Peace Propagandist

CEBU, Philippines - “Our Love to Admire” is Roderick Tijing’s third one man show, and there is, if one has difficulties admitting the existence of love, at least much to admire in this superb offering by the young Negrense artist.   Tijing demonstrates his superlative bent for surrealist contemporary fantasy, wonderfully realized in this, his latest collection showcased at the Orange Gallery in Bacolod City.

Seventeen works of oil on canvas attest to the sheer talent of Tijing, with all of them forming, in the words of the gallery “a commentary on the nature of things that take our admiration and humanity’s tendency to capitalize on such things in the name of branding, trending and fads.   From the musings of his own dream world, the artist is now embracing a wider purpose and touching on socio-political nuances.”

Many nuances are there, indeed, waiting to be discovered, but subtle messages take a back seat to the initial joy of discovery upon encountering his works.   Fantastical creatures populate his canvasses, with big bellied buddha-looking creatures dominating the cast.   There are far away castles stuck way up in clouds, and Tijing likes elephants, dogs and turtles too.

“Putting castles and elephants in my paintings has a lot of meaning and history too. When I was young, I loved looking at clouds whenever I have a chance and free time, may it be sleeping under the tree, in a hammock, in the grass, above on our roof or even our school’s roof, at the back of a pick up or even at the back of a carabao. (The effect is kind of different looking at clouds on a slow moving carabao and on a fast moving pick up, hehehe). I would lie down and look at the clouds and imagine or see castles and rainbows and dream of fantasy land.”

And fantasy land, indeed we have in this collection. One favorite is “Bombarded”, which carries the far more elaborate subtitle ‘There’s no miracle of science that didn’t go from a blessing to a curse’.   Here, we see an obese consumer swaddled in tentacles, apparently living large and getting ginormous in a land of plenty.   Clutched in its grasping tentacles are sundry items like a soda pop, an apple, what looks like a bottle of scotch, and even (surprise, surprise - not) an elephant.   This could be Jabba the Hut, in Tijing’s alternate universe, and perhaps the octo-man represents a craven love for all things material.

Another striking example is Californian Dog, where a two-headed mastiff looks in opposite directions.   Yet despite the title, neither head looks remotely canine, and one head is more human than the other, with the eerier visage possessing only one eye.   While there is a collar, the dog’s feet are likewise confused, with two of its feet visibly sporting not claws, but toenails.

Where there are canine equivalents are the three puppy-looking creatures, which are secreted like joeys in its flank.   Metallic fins complete the rest of the californian’s look.   Tiny neighbours more appealing in their cuteness likewise occupy either side of the frame, but cute doesn’t seem to be the message here.   This seems set in one bizarre world where various species have mutated beyond recognition and into phantasm.   Now what in the world (so to speak) did Tijing try to convey here?

The Family Secret is a wondrous puzzle, a secret itching to be unearthed.   A rotund man is held on a leash, the leash held in the paws of what should have been his best friend.   The man’s eyes are downcast, seemingly pliant in this strange tableaux.   Yet while the dog captor holds the upper hand, there seems to be likewise no joy expressed in its muzzle.   Is that the secret?   Or is the secret the small portrait found stacked against the wall, its existence visible but seemingly forgotten by the actors?

These are the visions of Tijing, sweeping dreamscapes of magic and unreality that are unsettling, to be sure, but always provocative. Considering his background, however, it is difficult to conceive of the forces that shaped his artistry.

Roderick Tijing is self taught, and his beginnings did not seem to have art etched in his future.   His college degree was Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as Interdisciplinary Studies from St. La Salle, and after college, he went into business with friends, opening up a computer shop as well as a bar with friends.   But a trip to Switzerland to visit his family changed all that.

“I toured Switzerland and saw its amazing and wonderful castles. I went to museums, zoos, galleries and the outdoors, and it was very beautiful because it was summertime. I painted the scenery there, the sunflowers, castles, lined trees, and the greens, then I worked there just for five days in a winery, and decided to go home and be an artist in the Philippines.”

Maybe it was the wine, but that decision to ship himself back paid off.   His talent surfaced early in various poster making and logo design contests and paved the path to recognition, landing him recently a nomination to the 2012 Thirteen Artists Awards.   Prior to that, he was a semi-finalist in the Metrobank Art and Design Excellence National Painting Competition held in 2010.

From which mystical source therefore could Tijing have drawn his affinity for the almost macabre, the unsettling combination of whimsy and gruesome?   Well, he says “I can see and hear the unseen before, but this stopped after I was clinically dead for five minutes, or my near death experience before in December 2001, my dark days, my abstract period.” And it is to that near-death experience, that we should credit the spooky experience that Tijing serves us.

Whether spooky or whimsy, however, Tijing’s future is bright, as Manila galleries have come knocking on his door. Watch out for more castles, and elephants, as this artist has an agenda. “I have a purpose now to society, to help change what needs to be changed, and comment on or maybe criticize what is wrong but in a subtle way, and let the people see through my paintings what’s happening around us.   (However), with respect to one’s ideology,race, religion, culture, belief and group, I always believe that if people just respect other people, we will be at peace.”