Screaming Saint

Coming from a culture with a strong religious background. I try to play with iconic images and create narratives from them. Some narratives may be satirical or ironic. In this painting I try to visualize what it feels like to be on the other side of interpersonal communication in the dynamics of prayer. Don't the saints get tired from all the prayers they receive?

"screaming saint" acrylic on canvas, 36 x 60 inches, 2007

When your mind flies, what flies with it?

light from a light bulb is not light.. its artificial….. energy fart




Hindi ko kayang tulungan ang ayaw mag patulong




Hindi ko kayang tulungan ang nagbibingibingihan




Hindi ko kayang tulungan ang nagbubulag-bulagan




Sumisigaw ako! bakit hindi mo naririnig?




Mas malakas ang boses ng pipi kaysa sa duwag




I thirst




Sapul! bakit masakit pag sapul? kasi totoo




Totoo ka ba sa sarili mo?




Pawis.. bakit maasim? Bakit hindi pula ang pawis?




Ano ang pula? Sigurado ka? Sino ang nagsabi?




Bakit takot ka mamatay?




Paano mo siya nakilala Sa mukha?




Paano kung walang mukha?



Paano kung walang mata?




Paano kung bulag ka?




Paano mo siya makikilala?




Maganda ba pag may balat (bahlat) sa mukha?




Bakit ang nunal sa mukha maganda?




Maganda ka ba? Sino nagsabi? Bakit niya nasabi?




Sa salamin..may nakatingin sa iyo..




ang Ako nagiging ikaw.. paikot ikot.. sino sa inyo ang totoo?


Hindi ito tula

Libog at Thesis na Ayaw Mabuo

Puro butil

hindi makabuo ng buo

Ang hirap manganak

ng sanggol na mamahalin,

na maipagmamalaki

Puro semilyang baog

natutuyo,nawawalan ng buhay

Masarap lamang salsalin

Mahirap panindigan

After the Show

At the end of the day,

I wish they would see

beyond the colors

I have wiped across the bare canvas

They would listen to my whispers

beyond the endless talks

along the white but dirty hallways

They would taste my wounds

beyond the bitter red wine

served with garlic toasts covered with dead meat



The gallery is a lifeless space after 10:00pm

bare, empty, filthy


Do you understand me now?

Or were you just flattered to see the colors

on the stretched piece of cloth?



You are worse than a blind, deaf man.

Dala-dalang Dalangin,one man exhibition, Cultural Center of the Philippines exhibition grant, March 16 -April 23, 2006

(Embodied Prayers) Dala-dalang Dalangin Installation of Drawings
Cultural Center of the Philippines exhibiton grant, March 16 -April 23, 2006

The artist investigates the human psyche, narratology and space through an installation of muliple drawings on paper.

"Embodied Payers"

Having a background in creative writing and nurtured in a culture with a strong sense of religiosity, the artist embarked in a journey interweaving the process of drawing and writing in the attempt to transcend the human psyche from the rituals of prayer and worship conveyed in paper and pencil medium. The medium, being common in the arts of drawing and writing, facilitated the transfer of the artistry faster than the process of painting on canvas.

The perspective as to what the human psyche is and how it is constituted are the keys to further fathom ourselves or fail to do so. “Who am I?” is thus a question posed by all individuals and it can, accordingly, be said to express an existential fact whether we try to go beyond ourselves and commune with a higher being. With multiple drawings of faces embodied with litany of prayers which further profound a sagacity of characters encompassing emotions, imagery, memory and personality patterns, the gallery is transformed and vicariously represent a venerated sanctum. An inner sanctum that one can soul-search, contemplate or be appeased with the self.

The written prayers alone should have directly encapsulated the very character of an individual. The artist did not stop from such point of view yet have ventured on and made a vivid visual representation of human characters through drawings and made it more tangible.

Compelling it was, indeed, that the artist presented a portion of the human psyche, faith that is, expressed in prayers as a revealing reality embodied in forms of exaltation, mercy and salvation that warrants human existence further. Man is in the world as a perceptive reality. Selfhood cannot be achieved ultimately and completely within the self. But prayers and worship, as being illustrated in the installation, expresses profoundness of self commitment to the one beyond, to a higher being for a transcendental self-fulfillment.

Hopefully, Dala-dalang Dalangin may inspire the spectators to explore their own persona, beyond merely relating oneself, amidst the different visual elements in the installation.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Cubicle Art gallery, PAsig City, July 15 - Aug 15-2006


Schizophrenia

A person is multifaceted.

One’s personality is not defined by just one aspect of a person’s life.

A person may be spiritual, sensual, or irrational at the same time.
These characteristics not only define our personality but make us unique from any other individual.

Each person has his/her own concept of reality - a reality that he or she may only understand.


This exhibition investigates emotions, imagery, memory and personality patterns. The creation of realities beyond the conventional. Storytelling from the eyes of a child. Whispers from a child within. Screams from the mind. Dreams and fantasies we create. We have our own angels and demons, stop and listen.

From the process of drawing, the artist attempts to create narratives from diverse sources of images. The artist utilizes imagery from various fields such as religion, sexuality and popular culture and plays with them in order to create tensions and nuances on their meanings.

It is hoped that the exhibition would inspire the viewer to explore his own persona through observing and interpreting the different visual elements in the space.



