Metro Manila, Philippines – Sanyo Seiki Stainless Steel Corporation, manufacturer and distributor of Smith Muller stainless steel pipes and tubes, extols and explains the importance of stainless steel in the art world.

Stainless steel, according to Sanyo Seiki, is regularly associated with industrial purposes, such as its application in architecture and construction. This is easy to understand, as the list of buildings, bridges, and other structures around the world that use this particularly tough and versatile alloy is long and storied.

Stainless steel, Sanyo Seiki reports, is however useful in the creation of art as well. Many artists from different countries – including areas in Europe, the Philippines, and the United States – adore the properties of stainless steel as a primary medium in sculpture.

Making its way to Anima Mundi Festival

Recently, Manila-based international Olympic Filipino visual artist Jose Datuin had pulled off another masterpiece in the prestigious Anima Mundi Festival which happens in the same period as the 2017 Venice Art Biennale which is the most important international art exhibition in the world.

Apart from the greatest artists such as Gustav Klimt, Henry Matisse, Modigliani, and Salvador Dali who held their own exhibits at the Venice Art Biennale, it is in this art venue which has launched the careers of contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.

The Exhibition organically evolves in a sequence of pavilions, rooms and public spaces, offering the spectator an experience as it journeys from the interiority to the infinity.

According to the organizers of Anima Mundi, the festival has three themes: Rituals, Consciousness, and Visions and they happen in a series of events, one after the other. Rituals took place from May 13 to July 02, 2017 and it was in this event where Joe's masterpiece was featured.

The Ring - a vibrant stainless steel sculpture

Joe's stainless steel sculpture, "The Ring," was made of the high grade type 304. It interpreted the festival theme of the invisible energy that's behind all the natural and the artificial elements that allows the planet to live. Joe drew his inspiration in the Filipino's ritualistic tradition that harks bark to its pre-colonial times.

In an interview held in his gallery at UP Village, Quezon City, he walked us through the significance of the skull and the swathe of amulets around the huge stainless steel ring. Needless to say, he revealed his satisfaction over the medium of stainless steel.

"There is something magical and vibrant about stainless steel especially the material grade 304. Its flexibility had allowed me to express art in a most dynamic, self-absorbing way that I come out of the experience very inspired. Perhaps it's this light feeling brought by the medium that I am able to make great art through its simplicity,"

Like the Medium, the artist's youthful spirit is timeless

There is no denying that Joe's pioneering work in the medium helped propel stainless steel as a viable medium. It also molded for him a place in the Philippine contemporary art scene as evidenced by inclusions in many prestigious events and projects.

He was invited to the Sotheby's at Vienna's Feichtner & Mizrahi Galerie and Carnegie Hall in New York for their art auctions.

He was featured in several art fairs namely the Manila Contemporary Art Fair, Art Expo Malaysia, ARTeNIM in France, and in group exhibitions such as the 20th Asian International Art Exhibition (2005) and the GSIS Museum (2004) before he won the gold in Olympic Committee Sport and Art Contest Sculpture Category at Lausanne, Switzerland in 2008. The fluid arrangement of the five rings suggests the form of a dragon appropriate then to the Beijing Olympics.

He came out in several prestigious publications: Annuario D'Arte Moderna Artisti

Contemporanei published by Association Cultural Capitolina in Rome (2003) Contemporary Art

Philippines 2012, and Ang Bagong Pinoy (Sculptures and Murals at Rizal Park) a
commemorative publication for the 150th Anniversary of National Hero Jose Rizal and Independence Day celebration (June 12, 2011).

He considers his sculptures and murals at the Rizal Park Project initiated by the National Parks Development Committee and Department of Tourism known collectively known as Ang Bagong Pinoy as his most important legacy.

The undeniable value of stainless steel in art

As evidenced by Joe's works, stainless steel in the right grade, used in the creation of sculptures, can last a lifetime. This is what Sanyo Seiki would like artists and enthusiasts, who have not fully grasped the importance of stainless steel in the craft, to open their minds to. It is harder and stronger than bronze, so it is more likely to last longer. It is also easier to maintain. A good wipe down with water and a cleaning cloth is all it takes to keep the sculpture clean and shiny. For sculptures exposed to harsher environments, a simple cleaning agent can bring them back to their former glory.

Such is the faith of the company in the beauty and strength of stainless steel that visitors to Sanyo Seiki's offices may marvel at the creations of Joe. Two of these are kept in the conference rooms.

Stainless steel has proven itself not only in function, but in form, as well. It has become a phenomenal choice in the creation both of infrastructure and works of art. Sanyo Seiki believes there is no other material that may rival stainless steel in the way it is embraced in different fields, now and in so many years to come.