IT may have taken 50 odd years (“50 [years old na nga] ’ata ako, tatanong ko ulit nanay ko, kinalimutan ko na bilangin), a legendary music career, his fair share of ups and downs, but eclectic multihyphenate Marcus Adoro finally arrives at his moment as a bona fide exhibiting visual artist.
To be fair, it wasn’t only until a few years ago when the Eraserheads lead guitarist committed himself to painting. The practice, this creative outlet, after all, is what kept him sane during the pandemic, he said. Now, amid his packed schedule of preparing for the highly anticipated reunion concert next week and recording a soundtrack, among other pursuits, Adoro proudly stars in his ongoing debut solo exhibition as a painter.
Titled Head and mounted by Vintana.ph (@vintana.ph), the show opened on December 5 at Pink House in Taguig City and is on view until December 19.
‘Hindi lang EHeads pinipinta ko’
DISPLAYED on the walls of the house converted into an event space and then into a pop-up gallery is the artist’s mélange of paintings, mostly figurative and largely created over the pandemic. It’s a collection of visualized memories and musings that showcase heavy influences by Van Gogh and Adoro’s great level of commitment to studying and experimenting with various techniques and materials.
Self-portraits abound, along with other pieces that take viewers into the inquisitive mind of Adoro. Of course, there are pieces about the Eraserheads, which became a hit series comprised of paintings, calendar, and even an NFT collection. But it is one that the artist now tries to slowly evolve away from to showcase other facets of his art.
“Eheads-related art somehow became a vehicle for me to learn various techniques by way repetition, so in a way I was discovering new insights while making band supporters happy, and it also helped me sustain this journey,” Adoro said in an e-mail interview ahead of the show. “This exhibition is also my way of saying ‘Huy mga bw*kang-in* niyo—hindi lang Eheads pinipinta ko lolzz.’”
Painting like clockwork
“LIKE most children, I drew a lot—on wall and paper, and on soil or sand. I remember copying comic strips from newspapers and cartoons from Reader’s Digest,” said Adoro, who’s also known as, among other things, the bloody fishball-eating Punk Zappa.
During his college years at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, most of Adoro’s friends were from the UP College of Fine Arts. It was a network composed of the personalities of the local art circle, which exposed him to the avant-garde, the prevailing art thought at the time. In 2004, a couple of years removed from the disbandment of the Eraserheads, Adoro tried his hand in oil painting. It was at that point he decided to become a painter one day.
It wasn’t until 2019, however, when Adoro followed through on the idea. Then came the pandemic and painting served as his form of meditation. He created art until it became routinary, with Adoro working on three to four artworks at a time.
“I learned that I can discipline myself because it came to a point where I was churning out pieces like clockwork,” he said. “Sunlight was suddenly my best friend during the day and alcohol during the night (to knock me off early so I can wake up early, and to soothe me from the problems of the world). I also learned to tame some medium—I particularly found oil challenging so I focused on it and is now my main medium. I also learned that I can survive doing art in trying times.”
Method to madness
ACCORDING to Vintana.ph founder and art director Angela Gaddi, Adoro disapproves of brandings, more so for his art.
“I don’t think he thinks he’s figurative,” she said during the exhibit opening, as Adoro’s artworks of portraits, forms, and scenes hang in the exhibition space. “He’s self-taught, but then he is not helter-skelter as you might think because he is a rock star. When it comes to his art, he is actually very methodical.”
This level of meticulousness becomes evident upon deeper inspection of Adoro’s featured pieces for his debut solo exhibition. His saccharine worlds carry engaging, multi-layered narratives. As Gaddi puts it in the exhibition note, “Somewhere in between, where things aren’t seen with the naked eye, there is always goodness in the blue skies and flowers, but [also] another force—a wild pain and decay also accompanies everything.”
During the opening of Head—a title that signifies many things for Adoro, from his band name to “head case” to “check your head”—the artist discussed his idea for the show. He said it was meant to showcase his art, not necessarily to re-brand or confine himself as a visual artist.
“Para sa ’kin, ang pagiging artist, multi-discipline thing,” Adoro said, citing his ventures into screenplay writing and directing, among other stuff. For him, it’s not so much about deep diving into one discipline as it is about chasing that thrill of excitement over and over again in learning new things, methods and expressions.
“Like being a jack of all trades?” I asked.
“’Di naman, ‘di ko gusto kadugtong nun eh,” Adoro quipped, smiling, before finding a term he liked better. “Parang…multi-personality in order.”