DANNY SILLADA: A FILIPINO RENAISSANCE MAN
(An excerpt from a Research Paper on the Life & Works of Danny C. Sillada submitted to the University of Asia and the Pacific by Michael Marlowe Uy & Katrina Kalaw) |
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DANNY SILLADA: A FILIPINO RENAISSANCE MAN
"Danny Sillada is the embodiment of a Filipino who defies the existing trend. His multi-faceted attribute in the humanities, as a Renaissance man, is identical with those of well-rounded historical figures during the Renaissance period in Europe. Sillada is a visual artist recognized in the Philippine art scene for his paintings and installation artworks, a literary writer who is into prose and poetry, a philosopher, whose writings are akin with existentialism, a first-rate performance artist, and also an art-critic."
...The critical approaches to art or theories in studying art works are surely a rational activity. But more than that, it develops a completely new dimension and a broader yet at the same time more concrete perspective on the artistic phenomenon under question. Theories explain the unity of the work of art among its diverse manifestations. They explain why works of art are admired by people who know little about the history of art, why they survive the test of time (how is it possible to admire works by inaccessible cultures, whose message can no longer be reconstructed?), they explain why artists like talking about their works and why they apply labels to them (what purpose would it serve, given that the works already express what the artists mean?)...
Similarly, the theory explains why works of art pass the test of space, or rather why communities that are quite distant from the original community of the creator's works can appreciate them. These theories explain the origin of art and artistic artifacts. It explains why instrumental objects can be works of art. They explain why artists like to talk about their work and adorn it with explanation, and as a vehicle of launching a conversation that will give life to the creative output...
II. THE ARTISTIC CAREER AND THE STYLE OF THE ARTIST
Danilo "Danny" Castillones Sillada is a contemporary Filipino Renaissance Man. He is a rarity in the current condition of the world, in which there is primacy in the narrowing of the human mind for the purpose of specialization. Unlike most men who have succumbed to the specialist inclination, Danny Sillada is the embodiment of a Filipino who defies the existing trend. His multi-faceted attribute in the humanities, as a Renaissance man, is identical with those of well-rounded historical figures during the Renaissance period in Europe. Sillada is a visual artist recognized in the Philippine art scene for his paintings and installation artworks, a literary writer who is into prose and poetry, a philosopher, whose writings are akin with existentialism, a first-rate performance artist, and also an art-critic.
Regarding his educational background, he has a bachelor degree in philosophy, literature, and theology that he acquired during his stay at the Queen of Apostles College Seminary and the UST Ecclesiastical Faculties. His Post-Graduate Studies include Pastoral Theology in UST Ecclesiastical Faculties and an MBA from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. As made evident in his bachelor and post-graduate degrees, Danny Sillada does not have any formal education or training in the arts. Despite the lack of a fine arts degree, it is of much significance to point out that Mr. Sillada is already a well-known visual artist in the local art scene.
In an interview conducted with the artist, he mentions that his creativity and passion for the arts emerged at a very early age. As a child, roughly around five to six years old, growing up in a Cateel, Davao Oriental, which is a very remote locality in Mindanao, his past time was spent imitating his father's occupation in their family-owned furniture shop. His creative endeavors began at such an early age because the atmosphere of his malleable growing-up years favored the development of his creativity.
By the age of seven, he was already receiving tokens or gifts for his artistic creations. His teachers, friends, and relatives were the buyers of his decorative works. As he grew older, he began using watercolor. From around ten to sixteen years old, he was already financially earning through paintings. As he recalls, family, friends, and neighbors were those who customarily purchased his paintings. At the age of seventeen, he entered the Queen of Apostles College Seminary in Davao del Norte. He became the head of the seminary's art committee and was responsible for decorating the school with paintings and other graphic designs.
After finishing his preparatory in degree, he underwent theological studies at the Pontifical University of Sto. Tomas in 1987, the year where he had his first group exhibit with the Groppu Di Belle Arte. After obtaining his Bachelor in Sacred Theology and a Post-Graduate study in Pastoral Theology in UST, he was assigned by Cardinal Jaime L. Sin to the San Carlos Seminary in Makati as one of the formators and faculty members of San Carlos Seminary College Department. During his stay at the San Carlos Seminary as Assistant Prefect of discipline and faculty member, he finished a 10x10' mural that was commissioned to him by the Archdiocese of Manila in celebration of the 25th Episcopal anniversary of Jaime Cardinal L. Sin, D.D., which is now permanently installed at the San Carlos Seminary (Montilla, 1996). A few months after finishing the painting, he underwent a vocational crisis and left the seminary; that was in 1992.
