Interview The Kanto and Novice teams
Images Metrobank MADE, with Kennette Luague
Kennette Luague’s first attempt at his grand award-winning Taya didn’t work. He’d planned a sculpture that would spin like a roulette wheel, with a carved figure fixed at its center, but the weight was not balanced, and the piece wobbled instead of performing a leveled turn. Rather than redesign the mechanism, he carved the figure directly into the wood itself, a fix that became, in his own words, a record of the real struggle it took to bring the piece into being.
Taya casts life itself as the wager: the body and its labor staked against a wheel of fortune that never stops turning, tipping between enough food on the table and the rare moment of rest. The figure at its center isn’t a victim of chance. Luague calls him a gambler, someone with the nerve to keep facing the wheel, and the piece’s real claim is that the only real win is refusing to give up the fight.
That struggle extended beyond the artist’s studio. Luague trained in oil painting and had built his practice around it, but Taya pushed him into the realm of sculpture, with wood, metal, clay, epoxy, and cement, materials he associates with his father’s work in construction.
This year’s theme, “Traverse: Creativity in Motion,” gave Luague the language for a shift already underway in his own practice, and the occasion to talk with Kanto about the leap of faith it took to get there.
Hi, Kennette! Congratulations on your MADE win! Before we get into the piece itself, most artists point to a moment or a person that first pulled them toward the arts. Who or what was yours?
Kennette Luague, MADE 2026 Grand Awardee for Mixed Media: Nagsimula talaga ang lahat noong bata pa ako. Nagda-drawing na ako mula elementary at high school, at sa huli ay nakapag-residency ako sa Linangan. Doon ko na-realize na ang sining pala ay hindi lang basta pagpapaganda ng piyesa, kundi isang mabisang paraan para magkuwento at maglabas ng damdamin na mahirap sabihin sa salita.
Every artist carries around more ideas than they can make room for. Something about your work won out over the rest at MADE. What was your big idea for your winning work? Did anything else almost take its place?
Kennette Luague: Ang talagang gusto nitong sabihin ay patungkol sa pamilya at sa tatay ko. Construction ang trabaho niya at laging katuwang ako sa kaniya, kaya sa mga construction material may ideya ako tulad ng kahoy. Yung mga ideya ko sa mga gawa ko ay parte rin ng sarili ko, kasi yun yung pakiramdam ko na nandiyan yung sarili ko sa gawa ko, kaya masaya ako na maitawid ko ang gusto kong sabihin. Pero habang ginagawa ko siya, naramdaman ko na mas magiging tapat at mas tumatagos ang mensahe kung dito sa kasalukuyang porma ko siya idadaan.
There’s usually a piece of the finished work only the artist knows about, like a material swapped in last minute or perhaps, a detail handled a certain way for reasons known only to you. What’s that detail in this piece?
Kennette Luague: May ginawa akong detalye doon sa mismong subject, o yung tao mismo sa gitna. Unang ginawa ko, sculpture na nakalagay siya sa bilog na umiikot, na parang ruleta, kaso ang mali doon, di balanse ang bigat. Nag-isip ako ng paraan, kaya inukit ko na lang sa kahoy yung tao. Para sa akin, iyon ang nagpapaalala ng totoong pakikipagbuno ko sa piyesang ito habang binubuo ko siya.
Where or what aspect of your piece would you want someone to slow down, and what would they find at the end of the wait?
Kennette Luague: Gusto ko sanang maglaan ng kaunting oras ang tumitingin kapag tinititigan nila ang detalye ng subject at yung bilog mismo na umiikot. Kasi para sa akin, yung bilog ay bilog, ang mundo, diyan umiikot ang mundo niya. Sa mundo natin ngayon na napakabilis ng lahat, gusto ko lang silang hilingan ng kahit ilang segundong paghinto para makipag-usap sa gawa.
Creating Taya
Craft has its difficulties that cost the most sweat but draw the least attention. What gave you the hardest time technically in bringing this piece to life?
Kennette Luague: Sa totoo lang, ang pinakamatinding puyat at pawis ko ay napunta sa pagbuo ng umiikot na bilog, tapos yung ukit sa gitna na yung tao. Kailangan dahan-dahanin, kasi pag mali kang inukit, wala nang balikan dahil magbabawas ka ng kahoy yun nayon. Mas maigi na kontrolado ko ang pag-ukit. Akala ng iba madali lang siya tingnan, pero sa likod noon ay paulit-ulit na pagsubok at pagkakamali para lang makuha ko yung eksaktong gawa, o yung finish na gusto kong maiparating.
Stepping back from this piece and looking at your practice as a whole, where does it sit against everything else you’ve made? Is it treading familiar ground, or is this a work that pushed you further out than you usually go?
Kennette Luague: Malaking leap of faith ito para sa akin. Sanay ako sa unang style sa oil painting, pero sa piyesang ito, talagang tinulak ko ang sarili ko na mag-explore sa ibang mga material o medium, katulad ng kahoy, bakal, clay, epoxy, at semento. Nakakatakot nung una, kasi wala sa comfort zone ko, pero ito yung uri ng growth na kailangan ko bilang artist.
Creating Taya
What has someone told you about what they saw in the piece that surprised you?
Kennette Luague: Nakakatuwa rin na may nakapansin sa gawa ko na magugulat ako na hindi ko man lang napansin habang ginagawa ko siya. Pero doon ko napatunayan na kapag nailabas mo na ang art mo, may sarili na siyang buhay at malayang makipag-usap sa karanasan ng iba.
Of all the platforms and spaces open to a Filipino artist today, you brought this piece to Metrobank MADE under this year’s theme, “Traverse: Creativity in Motion.” What made the competition the right home for it?
Kennette Luague: Nung nabasa ko ang temang “Traverse Creativity in Motion,” naramdaman ko agad na para sa akin ito. Sakto kasi ito sa pinagdadaanan kong phase ngayon bilang artist, ang patuloy na paggalaw at pagdiskubre. Ang MADE ang naging tamang venue para maging patunay sa yugtong ito ng buhay ko.
Metrobank MADE has been part of the Philippine art and design recognition landscape for forty-two years. In your own words, what does the program represent to you as an institution?
Kennette Luague: Para sa akin, ang MADE ay hindi lang basta paligsahan, isa itong kanlungan at stepping stone para sa aming mga artist. Ipinaparamdam nila na may halaga ang boses at talento ng Pilipino, at binibigyan nila kami ng plataporma para maseryoso at mapakinggan ng mas malawak na audience.
This piece is now part of MADE’s history, and by extension, Philippine art’s. What do you hope it contributes to that bigger picture?
Kennette Luague: Sana pagdating ng araw, kapag may nakakita ulit sa piyesang ito, magsilbi tong paalala o inspirasyon na huwag matakot magsimula muli. Kahit sa maliit na paraan, masaya na ako kung makakapag-iwan ito ng magandang marka sa sining ng bansa. •
Our MADE 2026 coverage is in synergy with Novice
