More politically engaged artists appeared in the later years, especially after the imposition of Martial Law. Contending that art is not a sterile practice of formal explorations but rather, is an active mirror and initiator of social action, these artists criticized the relevance of self-referential abstract and non-objective art (which they called "high art") in a society in turmoil. For the first time, artists banded together in political art associations that were aligned with the protest movement. Notable art groups and collectives in this period were the Kaisahan Group and ABAY (Artista ng Bayan). The artists included in these groups were collectively called the Social Realists whose more active members were Orlando Castillo, Papo de Asis, Antipas Delotavo, Renato Habulan, Jose Tence Ruiz, Pablo Baens Santos, Edgar Fernandez and Neil Doloricon. Some of them continued to play active roles even during the height of Martial Law, notably Baens-Santos, Habulan, Delotavo and Doloricon. The fall of the Marcos regime as a direct result of the 1986 EDSA (E. de los Santos Avenue) People Power Revolution eased the pressure of social unrest as well as the proliferation of protest art. The need for a redefinition of social and racial identity in the Post-EDSA era led artists to explore the ideological base and social substratum of Philippine life. Looming over every artist was the challenge to rethink nationhood and national history in their works. Alongside this was the rethinking of the basic concepts of art and the eventual rejection of Western aesthetics and the exploration of indigenous, precolonial and folk art. Discovering and creating a Filipino expression became a byword in these times. Arnel Agawin, Santiago Bose, Roberto Feleo and Imelda Cajipe-Endaya explored the use of non-Western materials such as bamboo and sawali, complemented by the use of indigenous or folk-art techniques and processes. Agawin challenged Western art's idea of permanence by incorporating natural processes specifically that of decay, in his twig-and-paper-fiber assemblages. Bose, a prolific master of many mediums also incorporated process and ephemerality in his various works, sometimes even planting seeds into them and allowing the plant's growth to dictate their appearance. His early works dealt with juxtaposing images of folk and precolonial art, such as the Neolithic Manunggul jar with American and European images of the Manhattan skyline and Greyhound buses. Bose explored his indigenous roots in his later works and made use of materials and techniques of the highland peoples of the Northern Philippines. Feleo also rejected the colonial connotations of easel painting. Coming up with the assumption that the Filipino is primarily a sculptor, he experimented with locally found materials such as plywood, glass and sawdust in making alternative structures such as altars and icons. His Sapin-sapin series of plywood and glass and Tau-tao sculptures of sawdust putty featured a mixture of images from precolonial and colonial history as well as quotations from popular culture in humorous and even sardonic compositions that unearth forgotten racial memories and undigested colonial ideologies. Cajipe-Endaya incorporated sawali and bamboo in her oil paintings to create metaphorical scenes about the Filipino family and women. Encouraged by the promise of non-easel painting in the process of rethinking national identity, the young artists Noel Cuizon and Alwin Reamillo undertook the project of decoding the neocolonial mind of the Filipino through appropriated images and objects of indigenous and pop culture. Cuizon's interactive assemblage pieces attempt to break the impersonality of the artwork (the "no-touch" clause of museum and gallery exhibits) by encouraging viewers to rearrange his works' moveable pieces into other compositions. Cuizon's works are usually composed of images of historical and cultural characters and thus connote the need for "realignment" in the personal and social levels of Filipino life. Reamillo incorporates text, photographs, photocopied images and objects in creating didactic pieces that mock and openly attack Spanish and American imperialist ideologies as well as neocolonial mindsets. With Reamillo, the picture plane is an intellectual arena where ideology meets the lion of discourse. Easel painting, in the form of large-scale canvases and the social-realist mode of commentary made a comeback in the early 90's with the popularity of Grupong Salingpusa. A collective of young and student artists, the group's initial objective was to break into the field of art discourse which was dominated by a constellation of individual senior artists. They succeeded in getting the art world's attention by introducing the novel method of interactive mural painting. Salingpusa members are known to create large murals in minutes Ð a kind of performance in its own right. Their works are characterized by the representation of negative social emotions such as dread, isolation and disconnectedness in highly surreal urban environments. Towards the middle of the decade, artists of the Salingpusa group launched their individual careers. Among those who stand out as accomplished artists are Mark Justiniani, Elmer Borlongan, Karen Flores, Antonio Leano, Ferdinand Montemayor, Gemo Tapales, Neil Manalo and Anthony Palomo. Justiniani was first noted for his canvases of brooding peasants and workers. His later works on wood and his innovative mixed media compositions of jeepney stickers and reflectors on stainless steel are equally noteworthy. Borlongan explored the representation of society's rejects Ð the outcast proletariat and the handicapped Ð in dramatic paintings that bespeak of irony, psychological tension and salvation. Flores culls her images from Colonial art and she uses these to create didactic pieces about the Filipina's struggle for self-determination. Leano's first works were surreal representations of the brutish dog-eat-dog lifestyle of urban capitalism. He experimented with landscaping as an alternative art form for a time before exploring abstraction.