After leaving the seminary, he worked as a young executive for three years in the corporate world. From 1994 to 1995, he was part of two group exhibitions, namely the Diwa ng Sining Art Exhibition in SM Megamall and the Art Association of the Philippines, Museo ng Sining, Manila, Philippines. During those years, he was only a part-time painter. However, he never felt happy from his promising career as head of Marketing & Corporate Relations Office of Fortune Medicare, Inc. so he left the corporate world and pledged to become a full-time artist. That was in the year 1996 when he totally focused on his artistic career.
With no enough savings, Sillada struggled as artist for six months, in which he became financially dependent to his family. He experienced, for the first time, what it meant to live in poverty. Until today, he remembers the first time he earned from his artworks after leaving the seminary and the corporate world. There was an instance when he was financially desolate that he only had one canvas in possession. Trying to make the most of what he had, he tried to paint a seascape in order to sell because he was in dire need of money, but only to be dissatisfied in the end. So what he did was to flip the canvas over and paint a new image on the other side, but this time he was thinking to create a masterpiece out of his gnawing stomach. That particular historical image was the heart of a banana surrounded with leaves. He remembered it to be so realistic that one could almost feel or touch the dripping morning dew on the banana heart. The Heritage gallery in Megamall sold it for 14,000 pesos to Mrs. Gina de Venecia and Sillada received an artist's fee of 6,000 pesos. The money he acquired for that painting was used to buy more art materials. His artistic career would blossom thereafter.
In the same year 1996, he collaborated with Max Adlao, a senior artist from Davao, in creating a 6 x10' feet mural that serves as commemoration of the 400-year Christianization of the Philippines within the context of the ecclesiastical history of the Archdiocese of Manila. During this time, he was still a realist painter. This is manifested in the mural in which he tried to depict significant figures in the Catholic ecclesiastical history of the Philippines, specifically to that of the Archdiocese of Manila.
In the interview conducted with the artist, he mentions that for the sake of categorization, he started as a painter in the vein of Realism. In one of the earliest reviews about his works, the late critic Lorna Revilla Montilla stated, "there are strong indications that he paints more like a social realist, who sees the inverse side of things. He goes on a journey to his own private world like a lonely peregrine who suddenly finds a sordid landscape, which no one else except himself understands (Montilla, Philippine Daily Inquirer dated July 15, 1996)." The same year, 1996, in which he participated a group show of the Binhi Art Society, with the former president Corazon C. Aquino as one of the guests of honor, at the Eugenio Lopez Museum in Pasig City.
At present, Danny Sillada already has nine one-man shows under his belt. For him each solo exhibit is like giving birth to a child. His first one-man show titled "The Metaphors of Dream & Existence" was held at historic town of Caraga in Davo Oriental in celebration of the first Millenium Sunrise in the year 2000 at the Gov. Leopoldo Lopez, Sr. Tourism Center from December 23, 1999 to January 2, 2000. In 2003 alone, he had three one-man shows. His second one-man show was a sequel to the first and was aptly titled The Metaphors of Dreams & Existence II, which was held at the Ayala Museum from September 13-29, 2003 in Makati City...
The current style of Danny Sillada's paintings is abstract surrealism. In the interview, he states, "I would call it abstract surrealism just for the sake of categorizing. It is beyond what one normally sees in the art scene. I guess you could say I have my own world. The elements in my works come from the random recollections of my subconscious." Sillada's paintings are noticeably dynamic with vibrant colors. For this reason, Manny Duldulao, who is a Filipino art historian and author of several books, considers Danny Sillada as the foremost Filipino colorist in the country. Ironically, despite the vivacity of his paintings, one could see and feel the tension on his pictorial presentation.
Danny Sillada's abstract surrealist paintings are gateways to a constructed world created by the artist, wherein images from his subconscious manifest themselves. The aesthetic world that Sillada creates is neither an escape from reality nor is it a façade to cover up something; rather it is a world that reflects conflicts in both the internal and external life of the artist. Sillada's works are also gateways to the innermost sanctum of his tormented soul that has accepted the harsh realities of existence. As the artist stated himself:
I have my own reason to believe that every reality has its own symbols and meanings that represent the hidden truth of human existence. The biomorphic and dreamlike images that I have intricately woven in my art are direct and visible representation of those hidden realities within my inner self. It is for this reason that I offer myself as I strip my soul naked through the complex and perturbing imagery of my art. The dark shadow of my soul emerges through my creation like a sordid metaphor between dreams and reality.
His paintings are autobiographical in nature; there are no pretensions or insinuations of self-importance in Sillada's artworks but an artist's bare-naked honesty in the portrayal of his inner world. As University of the Philippines professor and art critic Reuben Ramas Cañete affirms, "D.C. Sillada emerges as an artist of expressive potential and autobiographical force. His art represents not some farcical soulless object that injects its complicity within the arrogated space of the dictating decorator, but as a liberating device that delves the depth of his subconscious by exploring the relationship between symbolism and experience (monograph, 1999)."
