ART AND PERSONAL TESTIMONY

SEVEN HEADS AND TEN HORNS
Art and Personal Testimony

JOEY VENDIOLA COBCOBO
Third Solo Exhibition

Christian spirituality is a defining influence on national life - and the fine arts as well - which sets the Philippines apart from the rest of Asia. Such was noted by writer/critic Emmanuel Torres. In the span of 333 years of Hispanic epoch, Filipino aesthetic sense was almost always engrossed to Jesus Christ, thereby illuminating the people’s Christocentric culture. Torres observed, “What visual artist of stature, from Antonio Malantic, the brothers Asuncion, Resurreccion Hidalgo and Simon Flores of the 19th century to Hernando Ocampo, Galo Ocampo, Romeo Tabuena, Vicente Manansala, Napoleon Abueva and Ang Kiukok in the 20th, has not painted or sculpted the Madonna and Child, the Crucified Christ or the Santo Niño (the Infant Jesus suited in gala splendor), three of the most popular icons of Philippine art?” Such rendezvous of art and spirituality (i.e., art and Church/religion) was further emphasized by Riel Jaramillo Hilario in his critique on the works of Emmanuel Garibay: “Several Filipino artists have made their own excursions into religious themes like Garibay. Contemporary Philippine art from the 80’s saw the popularity of appropriating “archaeological” or “anthropological” studies of indigenous and pre-colonial religions in the construction of a ‘Filipino aesthetics/spirituality.’ This aesthetic informs the bodies of works of visual artists Santiago Bose, Roberto Feleo and Norberto Roldan.”

“The relationship between society’s connection to the soul and its ability to appreciate art was pointed out by Wassily Kandinsky almost a century ago. Kandinsky was a Russian abstract artist who took part in a German art movement called “Der Blaue Reiter’ (the Blue Rider) whose members included ‘painters, poets, musicians, dramatists, critics, all working to the same end – the expression of the soul of nature and humanity” (Sadler, M.T.H., New York: Dover, 1977). In 1911, Kandinsky published a book entitled Concerning the Spiritual in Art in which he noted that “at times when the human soul is gaining greater strength, art will also grow in power, for the two are inextricably connected and complimentary one to the other. Conversely, at those times when the soul tends to be choked by material disbelief, art becomes purposeless and talk is heard that art exists for art’s sake alone”.

It is in this underpinning that “Seven Heads And Ten Horns,” Avellana Art Gallery’s showcase of the third solo exhibit of the works of Joey Vendiola Cobcobo opens on May 6, 2009. Resonant of his previous solo exhibit, Cobcobo continues to walk people through a process of transfer, transformation, and choice. In “Seven Heads And Ten Horns,” Cobcobo fuses the apocalyptic and the autobiographical to present his current theme of “art” and “spirit” or “soul” in a multi-disciplinal figurative expressionist perspective.

“The connection between art and “spirit” or “soul” is a subject of great interest to contemporary artist Alex Grey, the author of The Mission of Art. Grey explains the ability of certain artwork to touch the soul of the viewer, when they recognize its transcendent qualities: the viewer first encounters a work of art as a physical object seen by the eye of flesh. Secondly, the eye of reason sees a harmony of sensations that stir the emotions, and a conceptual understanding of the art arises. Third, and only in the deepest art, a condition of the soul is revealed, one’s heart is opened, and spiritual insight is transmitted to the eye of contemplation. Gray believes that art can be a bridge to the ‘spiritual in everyday life’. it is a gift given to some artists, who have the responsibility to transmit it to the world.”

In the exhibit “Seven Heads And Ten Horns,” Cobcobo’s art exceeds its task of representation to make discernible the tentative expressions of the Filipino spirituality (through art) in the belief of the Kristo. Jesus Christ becomes the central figure for liberation, and in Him the populace can obtain their wholeness and direction to actualize their aspirations. Underwriting this exhibit is the aesthetic of the ‘Evangelio’ which is imperative to the visuality of transformation and the salvific vision to be discerned pursuing redemption.

“Ten Horns,” an installation comprising ten woodcut prints on sculpted paper, piña and saba fibers encased in individual glass cylinders is the pièce de résistance of the exhibit. These hornlike sculpted prints the tallest of which is about six feet signify the monumental tasks of defining Cobcobo’s evangelical faith and personal life.

“Seven Heads,” a separate series of seven woodcut prints using ink and clay pigments is representative of the Cobcobo’s developmental stages. Five of these prints reflect on Cobcobo’s past, a single print defines the artist as he is currently perceived, and the seventh illustrates the artist in the future.

