self-portrait, a nod to portraiture as one of his early practices.
Likewise, Villoria graces the piece with a layer of graffiti across it, acknowledging his foundation in street art that continues to shape his contemporary work. And finally, pushing the piece outwards through metalwork is Bajade, who uses steel plates to reference UP Cebu’s CCAD building as the space where his artistry evolved.
The result is a layered work of tributes to beginnings and visions for the future, a standing testament to the spirit of provenance and the ever-evolving nature of Cebuano art. Gathering memory, practice, and origin into one frame, the Image of the Fair ultimately pulls the strings of Tubô 2025 together—capturing the diversity and identity that define the scene today, while pointing toward a horizon of possibilities shaped by innovation and the continuous weaving of old roots into new forms.
Photography Kyrra Kho
