AFTER THE RAIN

Alliance Française de Manille (AFM) presents
“After The Rain” by Froilan Calayag

In this exhibit “After the Rain”, Froilan Calayag seeks to deliver the message to the public that he believes he was predestined to be an artist, and to share his gift with other people. He suggests that while the difficulties and hardships he has encountered in his young life have helped him become wiser and more mature, they have also honed his imagination to the extent that through his art he is able to recover aspects of his childhood. Through a kind of dream state he escapes the harsh realities of life to bring back the joy, the beauty, the freedom of childhood. His canvases are peopled with extraordinary creatures of fantasy, existing in their own mythical space, much like an “Alice in Wonderland” kind of world. Fantastical as the images appear to be, there are often hidden or hardly perceptible messages that can be gleaned beneath the surface by the perceptive and careful observer.

In his own words, the artist says: “As a child, I saw images on the wall, in coffee stains, in the clouds. My child’s eyes saw magical things everywhere, beautiful things that dwelt only in the powerful world of my imagination. Many years have passed, and I did not see those things anymore. I looked at the walls and they were blank, they told me there was an end to everything. I looked at the coffee stains and all they told me was how many days I had been sleepless, working, working, working. I looked at the clouds, they did not reach out to me, they only told me I could not fly. I saw that there was nothing that could nourish the beauty and joy that I had inside me as a child. I wondered where all those things had gone. Until I discovered that through my art, through my creation, I could bring back those things in my childhood that I have been longing to see again.

After the rain, I will keep searching for the answer. It is I who will be the one who will make the wall, the coffee stains, the clouds turn into candies and other delicious things, the one who will turn fear into love, the one who will create the rainbow that will bring hope to my heart. After the rain, I will continue to search for the answer to how I can be the artist strong enough to immortalize the imagination and restore the beauty of childhood.”

Foilan Calayag earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts at the Technological University of the Philippines. Born in Manila, but raised in Bulacan where he lived most of his adult life, at the young age of 27 he already had 3 solo exhibits and several group shows. He was the grand prize winner at the 2004 Shell National Students Art Competition (NSAC), finalist at the 2006 Metrobank Art and Design Excellence (MADE), and one of ten finalists at the recent Philippine Art Awards (PAA) in the Metro Manila category.

Froilan Calayag’s latest works will be featured in a solo exhibition entitled “After The Rain” at the Total Gallery of the Alliance Française de Manille, opening on Thursday, September 2, 2010. The artist’s reception is from 6:30 pm to 9 pm, and the exhibit runs until September 30, 2010. For high resolution images of the artworks and more details about the exhibit, kindly contact Mr. Earl Parco (AFM Cultural Officer) at 895 7441 / 895 7585 or email cultural@alliance.ph, or visit the AFM website at www.alliance.ph.