On Being An Artist

“How can you say one style is better than the other? You ought to be able to be an Abstract Expressionist next week, or a Pop artist, or a realist, without feeling you’ve given up something… I think that would be so great, to be able to change styles. And I think that’s what’s going to happen, that’s going to be the whole new scene.”

I came across this statement by Andy Warhol. I have been an Andy Warhol fan a long time. Say what you will against him but we cannot deny he’s a genius. My favorite quote from him was when he was asked a question and he didn’t say anything. He just raised his shoulders and pointed to his colleague and let him answer the question.

He once said that ‘while they are deliberating whether what you created was art or not… make more art.’





I think explaining or talking about a painting puts boundaries to it. That’s why I don’t like making statements about my art. It distorts things up. My art is my statement.

Of course I still write art statements because galleries require it and I don’t mind bending.

I have been an artist all my life and I think art is a way of life. It’s not a profession for me. It’s just the way I live. Just like everybody, I’ve been drawing before I can write but the difference was that stopping never crossed my mind.



Our system tend to put artists in a box. They want you to be something that they can identify with like a cubist, a realist, impressionist etcetera.

For me I cannot stick to one style or genre. I get bored easily. I just enjoy doing want I want. It’s my way of not being totally controlled by whatever the system dictates. It’s my way of going against the grain. Free of dogmas.

I started with the pencil when I was about 5 years old. I grew up in a remote area in the Philippines and I was just fascinated when I saw my older brother’s sketch of the Volkswagen beetle we used to own. I got hooked instantly. I started copying Superman and Spiderman from comics. I got influenced a lot by great Filipino komiks illustrators such as Redondo, Alex Nino and Malgapo because that’s the kind of art available to me at that time. I love looking and studying their drawings.

Drawing also became my refuge due to my insecurities while growing up a ‘probinsyano.’ or ‘syano’ as they say.








When I was in high school, (Quirino High School, QC Manila) I took graphic arts as an elective and started using watercolors, oils and acrylics. I was the school’s representative in art contests and coveted 2 awards for me and them.

I don’t excel in academics and this puts me down mentally during that time because as I said earlier, the system wants you to excel in academics to be accepted. They want you to be doctors and engineers. Me? I just want to draw that’s all.

I was about to take up painting in college but my brother adviced me not to because there’s no money in it.

See what I mean?

I took up advertising instead (University of Santo Tomas)and it worked out perfect because the advertising experience made me different from most artists. I had 9 years of advertising experience (Avellana and Associates)and it gave my art a fresh dimension. Advertising taught me illustration, layout, and thinking about ideas. It sharpened my conceptual abilities and learned to use non-standard materials.




I tried going back to advertising when I migrated here in the US but I got frustrated because of the culture difference. I know we were taught how to be an American back in P.I. but my provincial self persisted. I just realized I don’t have to play that game anymore. I have to be myself.

I was happy because that was the time I really started ‘painting.’ My first love.

I met Santi Bose in Oakland and he became my mentor even if he didn’t know. Up to now, I haven’t seen or met an artist like Santi that I could follow. I can relate to him because we have similar background. I gave up already because most of the art I see today are all about selling. Sorry to say but mostly they’re about the buyer not the artist.



I have no gallery representation or anything like that but I don’t mind. I’m on my own. I know myself. I dictate my art and future and have no intention of following anybody’s rules because I have to follow my own path.

I love my job as a printer, I love my family and I give them equal time and enthusiasm as my art. I accept imperfections because that's the way life is. I am an illustrator, a painter, a cubist, an impressionist, a realist, a tattoo artist, graphic designer, digital artist/printer, commercial artist, former drug addict and alcoholic, factory worker, dental assistant, production artist, abstractionist, expressionist, modernist, conceptual and pop artist, stent winder, flash artist, cartoonist, portrait artist, social realist, watercolorist, a musician sometimes, caricaturist, a cook, a son, a father, husband, brother, friend and proud of it all.



Being an artist for me is not about sticking to one or two genres. It's not about hardship or isolation. I have to be present at all times without preferences bacause art is all about life experience. I know because I am my own proof. I am an artist and living it.