The other side of Peque Gallaga LIFESTYLE
The man who has done it all
“The one against the many,” said Peque Gallaga, when asked what issues continue to fascinate him to this day. “Standing up for what is right. The complexity of social truth and how hard it is to be black and white.”
The exploration of these fundamental truths drives the artistic force that is Peque Gallaga. A man who needs no introduction, the significant contributions of Gallaga to Philippine cinema made him a household name. Beyond the façade of glamour that resulted from many accolades, Gallaga is a man whose genius is owing to the vulnerability with which he approaches each new artistic endeavour, wholeheartedly immersing himself in the profoundly human experience of creation regardless of the outcome. It is vulnerability that gives way to courage and moved him to reveal another side of his unique perspective through his drawings. “I think that any creative endeavor should be as personal as possible,” he said. “It’s what gives you your mark of authorship.”
Indeed, Gallaga is a man who has done it all, from painting, directing, production designing, acting, writing, even choreography, “although I can’t dance to save my life,” he remarked. This gave Gallaga an infinite reservoir of aesthetic experience that “reverberate, borrow, and transmogrify on and from each other.”
The desire to paint and draw was firmly planted in Gallaga’s heart, though his projects kept him from a more active pursuit.Gallaga first started to with abstract painting, admitting that he fell victim to the mistaken notion that the genre would be easier than realism. “The more that I ‘Jackson Pollocked’ my way through my inspirations I realized that I was doing abstract because I didn’t know how to draw, or that I was lousy at it,” he said.
Thisprompted Gallaga to take classes in Anatomy and Live Figure Drawing to enhance his skills: “I was left with a model, an easel, paper, and graphite. When I grew better at drawing, I came to realize that it wasn’t enough to capture a resemblance of the model on paper— that the model was more than a collection of skin and bones but that the same collection of skin and bones was instrumental in creating the ‘physics’ of the subject as well as its personality and its humanity.” The desire to capture the physics of his subjects with a pencil, and his elation when he was successful in doing so, drove Gallaga to continue to work on graphics on bristol board, which he has been doing for the past six years.
As to what inspires him, without missing a beat Gallaga remarked: “The beauty of the human body. The self of the other.” As part of his process, Gallaga said that he starts with the casting beautiful people: “I’m tired of art that is depressing, shocking, and as a purveyor of poverty porn. Poverty is so easy, both in drawing and directing for the movies, it’s like cheating.” Gallaga poses the models, physically and emotionally and inclined tousing photographs as references, Gallaga digitally adjusts and plays with the image, in order to “get rid of non-essentials” by moving limbs, distorting angles, playing up or washing down blacks and greys for more drama.
Gallaga reflected on the unique experience that drawing provided him compared to his work as a director, noting that with directing, there is the added problem of movement unlike, drawing which is static. “In effect, my creative philosophy in the movies is the quest for visual and emotional truth,” he said. “When it comes to drawing, I guess the same pursuit of the truth holds out, except that I’m more conscious of it.”
This quest has recently culminated in Gallaga’s second exhibit, “Gray Locutions,” which was unveiled to the public on Oct. 28, at the Art Cube Gallery. In this collection, Gallagatackles sexual awakening at the outbreak of puberty through stunning portraits that penetrate deep beyond the gaze of the subject matter.
“I am a story teller,” he said. “I am always concerned with the narrative. In fact, in my directing master classes, my students are known for their attention to narrative. I am always in the process of telling a story.” Gallaga is open about the learning process he is continuously on, exuding vibrancy and vigour that is almost infectious. Speaking on the ‘storyboard’ quality of “Gray Locutions,” Gallaga said that in the process of developing this collection he learned to be challenged that drawings should depend only on themselves to tell a story.
Ever the student, Gallaga is happy with the progress he has made since his first solo exhibition: “I think my work is finer now. I have more confidence and more ‘authority’ in my attack. I have more respect for my tools now than I had when I was struggling to capture the likeness of the model. I believe that I am slowly approaching a personal technique that I hope will be considered a Gallaga Technique.”
'I think that any creative endeavor should be as personal as possible.'