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I KNOW
that the pasta is good...for I have been invited once to
dine at the Rafa’s deli+café by dear friends Sedfrey
Santiago and Ricky Punzalan. What I did not know was
that the place also served good art. Nay! Let me say
wonderful art...art that springs sincerely from the
thoughts of the young. On the second floor of the
establishment is the BlueWings Art Space, an elevated
inner sanctum and altar to brave expressions of the
arts.
So-called art spaces are difficult to come by in the
Third (and a half) World urban sprawl called
Metropolitan Manila. Coming in sizes as small as 5
square meters or even smaller (believe me, I have seen a
3-sq-m art space in Japan), art spaces are decidedly
“altered locations” that provide the mind respite from
the nearly totalitarian functionalism of urban space.
And thus, I was happy to stand at the center of the
15-sq-m-or-so gallery located in the suburban setting of
Xavierville Road, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. I was
surrounded by works of art, and their (unintended?)
proximity made me feel the explosive energy expelled by
their creators.
Conflikto Talking To Magnifico
is the brainchild of Joel Quiñones. It is based on
characters that he created at a time when he worked for
a publishing firm. The appropriated title for the group
exhibit is indeed well-chosen, for many young artists
today are “conflicted,” pulled by the demands of a
conservative and “established” market on one hand and
the need for creative expression on the other. Despite
this state of being, they continue to paint and search
for their own notion of “magnificence.” The exhibit
brings together 21 young artists, who are mostly in
their 20s, hail from the Far Eastern University, and
paint in the genre of “popular surrealism.”
Popular
surrealism is truly a difficult genre to sell in this
country obsessed in uncritical realism. But then again
this condition can be comprehended. Why indeed hang
images of the bizarre, the incongruous and the
irrational onto one’s walls when the country’s politics
is bizarre, incongruous and irrational enough to drive
people to the realm of the surreal? Simply put, the
genre is different with a completely different set of
aesthetics from that of the Last Supper and “Giant Spoon
and Fork” folk renditions of “art” (which should be
appreciated for what they are). The genre is for people
willing to be affected, think and think critically. It
is a difficult genre, as Quinones admits, “in terms of
composition and other elements of artwork.” While
popular symbols or icons are used in the creation of
pieces, what is actually expressed moves away from the
ordinary and intentionally aims to achieve radically
different cognition(s) and perspectives. As popular
surrealist creation proceeds from differing “processes,”
so should the acceptance of its “objects” of art.
Quiñones’s Suffocated is redolent in its theme of
suffering. A naked figure of a man, hyper-real in its
portrayal down to the minute strands of hair that cover
his body, dominates the piece. His head cannot be seen,
perhaps rendered invisible by modified perspective or
perhaps by the darkness that envelops his being. The
desperate tone of the piece is made even more ghastly by
the appearance of a skull that seemingly taunts and
mocks the man’s suffocation with an unwarranted smile.
POLDING SENA’S
Das Kapital
Skulls,
likewise, appear in Waldy Chavez poster art-like work,
Fax a Price for Your Belief. Unlike Quiñones
sensuous rendering of figures, Chavez’s is unabashedly
flat. The flatness is, however, compensated by the stark
contrasts he creates with black silhouettes over a
bright yellow background. A pensive figure of Charlie
Chaplain’s tramp presides over a chaotic heap of faces,
skulls, soldiers and weapons of mass destruction. “Not
so innocent a world,” it seems to say.
In
Albert Sy’s Juan Sings the Blues, the skull is
reprised as the face of a piano player turning its
attention to the viewer with a full toothy grin. The
piano is slightly tilted and sports a “bouquet” of
flames to its right side. The composition is downright
macabre and echoes the symbols of Mexico’s “Dia de los
Muertes,” the feast day of the dead or the character of
Death himself as portrayed in a tarot card. If Death
could sing, will it choose the blues or some other
genre? Trivia? Perhaps not...especially when Death
offers to accompany our swan songs.
Alvin
Capistrano essays the theme and title of After Death
with a diaphanous rendering of a man’s torso with a
technique that approaches that of Fernando Zobel. Death
is not darkness but the transfiguration of light amid
darkness. The popular symbol of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus is appropriated as a conarrative of this piece
making a rare example of “religious popular surrealism”
(or popular surrealism with religious symbolism).
Another contemporary symbol, the police line in the form
of criss-crossing yellow bands marks the foreground.
This suggests multiple meanings...death as a result of
accident or even heinous crime.
Polding
Sena’s Das Kapital develops the theme of the
unfolding social, political and environmental crises
brought about by unchecked globalization. Sena’s genius
lies in crystallization. He is able to render this wordy
theme on a two-dimensional plane with the use of a few
elements: a dart board-like illustration of concentric
circles, silhouettes of flies and cockroaches, a few
well-chosen words and dripping goo. The effect is
sublime pop art married to surrealism with attached
elements of social-realism.
Mervin
Pimentel’s Resurgence of Evil draws upon the
imagery of what appears to be the Venetian Mardi gras.
Indeed, evil lurks even in the “hallowed grounds” of our
contemporary society. Masks serve to hide true
identities. Seemingly sober faces spew not so sober
malice. Phantoms inhabit undisturbed places and lighted
towers spell danger as they shoo away darkness. Meanings
are multifarious and fluid in Pimentel’s opus, inviting
for the sake of artistic discourse (mis)interpretations
and (mis)understandings. And in various degrees of
expressive sharpness, shock, madness and distortion, so
do the other artists featured in this exhibit: Grace
Corpus, Mill Cruz, Jigger Cruz, Meliton Avila, Edward
Morada, Jesie Mondares, Bjorn Calleja, JJ Zamoranos,
Darel Ballesteros, Omar Sam Ramos, Nemo Aguila, Gregg
Gluserian, Errol Orbida, Edric Go and Kristian Clami.
Kudos to
all in your search for magnificence.
***Conflikto
Talking to Magnifiko is ongoing until September 12 at
the BlueWings ArtSpace on the second level of Rafa’s
deli+café, 10 Xavierville Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon
City. For inquiries: 426-2970. |
