JULY 27 - AUGUST 28, 2021

EUREKA!

BJORN CALLEJA / DAVID RYAN VIRAY

That mercurial moment of longed for enlightenment ecstatic with the imminent prize of total pleasure comes through a path neither given nor mapped but accomplished with a voracious determination wrestled from the demons of doubt and dissimilitude, to create, to discover, to banish disbelief, and bear witness to what no else sees – a vision purloined from above, so to enjoy down below.

For your recent works in the show what have been your sources of inspiration?

BJORN :  I’ve been charmed by images taken from sports events, aside from being historical in their own right, It allows me as a painter to focus on the human emotions as the subject of the work and not the image itself.

DAVID : Some tales came from Greek mythology, with twists like incorporating demons or devil figures in my paintings but instead of making them terrifying, I made them terrified by human nature. 

There is a certain strangeness or surrealism in the works that make them ironic and funny, would this be intentional like a statement or perhaps a conscious plot?

BJORN :  Not a statement, but probably a reminder, to myself and hopefully to others who see my paintings, the humor is to not take life so seriously and have fun in life, some characters that I develop carry personal meanings for myself, and maybe their audience may also relate to them from their perspective. In general, I would like them to be reminders of us and how we relate to and affect our environments, either as persons, people or humans.

DAVID :  I think of my art as a reflection of society, human nature, I believe in God the Creator of heaven and earth, in the universal language of Absolute Truth/Constitution, Religion and Regional, Macro and Micro, psychology and physiology, Drop Acid Not Bombs, Reboot but not Rebirth. These are just some thoughts and ideas that are present in my consciousness.

Do you have any formative experiences that guided you in developing the works? And did they help in exploring new artistic grounds?

DAVID : Good question, Freedom but not free. When I was young my parents were not very supportive, they didn't buy me comics or magazines except for one Batman comicbook my mother gave me. So from my younger years after class I dropped by the nearest bookstore because internet is not yet introduced, I'll browse comics, magazines, anything that tickle my lust for imagery, and when I got home I'd draw what is left in my memory of that certain image. If I feel that it doesn't look satisfying then I‘ll try again the next day. When computer shops emerged, there was no internet yet, just Lan/config. games. With still no support from my parents, I would go to the nearest computer shops not to play, but by standing by I was able to observe characters from Star Craft and then would draw them at home. Those experiences practiced my memorization of forms and helped me out in my practice now. 

There are certain parallels occurring in the works that produce an internal tension, whether through an exploration of the painting’s content like sports and art, or perhaps a shifting from prior painterly orientations, such as a type of conceptual realism to a surrealistic narrative. What difference do they make for you?

DAVID :  Conceptual to surreal, I loved cerebral works, I found them interesting and fun, but I'm also really happy with painting and the thought process that takes over when I'm doing it. What I'm doing now, for me is more interesting and fun, especially when I look back and compare them to my past works. 

BJORN :  Those are really great points, I believe both sports and the arts, especially painting, are very performative, they both rely heavily on muscle memory and incessant practice. The difference for me might be based on results, in sports there is a definitive sense of triumph and failure, art is very subjective even in that regard.

For you, what kind of creative pitfalls, detours, breakthroughs, or even failure, which added to the signification of the work?

DAVID : I guess my paintings reflect my own creative journey. I trust my instinct and intuition when I'm painting. Being one with the painting is both bold and fragile, an artist makes himself vulnerable to criticism, so I try not to let myself dwell on those thoughts, I'd rather let my body, and my mind feel what it loves to feel, that production high. Creative breakthroughs come at times, giving me more stories to tell for my next painting, or finding more skillful ways to paint, or solving problems. Napansin ko din habang nakakatapos ako ng painting I also felt yung recurring images, nag-eevolve sya into something more detailed, tingin ko pag recurring ang images sa work ko it means di pa tapos yung story, gusto nya pang mahinog into something else. If I feel satisfied about it, dalawa lang yan Eureka! Or Yari ka!

BJORN :  In every aspect of life, I would assume everyone has an experience of failure. The painting would be my homage to all the failures I have encountered. The image of disappointment from a crowd of fans rooting for a defeated sports team could give either a feeling of humiliation or pose as a challenge to always come back better. Like they always say, one never succeeds when one never fails.

So in this particular instance of competitive performance, who do you think “failed”? Would it be the other-worldly athleticism of an individual say, Lebron James of the Cavs then, or the strength in numbers philosophy of their game opponent, the Warriors? Is the painting a commentary about this opposite dynamics? As in, the romantic genius of the lone traditional artist in the studio, versus a postmodern “factory” of creative producers?

BJORN : Interesting analysis but not really, haha.