Portraits of Hybrid and Crosshatched artists
By Constantino Tejero
Like
the half human, half animal figures on his canvases, Andres Barrioquinto may
be said to be a hybrid artist. Utilizing the styles and techniques of expressionism
and surrealism, incorporating text and the literary devices of allegory and
personification, and investing the work with a social realist content, he produces
the postmodern.
In his fifth solo show, "Fhamvhenta Hezpesyal ", ongoing until May 20 in West Gallery Artlane, L/3, Glorietta 4, Ayala Cente, Makati City, the artist showcase in 10 pieces of his edgy art.
This is made edgier by the tension between the exhibit's theme of the selling of art and the atist's struggle not to sell out. What emerge are images teetering between hilarity and horror, sometimes recalling late Picao, often appearing like a blend of cartoon characters and Egyptian hieroglyphs.
The nauseating imagery belies the playfulness, such as the fanciful spelling of the exhibit's title. (The artist says he pelling is meant to grab the gallery goers' attention, precisely the marketing strategy he is satirizing about in certain artists.)
"Chemistry Between Us," in ink on pape, has a canine figure face to face with a flattop man in shirt and tie, with the inscription Sikat na Artista, Pendeho and Quamada.
"Dr. Evil's Secret Ingredients" charcoal on paper,porrays what looks like a skeletal canine figure or a bovine skull, and include a recipe consisting of flour, baking powder, paprika, salt and pepper, and dog. This is funny, though a bit horrific if the viewer can read between the lines.
"Artist for Sale", oil on canvas, depicts againsta blue green background a simplified human form in orange with a gray apron streaked with ochre and slate. It holds an ochre palette and has a cyclopean eye with cobalt blue pupil, in a blue green ovoid, with a brown key on top, surrounded by ochre rays.
The piece is inscribed with Artista pala la venta. Looking like a weird teddy bear, the artist is here depicted as a wound up toy (of curators, patrons, mentors, gallery-owners) Artists' Savior
" Fhamvhenta Hezpesyal" oil on canvas, is inscribed with poner en il pader? And the title of the piece. Barely perceptible is the outline of a lean human face in ochre, obviously, the artist's, which is obliterated by streaks of white yellow,reddish-brown.
"Quando Morirai" pastel on paper, has a man that looks like a predator bird or dog,in jacket outlined in black against slate grey and blue. It portrays the artist like a hybrid Egyptian god, recalling ancient evil.
"El Gran Ventriloquist,"has a sallow-skinned Gaugin figure with brush, paint tube and beret, inscribed "famoso" the figure partly obliterated by streaks of red, violet and fuschia.Facing him is a yellow dogface on a red hairy body, holding a green glass of red wine,fronted by a green piece of steak on a blue green plate with brown fork and spoon.
At the bottom of the canvas is the passage: usted tienne las habilidades, yo consiguio la celebros, hagamos porciones del dinero. This is a portrait of artist and mentor in dialogue, or one speaking through the other.
"Nouveauriche," oil on canvas, depicts a bullhead on a bloated and sagging human body, crosshatched with pencil and painted ochre against a slate-blue background. The face is obliterated by orange streaks, and the figure encircled of what looks like a pen or arena in orange. At the bottom is the inscription Super Toro Corned Beef..Ostensibly a surreal depiction of canned meat, it I really a portrait of a get rich artist, the go getter in the art scene.
"Mr. Clean," oil and drawing on canvas, porrays a yellowish bald headed man, with cherub's wings, his sagging body naked, but for a tie, and partly obliterated by streaks of brown, black and blue green. On top is inscribed Salvador de las artistas, which shouls speak for itelf.
"Birch Tree (it's everybody's milk),oil and drawing on canvas, has a grey beast against a beige background. It could be a bear, cow or dog with multiple breasts, squeezing a teat and ostensibly squirting into a glass its milk, which has been obliterated by streaks of black, blue and brown. This then is a milking cow, so this must be a portrait of the artist as mentor, nourishing younger artists for the wrong reason.
Examplary Artist
"Jeff Buckley," pastel on paper,has an ochre underpaint and a slate-gray over paint from which emerges a pop portrait of the long haired musician composed by black crosshatching of pencil and sketchy lines of pastel. Barrioquinto admits Buckley as his icon, an exemplar of the artist who is not commercialized and never a sell out. Placed at the tail end of the exhibit.,his lonely visage seems to be a reproach to the other portraits in the gallery, those commercial artists who hunger for fame na "madali-in".
Barrioquinto says his works have been inspired by Buckley's music and lyrics. "Lahat galling doon. I listen to him while I work." What's with the obliteration though? Is there any meaning to this spoiling of the canvas and marring of the figure? "I just got tired,"says the artist. "Pag medyo may sira, mas interesting di ba?"
Barrioquinto is in fact, one of the most interesting artists of his generation, and certainly one of the most awarded (prizes from the annual art competitions of shell, Metrobank ,and the Art Association of the Philippines;Honorable mention in the International Biennial Print and Drawing Exhibition in Taiwan.). And he is only 28.
After attending an art workshop at the University of the Philippines, he took up Fine Arts at the University of anto Tomas.
Artists he admires include Jose Legaspi, Manuel Ocampo, Louie Cordero, Charlie Co, Klimt, Munch, Chagall, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud.
On Why he has become an artist, Barrioquinto has an explanation so simple as to be almost mystical: " Dahil ditto ako lagi bumabagsak.I should be doing other things,but I always fall into this."
Copyright © Andres S. Barrioquinto 2003
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