Siargao Artiste in Residence presents Juan Manuel Rodriguez Arnabal and Frederico Tosi

The Siargao Artiste in Residence program is the first in that part of the country, indeed a noteworthy undertaking that has not only led to the artists’ exposure to the southern Philippine way of life but to a friendship between them and the local residents

Just recently, two international artists who received residence grants from Siargao Artiste in Residence, founded by art patron and cultural mover couple Martin and Alelee Andanar, exhibited their artworks at Talyer 15, at the Henry Hotel on 2680 F.B. Harrison Street, Pasay City. While the exhibit has been over for more than a week, their beautiful works are available for viewing through Instagram (@siargaoartisteinresidence) or its art director, Ian Giron (@theiangiron and +639565044397).

I had the privilege of joining the artists Juan Manuel Rodriguez Arnabal from Uruguay and Frederico Tusi from Italy last Thanksgiving Day. The creations of a third artist-in-residence, Juan Perdiguero Trillo, who had since left the country, were also on exhibit. Tosi had also collaborated with Filipino artist Jigger Cruz.

Altogether, the DAILY TRIBUNE visit at Talyer, an artist-run place jointly owned by top painters Gerry Tan, Maria Cruz, and Tracy Anglo Dizon, was not just a source of visual delight, one that was uplifting of one's aesthetic sensibilities, but also an encounter that gave us a glimpse into the creative journeys of the featured artists, their roots and the wonderful time they had during their Siargao residency, a gem of a paradise that, thankfully, is still not as developed and as frequented as other destinations in our country.

The Siargao Artiste in Residence program is the first in that part of the country, indeed a noteworthy undertaking that has not only led to the artists' exposure to the southern Philippine way of life but to a friendship between them and the local residents.

Alelee and her family, led by Mayor Imelda Aguilar of Las Pinas, hosted an intimate dinner of paella, roasted Turkey because it was Thanksgiving Day, parmesan wheel pasta, beef salpicao, tiramisu, fruit salad, and other delicious dishes straight from the kitchen of the iconic La Tasca. Among the notable art patrons and friends who graced this exclusive launch were Consul Agnes Huibonhua, socialite-beauty queen Carolyn Garcia, society architect Anton Mendoza, and social media star Queenmelo Esguerra.

Juan Manuel Arnabal studied Fine Arts and Architecture in Montevideo. He started drawing as a child, being the son of a craftswoman. "I grew up in a studio of ceramic and clay. I have done clay all my life," he shared.

His father, on the other hand, was a beekeeper. "I grew up in a countryside farm where I was surrounded by bees. That's why I once had a series of work that was all about the beekeepers and the honey," he said.

Featured at the exhibit were three of his watercolor creations. He described them as "an art of the landscape. It's an exercise that I do. It's a kind of meditation that I do with these colors. I create an ambience and then I just let the watercolor move and create the shapes. It takes like two hours to create an artwork but I need to concentrate and to prepare first. It's some kind of ritual that I do, almost every day or every two days."

"Gold is something that I started seven years ago. I call it the Nap of Leonor Carlota. It is to honor my grandmother. And this tree, it was in her house. In her garden. In my grandfather's house, they used to have two big palm trees. One red and one white. And when my grandfather died, that was in 2011, and a few months later, the big tree also died. And I did a whole exhibition for my grandmother, Leonor Carlota.

I call it La Siesta de Leonor Carlota. It's about this tree, the tree when it was still there. And last year, in December, my grandmother died also. And next month, this tree also died. So, I'm talking about the relation between these two persons and these two trees that were very close. That was the story I wanted to tell with this. So, I did a whole exhibition. It was in a museum in Uruguay," he related.

Juan Manuel said, "I enjoy my work because I love what I do. But it's difficult to be an artist, it's very unstable. You know, you never know what's gonna happen in the next month. But I enjoy this, I like it."

He met Martin and Alelee through Ian Giron, who manages the residency program. "At that time, I was in Spain, taking my master in painting at the University of Basque Country in Spain. After I finished, I came here."

"I take care of my work. I'm happy when I know that if I sell one piece it's gonna be hung in a place, and a lot of people will admire and love it. For me, it's better if something like that happens with my work. That it goes to a nice museum or that someone collects it," he said.

Of his residency, he shared, "It gave me a new challenge. Especially with this new series, it was a challenge for me to adapt what I was trying to do in a new place. A different weather, a different environment. Because this work is life. Yeah, it affects a lot. The temperature, the sun, the humidity. You work with these. This is what I'm using in painting. So, it was really a challenge for me to work more exposed to the condition of the weather."

