Secrets revealed in Danny Sillada’s paintings
A FORMERLY junior executive in one of the ALC Group of Cos., well known for his controversial artwork Menstrual Period in Political History (2005), a former Man of God turned iconoclastic artist Danny Sillada is exhibiting his two peculiar paintings in a group show, On the Surface, at Altro Mondo Creative Space in Makati, until December 2. The show also features some prominent contemporary Filipino artists, namely, Edrick Daniel, Roberto Feleo, Winner Jumalon, Krista Nogueras, Josh Palisoc, Ferdinand Riotoc, Rodney Yap and Orley Ypon.
Titled Holy Union (2004) and Existential Dissonance I (2019), from earlier and recent works by the artist, the two paintings explore the psychological and moral landscape of the human psyche, between inner repressions and incongruities of belief.
Holy Union, for instance, akin to Yves Tanguy and Joan Miró’s abstract surrealism, is an autobiographical painting laden with subliminal symbolism. It is one of the earlier works of Sillada coded with hidden symbols, referring to his private life in the Church while studying for Catholic priesthood. Using the spontaneous flow of the subconscious, an automatist technique in surrealism, with no a priori aesthetic concept during the creative process, the artist depicts a giant pubic hair in fuchsia cuddled by a blue vaginal form against the backdrop of green sky and golden barren land.
A secret embedded in his artwork now revealed, it alludes to the artist’s broken vow of celibacy while he was still in the Church. That amatory affair (or affairs) was one of the reasons why he left his vocation, shortly before his ordination to the priesthood. The painting, replete with Freudian and Jungian elements, is one of the studied works in Humanities and Psychology, decoding the artist’s subconscious and repressed desires through the subliminal symbols of his art. Rendered in realistic surrealism, Existential Dissonance I, on the other hand, is a religion-cultural criticism which the artist, as an existentialist philosopher, describes as “the dissonance between ethical act and belief, and the inconsistencies of the belief system and its believers.” It portrays Auguste Rodin’s iconic sculpture, The Thinker (1902), albeit cube-headed and sited on a toilet bowl, a humorous version of Sillada. The figure seems to be constipating in a state of moral and ethical quandary, perhaps scuffling and wavering between the dictates of faith and individual choice and judgment, a truly iconic figure of existential dissonance.
Using monochromatic greens in various textures, the artist subverts the perspectival cohesion of aesthetic composition to exemplify the 3D effect of elements in the artwork. He employs the optical illusion and perception of objects in relative space and distance, in the parlance of psychology and neuroscience, “by layering the distance of elements in between hypothetical spaces in such a way that each object appears independent yet part of the pictorial narrative, thus creating a 3D effect in the eyes of the viewer,” to quote Sillada. The resultant configuration creates dynamism, tension, and three-dimensional illusion on the surface of the canvas—a Dacasi Effect (after the two-letter initials of his name).
Profound and entrancing, Danny Sillada’s paintings are pleasurable to watch and ponder upon in person, even if one doesn’t understand their symbolism, because of the intense and vivid portrayal of forms and colors.
To see his artworks and those of other artists, visit the show at Altro Mondo Creative Space, 1159 Don Chino Roces Avenue, San Antonio Village, Makati City, Philippines. The exhibit is on view from Monday to Saturday.
More information is available at 501-3270 or altromondoart@gmail.com.