Incorporating water color and oil paint, Cobcobo exhibits six stand-alone prints on varied subjects. “Inang” is the matriarchal tribute” and “Amang” is the man of harvest. Cobcobo’s amusement to local area network gaming produced “Aphotic” which is the shield, a protection away from the enemy and a man with godlike characters; and “Mr. Lothar” is a rendering of the “onward Christian soldiers” call to duty using his skill of Lothar’s edge to be invisible. Vicarivs fili dei is the portrayal of a “False Prophet” and “The Beast” is the anti-Christ. In these, Cobcobo extends his double meanings.

The “No Legs No Arms No worries,” oil on canvas acknowledges that the artist must be in touch with the source of their creativity as well as with him or herself. Conveying transcendent creativity to the world is not an easy task. Many artists give up before they have even experienced the pure joy that transcendent creativity can bring. They may struggle against the lack of financial support for the arts, a deficiency of emotional support and understanding from their community, or with their own deeper insecurities. Many gifted artists have had the experience of “channeling” their creativity, the feeling that what they were producing is coming through them rather than being created by them. It is an experience that reinforces the fact that they were all part of a bigger picture and that there is an “unseen force” to guide us if we are open to “Him.”

Having reference to the books of Daniel and the Revelations, Cobcobo’s “War In Heaven” depicts the biblical prophecy of tribulation as it is metaphorical of the artist waging war against his personal struggles. The oeuvre calls for a “mind that has wisdom.” Significant here is the issue of mimetic fidelity to the apocalyptic event which it pursues to document in painting, at one plane, and the emblematic approach of beseeching the emotion appropriate to the course of remembering and recollecting transgression, at another level.

The use of allegory is effected in Cobcobo’s pieces to frame the possible meanings of the representations in the case of this series. As such the artist’s historia, therefore, is vital in its portrayal of the scriptural, on the one hand, and to assert his deposition (personal testimony), on the other. These meanings and the processes of making sense, to be sure, can only be accessed through the context in which the works situate themselves.

Evident also is the artist’s effective employment of woodcarving as reflective of his indigenous roots reminiscent of the painstaking process employed by Cordillera carver Lope Nauyac. Cobcobo went a step farther by utilizing clay pigment (putik) in his fine art prints; evoking changes in mindset from “parochial’ to global. Clay use in making Ilocano jars is “putik” that symbolizes healing in Cobcobo’s prints.

Not merely evincing a purely aesthetic preoccupation, Cobcobo’s current offering are with ferocious clarity, precision and immediacy. Despite the scriptural mantle with which it wraps itself, by deconstructing the subject by causing it to peter out in an endless dissemination of meaning, the risks involved and the mass appeal, Cobcobo seals the messages of the very subjects it seeks to liberate.

Finally, Morris Graves enlightened us that “an artist is a prophet and seer, not a paint craftsman or design maker, or reporter or entertainer... the artist has the superiorly searching perception with which that world outside of man's contamination can be penetrated and the truth drawn out from it.” At this stage for Cobcobo, it is a matter of "to be or not to be."

Urging Filipino artists veer away from the stereotypical, art critic/writer Alice G. Guillermo remarks that “The challenge for artists has been to create significant, authentic, and powerful works that rise above banal stereotype or plain didacticism.” Joey Cobcobo has developed and continues to project his versatility, not confining himself to oil painting, but revealing an opulent and more diverse art practice. His artistic imperative is of spirituality and evangelism. His aesthetics is a form of expression, an individual endeavor with wide-ranging implications. It is his form of communication. It goes beyond aesthetics because it concerns his psyche (which is our psyche).

Joey Cobcobo is a multi-awarded artist working on painting, printmaking and woodcarving. He combines these disciplines in assemblages and installations. Cobcobo’s ethnicity (he is an Igorot who has lived and studied in Mandaluyong City since his early youth) has its influence in the endemic and actuated tensions apparent in his work. His art combines contemporary and transmedia approaches to traditional art practices, revealing an introspective interest in the critique and construct of a moral/ethical re-imaging of what is endemic and prevalent in social and cultural practices.

“Seven Heads And Ten Horns,” shall be on view at the Avellana Art Gallery from May 6 until May 31, 2009. The Avellana Art Gallery is located at House A-19, 2680 F. B. Harrison St., Pasay City, Philippines. For more information and queries about the exhibit and the gallery, you can contact the landline number at (632) 833.83.57, or email at avellana_gallery@yahoo.com. --- (ARTEPINAS/JCrisanto)