MAY 25 - JUNE 19, 2021

OVER MATTER

NIEL ATIENZA / LIAM DE LEON / KIRK DIJAMCO

Artery Art Space is pleased to present works by Niel Atienza, Liam de Leon, and Kirk Dijamco in “Over Matter,” featuring imaginative representations, mental panoramas, and heuristic constructs, pondering on temporality and flux which bend the personal memory of spaces and their significant embellishments, the corporeal portrayal of spiritual fire from the isolated darkness of creation to the ecstasy of being, and the assembly of experiences narrating the individual in social space deconstructed, recombined, and redesigned to produce everyday mythology on identity. Over Matter explores the relationship between mind, space, and body using tropes from abstraction, landscape, portraiture, and hybrid expressions.

How does your work relate to traditional compositions like figure and landscape painting?

Niel:  Ginagamit ko yung landscape parang breathing space ng painting. Parang sa utak din natin kailangan ng isang malawak na lugar lang kung saan ka pwede tumitig lang at huminga.  

Kirk:  I mainly use the human figure as the central element in my works. The human figure acts as a vehicle of sorts for my ideas, current interests and obsessions, as well as my current emotional and psychological states. When I create a figure, the technical/anatomical aspect is the least of my concerns. Rather, I create a character just how a writer creates his protagonist, and try to depict the complexities of the subject’s personality. That’s how a painting starts for me.

Acting as creative catalysts in developing composition, subject matter such as figure or landscape are formed accordingly in your work. Can you elaborate on your process?

Liam:  I took the problem solving element of making a collage into the composition of my paintings. Instead of cut outs, I grapple with the paint, pencils, and pastels. I feel there's even more challenge to it that way because once I paint or draw something on the surface, there's no more turning back. 

Niel: Para dito sa (painting) “Random shapes on familiar places” nagsimula ako dito magpinta sa baba pataas. Yung proseso ko madalas iniisip ko kung san ba ako magsisimula lagi. Either bubugahan ko ng spraypaint sa baba or gagawa ako ng random na shape tapos tinutuloy tuloy ko na kung saan man ako dalhin sa empty space ng canvas. So importante sakin yung simula dun ako makakaisip ng tingin ko pag nilagyan ko ng dark dito mukhang okay maglagay ng light dito. Sinusunod ko lang yung direksyon ng mata ko, kung saang lugar ako nakakapagbigay ng matagal na atensyon, minsan yung blank space parang tinatawag nya ko na “dito naman”. parang ganun. So para sakin composition yung paglalakbay ko sa empty space na ginagalawan ko, kaya ayun masaya rin sirain yung composition, lalot nagpipinta ako ng wala masyadong plano nagsisimula lang talaga ako maglakad. pero iba iba kada pyesa rin minsan may composition ako sa isip pero hindi sya malinaw so susubukan ko simulan, tapos sisirain ko rin pag di pala okay. 

Kirk:  There’s a reason why there is only one figure in most of my paintings: composition is not my strong suit. I'm still learning (and have much to learn) about composition, how to make it make sense or at least not make it look bad. I'm not familiar with academic methods or mathematical elements of composing a picture, and to be honest, I don't have the stomach for it. I’d work on a picture for hours only to end up scraping all the paint, and I guess that says a lot about how I use composition in a painting.

Do you follow a particular idea or theme such as place, memory, or identity, in painting?

Kirk:  I actually have a hard time following a particular theme or topic if it doesn’t resonate with me. I once tried to paint a half-baked concept and ended up with a resentment towards painting so I decided right then that I won't do it again. I’m more into personal or introspective issues but if I can’t get my mind off something, I take that as a good indication that I should try and translate it into a painting. But it doesn’t always pay off so it’s always a gamble. 

(So for me) more on Memory, because I think our concept of identity is tied to our memories. It’s one of the significant aspects that makes us who we are. Places, too, can bear emotional weight or importance because memories are attached with it. On the other hand, a particular situation that may or may not have even happened is associated with memory, and that gives it a certain heft.

Niel:  Siguro more on memory and place yung nasa work ko. Also political syempre. Importante kasi para sakin yung set and setting kapag gumagawa. malaking impluwensya sakin kapag nagpipinta ako yung lugar at yung mga nangyayari sa paligid ko, at yung kalagayan ng isip ko. Ayun so kung magulo ang bansa, gobyerno, police etc., ang nangyayari, magrereflect rin sya kusa sa work ko.  Palaging may part ng painting na may sira or sa movement ng brush, sa buga ng spraypaint, feeling ko andun yung rage. Hindi ko basta basta pwede iturn off yung pagkaconcern ko doon eh kasi parte tayo lahat nun.

For you, would there be an instant where the painting becomes no longer what it is about but something different or otherworldly?

Liam: This usually comes when I'm in the part of my work where it's not turning out great. That part is the most gripping for me and the bond with the work is strongest. Whenever I'm at this part, the challenge I have is to inevitably turn the ugly into (something) better. Sometimes I need to come back to it, sometimes I need to stay or sometimes I need to let go. All of that makes this stage feel magical because this is when the painting becomes the most human it can be. I can finally have a real relationship with it.

