MADE Art Competition 2026 Semifinalist - Ink Art - Atramentum

TAGUIG CITY - The Metrobank Design and Excellence Competition showcased this year's winning entries and semifinalists in the exhibition entitled Traverse: Creativity in Motion, which opened on September 17, 2026.

Featuring the Semifinalists, National Finalists, and Grand Awardee Works from three Categories (Oil & Acrylic, Mixed Media, and Sculpture), the exhibition is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, from September 18 to October 18 2026.

The competition has selected 100 artworks from a field of entries in the thousands. As a national competition, entries came from all over the Philippines. Richard Lasam's entry, Atramentum is a semifinalist for the Mixed Media Category of the Art Competition.

Here, Richard Lasam writes about his work:

Above: OFFICIAL POSTER FOR THE EXHIBIT

below: on opening night, many artists flew in from different regions to attend.

LEFT: ATRAMENTUM - THE SEMIFINALIST WORK; RIGHT: THE WORK WITH THE ARTIST

"The works reflect on the idea of the abstractions of design and conceptualization of architectural plans before a concrete direction has been dictated upon the mind of the architect. The architectural profession has become integrated into the digital future—computer programs have dominated the design process since the advent of Computer Aided Design (CAD) in the 1980s. This has slowly relegated the traditional use of hand drawn design using ink and paper in architecture to educational (i.e. college) settings and specialist architects who still insist on using manual drafting. Moreover, in recent years, A.I. systems have slowly but surely invited itself into the architectural world, pushing the old ways even further into the sidelines.

"Atramentum, a Latin word meaning 'working ink,' is a visual response to this inevitable progression of using more computer and A.I. systems in design works. Using hand drawn patterns that harken to the days of when plans were drawn with ink and paper, the body of art presents to the viewer a visual of the mind of the architect. Architectural design can be summarized as organizing lines, shapes, and volumes into a functional space for people. In this way, the symmetrical patterns and shapes in these works represent the designer’s mind.

"Is the artwork a floor plan? A window? Perhaps a design for a floor tile? Or is it a master plan of a group of buildings? That depends on the viewer. What the works want to show from the designer’s mind is how the lines and shapes merge into a whole, a work of beauty, the very thing the architect aims to capture in all his works."