Fifteen years of working in print media could easily be motivation (or warranted excuse) for artist Frantz Salvador to rip pages off dated magazines and yellowing books—if not to tear out printed words for use in his collages, then to repurpose glossies as “painting paper” to draw his characters on.
He assembles the painted pages and sticks them on the canvas with acrylic emulsion: for due diligence, texture, and because, well, it looks nice.
Then there’s the other motivation—storytelling.
“Interesting para sa akin yung idea ng published words and stories. Kasi in print, may illusion ng permanence. Pero yung physical act ng paggupit ng words at images, tapos dudugtungan mo ng ibang elements, may bagong narrative kang kini-create, may bago kang story na kinu-kuwento.” Frantz says.
His earlier collages reflect these stories, “voiced” through the inconspicuous pages of 10-peso paperbacks, outdoor and gardening magazines, instructional card-game manuals, sci-fi books, and the occasional Anais Nin.
The characters he creates does a lot of the heavy lifting, too: weeping demons, characters with exhausted faces and heavy eyelids, superheroes with bared nipples, knives and spikes, a collection of skulls, gaping mouths and baring teeth.
His recently concluded solo exhibition “The Great Somewhere Else” in Nova Gallery, Makati, operates from this familiar storytelling vein: marrying borrowed words with odd character pieces and pop surrealist drawings—this time with black and white acrylic portraits that rely less on borrowed words, and more scrawled out inquiries (“Brave?”), abrupt commands (“Rest!”) and kamikaze self-talk (“Drown here”).
The voice that describes “The Great Somewhere Else”, is just about as direct and self aware, too: “It’s about our search for that ‘perfect situation’ that never arrives.” Frantz explains, “It’s a love-hate relationship letter with life.”
“I’m fascinated, but also annoyed with the self-help/self-improvement culture. But I’m just as fascinated with Buddhism and this is basically my skewed interpretation of Dukkha—or what the Buddhists mean when they say ‘All life is suffering’.”
Discomfort isn’t just the artist statement, it’s also part of the process.
“May paintings akong pinapatungan. Buo na siya at nakadikit na sa canvas. But then gagawa ako ng bagong batch, papatungan ko din yung naunang painting na nakadikit na.”
Frantz adds: “Walang mali dun sa naunang painting na dinikit ko. Pero kailangan ko siya gawin. Siguro parang metaphor, na kailangan gumawa ng bago, tapos yung bago mapapalitan yung luma.”
The process repeats, which is either meditative or masochistic, depending on how you slice it. And the finished pieces operate with the same emotional charges.
“It’s my personal tribute to those moments, every time we wake up feeling great, thinking we can do it all.” Frantz shares, then adds,
“But it’s also by and large about those other moments, every time we wake up and think self-sabotage is a very real, and very nice option.”
Related links:
novagallerymanila.com/frantz-salvador
novagallerymanila.com
Follow his art and future exhibitions here:
instagram.com/arnowashere
acidorangeground.tumblr.com
Previous artist exhibitions
Everything the Same Way III, Ysobel Art Gallery
Sugar Coated Zero Calories, Galerie Roberto
Unboxed Group Exhibit, Prism Gallery
South Arts Festival, The Filinvest Tent
Omnibus, Artellano 11
Winter Wonderpop Show, Artkai Gallery
I Remember Saying Things But I Have No Idea What Was Said, Post Gallery
Riding in Tandem: The Two Man Show, The Alternative Gallery
Drunk Works Exhibit, Alternative Space
Pilipinas Street Plan 2: Re-Planning, Cubicle Gallery