Art Attack
Rodel Tapaya revisits his roots at a recent one-man show at the Artinformal gallery
Tales of road grief have kept me city bound. I am one with many in trying to create a bubble—for my work, school, and family life—within a radius that doesn’t require traversing major highways. So, when an invitation to visit an artist workshop in Bulacan came about, I dilly-dallied before committing to go one Sunday morning. And to my surprise, that morning conversation with artist couple Rodel Tapaya and Marina Cruz made me wish I had my own far flung place to go home to, because life outside the city still offers an idyllic escape, surrounded by gardens and chirping birds. Rodel and Marina have created their own bubble, with their studio being a fiveminute walk from their home. And anyone will be hard-pressed in getting them out of this bubble.
Needless to say, this is an ideal backdrop for artists who need the quiet and the space to breathe and create. Rodel recently concluded a one-man show at Artinformal (Ai), On the Benefits of a Crowded Space, his first solo show in a gallery in Manila in close to a decade. It was a show charged with the new while revisiting his roots. Ai’s space provided the perfect reveal, with the ground floor lobby and room dedicated to his oeuvre on burlap, which was his main canvass of choice earlier in his career. As one entered the wide-open space up on the second floor, that feeling of surprise met any visitor. And there, the folk tales were told in the way only Rodel could, on monumental canvasses which allow him to add minute details of his very vivid imagination onto the works.
Rodel reminisces about his early childhood, as second to the youngest of seven children. The family sold tinapa and he was assigned to wrap the fish in newspapers. Serendipitously, it was through the newspapers’ lifestyle section that he was introduced to works of masters like Anita Magsaysay Ho. He got to know artists through these articles. Drawn to portrait artists at work in malls, he wondered if he had the hand. He participated in his high school’s art contest, and won, and has been unstoppable since. While pursuing a degree as a painter at the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines, he organised group shows with his name droppable contemporaries such as Paolo Vinluan, Lea Lim, Troy Ignacio, Butch Estandarte, and his then wife-to-be Marina Cruz. Both Rodel and Marina lived the typical life of struggling artists, taking on commercial projects at night or on weekends, to be able to pursue their passion.
It is every new artist’s dream to be given that one big break—and that happened for Rodel when he won the grand prize in the Asia Pacific Nokia Art Awards held in Seoul, Korea in the year 2000. This was the competition that opened doors
and triggered his senses in every possible way, as he was given the opportunity to spend a semester between the New York Parsons School of Design and the University of Helsinki School of Design. It was an intensive course on full scholarship, where he worked with a mentor and was allowed to experiment while finding his voice as a painter. What won him this spot was a yellow ochre flat grid minimalist pencil drawing of lines and dots—a far departure from the acrylic works his imagination brought life to almost 20 years later.
These map-like grids of lines and dots evolved into figures and colours as he developed a desire to illustrate and interpret stories. As a child, Rodel’s reality was shaped by the remarkable alamat (legend)
his neighbours passed on through generations. There was the legend of the giant “Bernardo Carpio” who was stuck in between the mountains of Montalban, Rizal, where Rodel grew up, causing earthquakes each time Bernardo tried to free himself. As a young boy, Rodel feared yet sought this giant, looking for oversized footprints that could lead him to this powerful figure. From giants he shifted his curiosity to aswangs (shapeshifting evil spirits) and gugurangs (mythical gods guarding Mayon Volcano) which seeded his folk narrative works. These myths likewise became his avenue for his social commentary. The mural-like piece at Ai—going After the Twigs and the Leaves—is an observation on the proliferation of rats, literally or figuratively, and finding a solution to this infestation. The rat problem had become so prevalent that, in his mind, it required government intervention, goading his audience to take a stand and interpret this in the context of today’s reality. This major piece of work has been acquired by a bank while a big burlap piece will find its way to the lobby of one of the country’s high-end resorts.
Ai’s founder, Tina Fernandez, is keen on strengthening Rodel’s local fanbase. She has known the couple for over a decade, and they exchange godparent duties for each other’s children. Herself an artist, Tina created Ai in 2004 as a venue where anything art-related can be taught. Marina used to hold workshops in Ai, alongside her prominent contemporaries such as John and Pam Santos, Riel Hilario, Salvador Alonday, Tatong Torres and Maria Taniguchi. While the students bought their teachers’ works, so did Tina; and as her backroom filled up, the transformation into a gallery legitimised her position as an educator and purveyor of the arts. Rodel will be Ai’s featured artist at Art Basel Hongkong in 2020.
As my morning was coming to an end, sitting in the Tapaya living room surrounded by the couple’s personal collection of works from various stages in their lives as painters, a nonchalant BHAG question was unexpectedly met with a true “audacious goal” reply— Rodel’s search for his next Everest. He is working with a team now to handle the “business side” of his career, so that he can focus on what he loves doing most. He dreams of gaining a following beyond the Philippines, a collaboration with foreign artists, and perhaps a show in an international museum where his work can be viewed—and judged—by a bigger audience. Rodel is ready for that encounter and pushes to outperform himself every step of the way.