While his residency is supposed to end this 15 December, he sought the extension of his visa to stay a little longer. "I want to stay more in Philippines because I really like it and it's huge and there a lot of things to discover here."

"I'm from the countryside of Milan, in Italy. Although that small village where I grew up is now suburban. When I was a kid it was all fields and nature. And now these are ugly buildings and highways," he said.

As a child, he drew a lot, and at age 14, he began his formal training in the arts by enrolling at the Art Institute where "we studied a lot of art history." Later, he attended college at the Academy of Fine Arts, also in Milan.

He revealed that "from the start, I have always been open with artists. I always loved many different artists, many different way of doing art, from the classical painters to the conceptual artists."

He admires the Swiss artist Urs Fischer, "a great sculptor and one of my favorites. And I was also very much influenced by the work of Michael E. Smith which is an artist from Detroit. Contemporary artist. His work is very minimal and dirty. Very dirty sculptures. Maybe because I like dirty look. Like dirty colors, dirty imagination."

"I admire a lot of artists. Like Roberto Poggi. And Maurizio Cattelan, who is very famous and very good," he added.

On his works on exhibit, he explained, "It's a series of watercolor and the subjects are dogs lost in the jungle. So, I wanted to explore this situation where a dog, an animal that used to be wild, became a human friend. So, what happens if we bring it back to the wild nature? So, that's what I was exploring. And you see the paintings are very poetic, very romantic. This series of dogs has seven drawings.

At the time of the exhibit, he had been living in the Philippines for five months. "So I made a lot of drawings. A lot of studying. These all are from my sketchbooks. In five months, you can make a lot of drawings."

Federico, an environmentalist, has always been "interested in looking for the limit of humans. So, it's like where human exceeded or humans disappeared or where human is defeated by nature. I'm always a great fan of nature. I like it when nature wins over humans. It's sort of nature's revenge on humans. So, that's why my subjects, my paintings, and my sculptures are often related to this very wild and aggressive nature that like to destroy the human empire."

He added: "As a nature lover, as an environmentalist and as an artist, what I can do is to talk about this problem, and to show it in a violent way. So, this is what nature can do to you. So, it's like a curse. You know, we are the curse. But nature will win. Nature always wins. So, what I do very often is to describe possible futures. Or maybe describe moments. So, the reason with the hamburger is it is one of the most polluting things you can make. You create a lot of pollution with one hamburger. And you have like stray dogs and they're all sick. And even these other subjects, there is a plant and it's full of condom. So, it's really like it's a mix of nature and humans that are not friends together. They cannot stay together."

He creates by "drawing a lot. I'm used to making a lot of drawings. and maybe there are drawings that I don't like and I will take them after a few months and I will modify them. Because there are things that maybe I didn't like in the beginning, and after a few months I rediscover them. So, this is just one process. Other processes are very technical. So, it's like, we start doing like a technical drawing. We design it, we prepare studies. And now, I'm using virtual reality also. Virtual reality is very good for creating subjects with certain kinds of positions. And then, I can take inspirations from the images that I created with virtual reality. So, it's a good combination of computers and humans.

He related: "I worked pretty much. I did a lot of partying. I like going to expensive restaurants. When I was in Siargao, during my residence there. I really focused on working. We would wake up at 6:30, seven. We do some exercises, we do breakfast and then we start working, working, working. We have lunch break, of course. And then we go back to work. Drawing, sketching, thinking.

"We stayed a lot in the house. It's really an easy house. Which is good, I prefer this kind of place. I'm a lover of easy places. Very nice, very easy, made of bamboo. I love bamboo."

He described Filipinos as "very happy people. Always happy people. But especially here in Manila, I have many friends here. Because I used to come here a lot. Many times. Well, the Philippines is a very beautiful group of islands. And I knew this gallery and I love this place. So, I just accepted and said yes. And you know, I was already doing exhibitions here in Manila. I had an exhibition in September in BGC."

Among Filipino artists, he admires Manuel Ocampo, Jigger Cruz, and Pao Martinez. "Dex Fernandez is very good. I've been coming back and forth. So, in eight years, I really saw the art scene moving and growing. And I like that it's very energetic. It's a new art system. It's a brand-new art system, it's very young."

His message to the Filipino audience: "To me, it's an honor to be here. I came from the other side of the planet. I'm here more for listening than talk. I want to learn. This is what I've learned actually. The drawings that are shown in this exhibit, this is what I've learned in five months."