C A N VA S
What do you want your art to convey and express?
I'm still working on it. I guess, my weird interests in stuff,
like trying to listen and stumble upon interesting stories
and trying to visualize those, literally or creatively. Like the
story of how in nature, there is no perfect line, square or
circle, but somehow man created these perfect shapes from
nature's suggestions. How Sir Robert Sylianteng of First
United Building, where 98B is hosted, washed his paper
money bills. Or Carlos Celdran’s telling of the history of
Intramuros and how those structures are like they’re made
up of chocnut candies, because they are made of adobe.
Also, my political leanings and beliefs like those hidden
behind the coded message of my maritime flags, painting
series. And the recent video of me dropping a bottle of
UFC Mang Tomas in response to the recent labor issues
with NutriAsia, with reference to Ai Wei Wei's dropping
of an ancient vase.
I am currently thinking about and working on how
to effectively communicate my support for free speech,
criticism of radicalization, call for more debate and
dialogue, and I’m also still figuring out how to attack the
hyper-reactivity of people nowadays. Judging situations
like the one in NutriAsia from the get-go, without taking
into consideration the bias and agenda of the media,
without investigating deeper into the matter. And the
annoying pointing out of problems without any proposal
or effort into trying to solve those problems.
money. But attending the tour, as someone familiar with
contemporary art practices, I noticed the performative-ness
of the tour as well as the depth of history. I managed to
learn a ton about what Intramuros was like way back, what
it could have been and what it still can be.
I think their work is not really that critical of the
government but more of an invitation for people to dig
deeper, to question the grand narratives of modernism,
such as the sacredness of religion. Now the Catholic
Church is more open to receiving criticism and admitting
its wrongs, but before you could say that the church was
the tyrant. It was separated from the government but
was still highly influential. Nowadays, Islam is taking
that spotlight. With that, some of its critics are accused of
Islamophobia.
One of the things that I admire about Duterte is
how he managed to maneuver around the strong church
here—and demonize them. But my stance here is more
nuanced. I see the value in questioning, criticizing,
pointing out the flaws of the church, and I also see the
value they give to communities, how they give hope to
people, how the church is like therapy for the people.
But then when the therapist is not just helping you
cope with your struggles, but also persuading you to
take their side, that's not good. It's like that politically-
inclined taxi driver or barber who you just want to
mind their own businesses.
So, fine art and lowbrow. Fine art is a more modern
idea—of painting and sculptures, of using expensive
materials, being highly skilled. Lowbrow art is more of a
postmodern idea of art, in that it’s more about what can be
art and how far can we push it.
I think there is still that line, but it’s more blurred. You
can see street art, which was previously seen as lowbrow,
getting shown in galleries and appreciated by [art]
collectors. But you still see a lot of paintings in galleries. I
think it’s not a matter of removing the modernist ideas in
exchange of postmodernist ideas but it helping them work
together. I’m not sure if I’m making sense.
Personally, I find myself more [drawn to] the postmodern
side, because I'm not really that keen on spending much time
to make something look good—as you can see in this [email]
interview. I’m more “get the ideas out there as fast as possible,
clean it up a little bit, then send it instantly”.
You mention Ai Wei Wei and Carlos Celdran a bit. The
former is a fine artist who uses everyday objects in the
creation of pieces that challenge the state; the latter a
performance artist who doesn't bring himself into the
space of high brow art and so, does not receive the same
acclaim as the former (or Mideo Cruz for that matter)
but does equally important work that is critical of the
government. How do you see this delineation between
fine and lowbrow art? Where do you see yourself on
this scale?
They're polarizing personalities. I've managed to get
to know Carlos Celdran more after working as a staffer
for the recent inaugural Manila Biennale. I see Carlos's
point of framing his tours as tours and not as performance
art—in a way, to not alienate people, and also to get more
people to join the tours. After all, that's where he earns his
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