CUT AND PASTE
Burn Aquino’s collages inside the new Space Encounters Gallery
There’s nothing graceful about the works of Melbourne “Burn” Aquino — no refined brush strokes, no undulating lines that lead your eyes to scan the whole canvas. What you’ll see, instead, is deliberate, palpable grit.
His first show, “PornOGraphic,” is a one-man exhibit that’s an upclose look into the artist’s inner turmoil, his triumphs and joys. But that’s not to say that “PornOGraphic” is just about Burn himself; hidden behind each brush stroke, each letter plays hide and seek with the viewer, a commentary on the socio-political issues that face the country. Burn’s work has always been about making a statement. “Kasi wala naman na tayo sa panahon na…mag-drawing ka lang ng flower vase, (bebenta na ‘yan),” he quips. Otherwise, he adds, his art will just be like everyone else’s story.
“PornOGraphic” is also the first solo exhibit to be held at the Space Encounters Gallery, which opened last Oct. 19. Space Encounters Gallery is the only gallery in the metro that showcases artworks with their original furniture pieces.
Burn Aquino’s early work featured free-flowing drips and lines, which then gave way to more calculated strokes, hidden letters, and a marriage of bold and dark hues as well as seemingly random shapes executed in mixed media. All these elements come together to form what Burn calls “lettering abstraction,” a style he developed from a memorable incident while still an adolescent: a politician hired his services to post campaign posters on the streets for two weeks; he diligently pasted then eventually scraped off the sheets of thin paper in the unforgiving tropical heat, only to be paid a very meager amount of money. “Kaya yun
naging reference ko. Nadevelop sa isip ko, abstraction din naman ginagawa ko, dahil sa galit ko sa kanila. Feeling ko na
exploit nila kabataan ko,” Burn muses. His first series, “King Ina,” was born out of a temporary falling out with a fellow artist that Burn considers one of his closest friends. What was first an expression of anger and disappointment eventually turned into something positive — that the mother is king in the absence of a father (and vice versa). That series relied on any medium Burn could get his hands on, including paint, wood scraps, and discarded metal sheets. His unpretentious use of the materials, coupled with an honest approach to his own brand of art, landed him a spot at the recent XIth Florence Biennale in Florence, Italy last October. However, Burn is quick to dismiss the notion that the prestigious recognition
is some kind of bragging right. “Hindi mo
naman pwedeng isautak agad yun e,” he says earnestly. Instead, the experience taught him a practical lesson: “Natutunan kong magpursige, doble trabaho, para magkaroon ka ng sarili mong income, para pag nagkaroon ulit ng pagkakataon na ganon, may huhugutin ka, hindi yung aasa ka sa ibang tao,” he shares.
Growing up, his interest in visual arts was piqued by the images of Apolinario Mabini drawn by a playmate’s father. Elementary school found him among his class representatives in various art competitions. Then, as a fine arts student at the University of the East, Burn found himself conforming to his peers, who were all fans of surrealism and heavily influenced by the likes of Salvador Dali and Ronaldo Ventura. But he eventually found the conformity stifling. Good thing another art competition gave him an opportunity to go against the flow. “Na-bore na ako sa paggawa
ng mga figures kasi hindi ako maiiba sa kanila. (Pagalingan) na lang kung sino magaling mag-figure, magpahid. Walang ibang identity mo na sarili mo talaga,” he recalls. From a fight against constraint, a new artist is born.
* * * “PornOGraphic” is open to the public from Nov. 18 to December 2017. Space Encounters Gallery is located on the 7th floor, Padilla Building, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.