I guess it was in the early part of the new millenium that a paper shredder
found its way to my realm. My brother,
also as gay as the month of May who happens to be an anthropologist and a
consultant of multinational entities sought the contraption to do away with
confidential files . Being manual, I
shared the chore of destroying reams of documents and when there was almost a
mountain pile I found it rather interesting.
I kept them in a box where for whatever reason , I'd grab a handful and
start a bush fire [I was quite ignorant then of the Clean Air Act]; keep fragile gifts cushioned inside their
boxes and even mix them with the kapok
in my pillows.
One day, in a fit of
boredom I closely thought of how to use it in creating art. I thought papier mache. I boiled some starch and played with the
shredded bond paper. Then , I slapped it
on a board . The result when it dried
was really interesting.
Tywritten/printed letters randomly popping everywhere. I made a lot of those until, I hungered for a
more defined shredded appeal . That was then I turned my attention to a load of
news magazine, this time an electric shredder which costs me a bit more of a
thousand made the shredding a breeze.
The pages were almost onion thin but sturdy. That is when I got really hooked into
creating kuwadros and kuwadros of shredded paper art. I also did it on sheets
of plastic ; ripped it when dried and used as table runners among other
things. Cans and boxes were not spared
as well as a john’s door. I as well had
tables and chairs. The magical feeling
it gave me when I was ‘massaging’ them into place still to this day is beyond
myself. Friends took notice and one of them, an
accomplished visual artist talked me into creating them into canvas in his
studio in Tagaytay. We did a lot and I
guess the peak came when he decided to bring 8 of them in varied large frames
to BenCab’s haven in Baguio City. It was
an exhibition of several of the artist’s peers , but no credit was given to
me. It is just fine for me, afterall it
was already such an honor that my shredded paper art works were given the
chance to be viewed by the art community in the country. I took the comfortable supreme class Victory
Liner to Baguio to witness the ‘world premiere’ of my babies. BenCab spotted me and I smiled at him, he
smiled back but I did not introduce myself; instead I merely waited for my
artist friend to formally do that. But
it never happened. When the night was
over, I simply asked why didn’t he. His
answer : ‘Ayaw kang makilala ni BenCab!’
BenCab
is unfriendly to your kind. Oh, so
BenCab is a selective HOMOPHOBE? Really now. Oh, well... at least my mom was decent enough [although we were not rich] to instill upon me values that sustains all that I am and consciously be righteous in my daily crawl. I do not hold any hurt but rather keep some respect on hold until I fully comprehend why some jaded creatures linger along my way...
Of late, I leveled up my Shredded Paper Art with images on them. Mostly,
acrylic and abstract over at the center of the pieces. One of them is on its way to Sweden, and one
is with Ino Amoyo , a maven in the hair and beauty industry. I cannot in my heart deny that in each piece,
a part of my soul is rubbed in with the starch and all that comes of it is my
tribute to my generation, my country and to the rather uncomfortable side of
human relations. TOUCHE.
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| photo: Ling Quimsumbing |
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| A gift to Apo Gonzales of Legazpi City |
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| 'MOONBURNS' ; now owned by INO AMOYO of David's Rever Podium |
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| Detail |
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