Niel:  When making my art... wala namang sacred rituals. Siguro yung magic dun kung paano ko sya nagawa, paano naging ganun yung itsura ng isang part, nagugulat nalang ako na parang okay yung nangyari dito sa part na to. Yung transformation and mutation malaking part sya ng process ko kasi halos dun umiikot ang pag gawa ko. Mas less thinking while painting ako. Way ko sya para umalis sa thinking mind ko. The thinking comes after. Think of it as may ginawa kang bagay na di mo pinagisipan. After nun pagninilayan mo, magrereflect ka, tatanggapin mo, mas makakahinga ka ng maayos. Ganun siguro sa proseso ng pagpipinta ko ginagawa ko sya subcosciously. Tinatanggap ko every mistakes sa bawat painting, bawat pagtransform at pagmutate hinahayaan ko lang until makarating ako sa contentment na hinahanap ko o gusto ko makita/maramdaman.   

Kirk:  Isn't painting a kind of magic? Sort of like alchemy? At least for me that's the case. That's why when a friend suggested that I use a grid when painting to make it easier, I realized I don't really want to make it easier--I just want the difficult parts to not take too much of my time and energy. I know that probably doesn't make any sense. Painting has always been a push-and-pull thing for me, a tug of war between the surface, the paint and my own ability or sometimes the lack of it. It can take me many hours, sometimes days just painting a head, and I still might end up unsatisfied with it and destroy it. Or it can just take 45 minutes. I don't want to make it sound like painting is this kind of supernatural or existential thing but there’s always this struggle with the paint and the surface. You also have to let the painting decide what it wants to look like--listen to what it's trying to tell you or more specifically, look at what it's trying to show you. I’ll start a painting with a clear vision in my head of how I want it to look and end up having a totally different but much more interesting picture in the end.  

Would you create various representations and symbolisms of present day social issues and their reality?

Kirk:  My paintings are not really interested in contemporary issues or topics. Isolation, suffering and identity are not really modern problems. Every human being has felt that way at one point in their life, and those topics are always on my mind when I’m working. For example, in the painting "Fur coat (the morning after)”, I used the fur coat and gold chain to convey a sense of excess or lavishness and society's obsession with material things that they think elevates their social status. Meanwhile, the guy in the picture has this melancholic look to him. And the other painting, The Smarter One, has a dove on the subject’s head. The symbolic meaning of a dove in early Christian art represents the holy spirit or in more modern times, is seen as a symbol of peace but in my painting the human doesn't look like he is at peace. Far from it. In fact, I think he looks a bit deranged. I like the contradictions, a certain image or symbol for something slightly subverted to be a little confusing.

Niel:  Siguro hindi man literal na symbolismo ang ginagamit ko pero lahat ng nangyayari ay dama ko habang ginagawa ko yung mga pyesa. So lumilipat lang yung energy sa gawa. Hindi ko man ipinta ng literal ang galit at lungkot at paghihirap, andun at andun yung energy na yun sa painting.

Painting is a traditional medium slow by today’s fast communication standards. Do you think it has a place amongst more technologically advanced media?

Kirk:  I don't think an artwork or painting should be universally understood. We can both look at a painting and come out with totally different interpretations of what we just experienced and that’s fine. As a painter, I don't really concern myself with how people interpret my work. 

I don’t have much opinion on the matter of competition since I don’t think painting should even try to compete for attention and entertainment because it has nothing to do with that. What you want is an experience, not something that’s aesthetically pleasing when posted on the internet. Although It’s been nearly impossible to do that recently because of the pandemic and I think it’s great that we’re still able to experience art or look at a painting through our digital screens but the viewer should not confuse the number of views or engagement or likes a painting or an artwork has with its significance, relevance or how good or bad it is.

As painters you value the notion of direct experience that you get from making the picture, which by the way becomes a representation of authenticity. Would this be ironic for you?

Kirk:  We are all authentic artists, have you not seen our social media feed? (that's a joke btw) Everyone is authentic these days but whether or not the work is, that's not for me to say. I don't think of authenticity when I'm working although I won’t deny that I want to be seen as authentic. I already have too much trouble figuring out how to make a picture work out so I’d rather not question whether it will be seen as authentic. I think if you believe in what you're doing and you're honest with yourself then the question if you're being authentic shouldn't even cross your mind.

Liam:  My answer to that would be in one of my works called "A Decorator's Expediency."

Kirk:  If there is irony with my work, it’s not something that I deliberately do. Irony is good for jokes but I don't think it lasts in a painting.

In light of this, what would be the future of painting for you? 

Niel:  Future ng painting. Siguro mas lalakas, mas makakapagbigay mensahe, mas makakapag alter ng mind. Ang future ng painting ay depende rin sa mga taong gagawa at titingin at magmamayari nito.  

Kirk:  I don't really know.

I don't believe that anything can replace painting.

I often play a scenario in my head where the art market bubble bursts and the market crashes. Monetary value in paintings is gone. The artists who will keep on painting even when there is no money to be made, those artists, I believe, are the future of painting. But for the record, I do not wish for that to happen during my lifetime.

 Liam:  Better materials :)