Angelo Magno

Birthday ni Blas

"Sa Birthday ni Blas"

The installation was inspired by the "pabitin". This is a traditional children’s game played during special gatherings. It consists of a grid-like bamboo frame, placed horizontally where prizes or gifts are suspended. Children are gathered underneath the pabitin and try to reach for the best prize once it is lowered. Usually the pabitin is lowered abruptly and the children attempt to get hold of whatever price they are able to reach. In this case, unusual toys are at stake.

The installation plays with tensions. What is beautiful? What is ugly? What is sane? What is insane? What is normal? What is abnormal? The toys are the elements I used in order to create the portrait of the character, Blas. How can the collection of toys represent Blas' character?

The installation also investigates how narratives are created when unrelated objects are integrated. I am interested in the power of toys. Their forms usually play with archetypes ( child, mother, father, hero). Toys and amulets are often mystified by children and adults alike. Religious ornaments are also incorporated with the toys in order to create tensions on their meanings and play with their significations.


"Reified Delusions" exhibition, Cubicle Art Gallery, Pasig City, Augst 2007

REIFIED DELUSIONS

REIFIED DELUSIONS

“There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself.”---- Hermann Hesse, German poet and novelist.

This exhibition invites you to play with tensions. To explore the thin red
line that divides the boundaries of beauty and ugliness, sanity and insanity,

What is truth? What is a lie? What is real?

My exhibition investigates how narratives are created when unrelated objects are integrated.

I am fascinated with masks and faces. Masks as portraits, portraits as masks— We are multifaceted individuals with various internal personas. Do masks portray what is really felt from within? How can the face be utilized as a tool for sign making?

The power of toys also interests me. Toys as icons, icons as toys-- What are their similarities?

Their forms usually play with archetypes ( child, mother, father, hero) and children and adults more often can relate to their forms. Religious ornaments are also incorporated in the toys. These religious objects are charged with meanings and symbolisms. Toys and amulets have their similarities, they are sometimes considered fetished objects, mystified by children and adults alike. I have manipulated the images of the toys and added the religious ornaments in order to create tensions over their meanings and play with their significations.


I invite the viewers to look at things from the eyes of a child. To begin let go and just play with our common notion of things and their functions. Reality is complicated enough as it is. This exhibition invites you to create your own realities. "Delusion" not as a negative connotation but an avenue to explore other forms of story telling beyond the ordinary. Weave your own narratives, play in your own realities.

----Angelo Magno
___________________________________________________________

*Reify- To consider an abstract concept to be real.

Delusions- It is used to describe a belief that is either false, fanciful or derived from deception.



The Cubicle Art Gallery

August 11, 2007 at 7:00pm.

40 C. Raymundo Ave. corner Stella Maris Ave.,
Pasig City. . Tel. no. 6416700


Exhibition runs till September 8, 2007.

psychosis

Minsan pag nagsisimba kayo, o nakasakay sa jeep, o nakikinig ng mahabang lecture, hindi ba nangyayari sa inyo yung parang namamnhid kayo o kaya naiisip na bakit nakikita ko yung mukha ng katabi ko, kaharap niyo, pero sarili niyo hindi niyo nakikita? Tapos naiisip niyo, bakit ganun? sino ba talga ako? Bakit ako nadito? Bakit ko sila kakilala? Bakit ako may hiya e hindi naman nila ako kilala talaga? Bakit may mata kayo sa mundong ito pero di niyo naman kontrolado lahat?Tapos makikita niyo yung kamay niyo gumagalaw at yung paa niyo, tapos nangagnati yung utong niyo tapos kakamutin niyo, kukurap, luluha, hihinga, sasakit ang tiyan. Tapos babalik sa tanong na sino ba ako talaga?

Para kang nasa malaking tv show na nararamdaman mo lahat, ikaw ang bida pero di mo kontrolado lahat ng eksesna. Hindi ikaw ang director. Tapos ang dami ninyong artista. Pero hindi lahat ng artista kilala mo. Hindi kailangan na telegenic at photogenic. May bobo, may super bobo at may bobo na "nag aartista talaga"

Tapos hihinto yung lecture, yung jeep, o yung sermon ng pare..tapos matatauhan ka kasi kailangan mo tumayo... makakalimutan mo na naman yung mga tanong sa isip mo kasi marami ka pang gagawin...

Nangyari na ba sa iyo yun?

Sa akin madalas.

Langoy , Lipad at Isip na Naglalaro

Sanay tayo sabihin na tayo ay humihinga sa hangin, naglalakd sa lupa, kumakain, naglalaro, umiinom ng tubig, natutulog, nanaginip.

Sanay tayo isipin na ang mga ibon din ay humihinga, naglalaro sa hangin, lumilipad.

Sanay tayo makakita ng mga isda sa tubig, lumalaban sa alon, patalon-talon, sumasabay sa nagsasayaw na tubig.

Kung ang ibong ay sanay sa hangin, at ang isda ay sanay sa tubig, hindi kaya ang mga isda rin ay lumilipad sa tubig habang ang mga ibon naman ay lumalangoy sa hangin?

Kung tutuusin, lahat naman tayo ay humihinga, naglalaro, nagsasayaw, lumalangoy, lumilipad.

Hindi lang tayo sanay magisip ng mga paniniwalang hindi nakasanayan.

on being an artist

"The true artist is not interested in having a nice life, being comfy or fitting in, but rather sees himself as a benefactor. His goal is to make a contribution to life, and to this end there are no barriers, doors or blocks, but only wide open spaces."--- (Brian Simons)