Cases in point are Miles Davis, Neil Young and Frank Zappa. Miles Davis went from modal jazz ("Kind of Blue") to ambient jazz ("In A Silent Way") to badass space-age acid funk ("Bitches Brew," "Dark Magus," "Live Evil," among others), experimenting with nonets ("The Birth of the Cool"), quintets ("Miles Smiles," "Nefertiti") and brooding orchestras ("Sketches of Spain") along the way. Neil Young godfathered grunge with his tributes to Sid Vicious (My My Hey Hey) and fallen Crazy Horse members (Tonight’s the Night) and flirted with everything from vocoder vocals to rockabilly to drugged country rock. As for Zappa… A musical term has yet to be invented to describe the type of music the "electric Don Quijote" concocted (from hippie satire "We’re Only In It For The Money" to jazz rock exploration "Hot Rats" to other releases in hip label Rykodisc).
These guys equated labels and limitations with the bubonic plague.
Maybe this sense of agitation prompted Filipino painter Bencab to paint portraits of punks in London in the early ’80s and rockers such as Joey "Pepe" Smith, Joey Ayala and Wolfgang in the mid ’90s. Painting people with an ineffable turmoil in their very beings must have been quite an experience for the Baguio-based artist. Bencab himself, although widely considered as a pillar of Philippine contemporary art, is not adverse to experimenting or confronting new ways of making art, as evidenced by his recent tenure at Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI).
When representatives from STPI came to the country for Pacita Abad’s exhibit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, they invited Bencab to be an artist-in-residence. He stayed in Singapore for four weeks and collaborated with STPI staff-members in creating new works of art using new techniques such as paper-pulp painting.
"It is painting on paper with paper pulp that has pigment," explains Bencab. "One is actually ‘painting with paper on paper.’ You paint on the newly made paper while it is still soaking wet. Then it is vacuum-drained of excess water, and pressed in a 150-pounder hydraulic press. It is then put into a large oven to dry overnight."
He adds that he likes the spontaneity of the process, as well as the surprising results. But the medium is harder to control than the acrylic he’s accustomed to.
"The advantage was I had to work with a team of papermakers and printmakers at STPI. I learned from the interaction," he says.
The results were nine paper-pulp paintings (titled "Imaginary Portrait," "Twins," "Diptych," Triptych 1 and 2," "Siesta," "Woman at Rest," "Homage to Isadora," and "Conversation"); 23 etching mono-prints ("In Servitude," "The Meeting," "Flight ca. 1900," and "Flight ca. 2000"); and 20 woodblock mono-prints ("Man" and "Woman"). STPI is now editioning the last six etchings of nudes Bencab made.
Working with master printmakers Eitaro Ogawa and his wife Tamae was also an enriching experience. Bencab shares, "Eitaro was good at coordinating the schedule of the printmaking process, so I was able to produce quite a number of mono-prints. The rest of the team was also very helpful – KC and Gwan of STPI, as well as Aman Santos, a young Filipino artist who volunteered to assist me during my residency."
The stint at STPI allowed Bencab to work outside-the-box, to explore the fringes of making art.
"The paper-pulp painting process was entirely new for me and thanks to Richard Hungerford, STPI master papermaker, I discovered a new medium which is unique," he concludes.
A new and innovative technique for an artist like Bencab? It’s like giving an amplified harp with a wah-wah pedal to Neil Young or Frank Zappa.
Keep on experimenting in the free world.