Each of his creations evokes an emotion of being molded through several hours as he laboriously toiled with the materials on hand to ultimately discover what it can transform into after his deliberate yet fanciful tinkering.
‘BIOMORPHIC Constellation,’ plexiglass, fire, paint, 51 x 48 inches, 2025. / ‘Icing on the Cake,’ wood, acrylic, paint, fire, 58 x 47 inches, 2025.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY EDU JARQUE FOR DAILY TRIBUNE
‘Biomorphic Constellation,’ plexiglass, fire, paint, 51 x 48 inches, 2025.
‘Underwater Volcano,’ wood, acrylic, paint, 48 x 48 inches, 2024.
‘Decadent Decay,’ plexiglass, fire, paint, 45.5 x 44 inches, 2025.
‘Untitled,’ wood, paint, fire, 60 x 30 inches, 2025.
‘Oxidized Core,’ crumpled metal sheets, rust, 9 x 16 inches, 2025.
‘Flow Motion 1-7,’ waterproof membrane, adhesive, fire, paint, 144 x 48 inches, 2025.
(left) ‘White Noise,’ waterproof membrance, adhesive, fire, paint, 48 x 48 inches, 2025. (Right) ‘Structured Chaos,’ waterproof membrane, adhesive, fire, paint, 48 x 48 inches, 2025.
(LEFT) ‘Fractured Slice 2,’ waterproof membrane, adhesive, fire, paint, 24 x 36 inches, 2025. (Right) ‘Fractured Slice 1,’ waterproof membrane, adhesive, fire, paint, 24 x 36 inches, 2025.
‘Crimson Scar,’ waterproof membrane, adhesive, fire, paint, 36 x 48 inches, 2025.
The artist Marco Yuchengco Santos, or MYSAN, is a self-confessed “work in progress” — likewise an honest description of how he carefully approaches art. At 56 years old, he has launched his latest solo exhibition with the same fervor, as he showcases how his custom has continuously evolved and altered through the years.
Art-In-Progress comes in chapters. “Chapter 1: Black and White” distilled his approach to the bare essentials. With the absence of colors, texture and gesture gained prominence. Each stroke and act was more apparent. The restricted palette introduced a sense of discipline and contrast. Currently on show at the Yuchengco Museum is “Chapter 2,” where a hint of color starts to emerge, particularly in tinges of crimson red and deep browns.
His obras, which caught me by surprise, revealed an always-shifting relationship with the medium, where his daring experimentations became part of the process itself! His bold attempts and adventurous tests at new techniques, including blowtorching, punching, and literally burning some portions of his pieces, have since become his trademark. There is no final identity, and there is no sense of rush.
Santos is a self-taught artist whose entry into the creative world came later in life. An engineer by profession and a businessman by practice, he spent almost 30 years as an entrepreneur before he discovered his passion for art some three years ago. It was during the pandemic when an experiment involving old gin bottles, cans of paint and the proverbial blowtorch unexpectedly opened another chapter in his life.
For him, failure is an integral element of the process. Rather than to treat the possibility of mistakes as a no-no, he allows the material’s reactions to influence the outcome. Cracks are integral to the final result — with all its impurities and imperfections.
“If there are cracks in my work, I follow the cracks and let my medium’s unique characteristic flow through my hands,” he once stated.
That openness extends to the other materials, including acrylic, wood and canvas. Santos does not force a final desired outcome on these different media as well — he prefers to witness what these can also reveal.
Glass, acrylic, wood, and canvas appear throughout this ongoing exhibition, as he moves from one material to the next. Punctured Reality is pure white with various ripples, while Underwater Volcano subverts the pure color with black, as if to imitate lava. Decadent Decay reveals the beauty in grays and browns, as it forces the viewer to view the centermost focus.
Thermal Mess is a unique and oddly-shaped block of charred wood, which resembles a war-torn relic recovered from a field of fire. Oxidized Core utilizes crumpled metal sheets as he allows even rust from the natural process of oxidation to become part of the process. It is an ingenious approach!
The title Art–In–Progress seems appropriate indeed. Each of his creations evokes an emotion of being molded through several hours as he laboriously toiled with the materials on hand to ultimately discover what it can transform into after his deliberate yet fanciful tinkering.
Art–In–Progress is on view at the 3F Bridgeway Gallery of the Yuchengco Museum, Monday to Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
¡Enhorabuena, Marco Yuchengco Santos!