III. CRITICAL APPROACHES
A. Biographical Approach
Danny Sillada's artworks are autobiographical in nature. He highly believes that art is life and life is art. To do justice to Mr. Sillada's belief in art, it is prudent to use Amy Tucker's biographical approach to analyze the artistic phenomenon under study. To establish a biographical approach on Danny Sillada's artworks, it is of much importance to take a look at Sillada's personal life. For it is through the knowledge of the inimitable life of the artist that the relationship between the artist and his artwork could be understood in its entirety.
The artwork is the paradoxical communication of the incommunicable, which is considered in the Humanities as the artist's inner world. Hence, it is inevitable that understanding of the artwork involves knowing the artist as a person, his passion, hi struggles and beliefs that shape his creative life. The meanings, both implied and explicitly shown, found in an artwork are always affected by the life of the artist. As such, symbols, imagery, and themes of artworks, essentially, have their source in the artist, for he is responsible for the creation of art.
For the biographical approach, the materials to be used are "autobiographical papers, letters, and accounts by the artist's contemporaries (Tucker, 2002, p.218)." Consequently, autobiographical essays and letters found in the artist's personal blogs in the internet, an interview that occurred last September 30, 2006 with Danny Sillada, and articles or reviews about him and his artwork in different publications are considered as the primary sources. These materials are used in order to ascertain the relationship between the creator and his creation; and the impact to the society where the artist lives and creates his art.
According to the artist, he began as a Realist painter before he ventured into abstract surrealism. The Realistic Period of his artistic endeavor started since childhood to the time when he entered the seminary until he experienced an inescapable crisis in his vocation when he was about to be ordained to the priesthood. His more well-known paintings in the Realist mode are murals commissioned by the Catholic Church in the Philippines, particularly the Archdiocese of Manila, in which he had really close ties to the Church as a seminarian and later, as a formator in San Carlos Seminary, Makati City. In fact, one of his murals was created for the 25th Episcopal Anniversary of Cardinal Sin, which is permanently installed at the San Carlos Seminary. As his first major artwork, which he created at the age of 30 (Mendoza, 2003), it was highly influenced by the calling he felt then. The other mural is about the 400 years Christianization of the Philippines, in which he collaborated with Max Adlao.
As stated in one of his blogs, the mural was commissioned by a good friend of his, Bishop Tom Yalong, D.D. of the Archdiocese of Manila. In these commissioned murals, Sillada's trademark on the vivacity colors are already manifested in his art. Yet, as a work of Realism, the characters are painted as proper human figures without any distortion or abstract illusions. All of the symbols found in these Realist artworks are fundamentally and unmistakably Catholic. It is important to note that Sillada created these paintings before he decided to pursue a full-time career in painting.
Sillada's gradual breakaway from Realism and his venture occurred during his conscious realization to pursue a full-time career as a painter. In the interview conducted, he affirmed that his decision to engage in full-time painting was after he left his vocation to become a priest and his resignation from his promising career in the corporate world. This is considered as the second-phase in his artistic career.
A representative work of Sillada during this second phase of his artistic endeavor is his "Self Portrait: My Life in a Cage", 50 X 40" (above painting), Oil on Canvas that was painted in 1997. In this particular painting, a very realistic portrait of the artist crouching naked with eyes closed while incarcerated in a bird cage is shown at the center. Outside of the artist's cage are abstract forms, exuberant colors, and dreamlike imagery. In his pictorial presentation, there are Realist and Abstract Surrealism elements. The image of the artist is inarguably of Realist mode while the rest of the painting resembles Abstract Surrealism. This particular self portrait of Sillada is one of his most autobiographical works. In the interview conducted, he states, "All throughout my life, I felt like I've been in a cage. My view of human existence is that, we are all trapped within ourselves. We are trapped within our own needs, dreams and beliefs in life. And the only way to break free or to fly away from it is to find freedom within ourselves."
The painting shows that before he pursued full-time painting, he felt trapped while his life revolved around two polarities, namely the Church and the corporate world. Outside the cage of the Church and the corporate world, is the quest for something metaphysical that the artist had been seeking all his life. To break free or to fly away in search for that sublime freedom, as he emphasizes in the interview, is the liberation from the Church and the corporate world.
Sillada's freedom or liberation is attained through his choice to pursue a full-time career as an artist. Hence, the second phase of his artistic career is characterized by Sillada's self-realization to become an art iconoclast rather than a Man-of-God or a high-paying executive in the corporate world. This is also the transition of his artistic style as made evident in the presence of both Realism and Abstract Surrealism elements in his art.
Sillada's current art is the crossover between realism and abstractionism. Hence, as a surrealist, his aesthetics fall into the category of Abstract Surrealism. There are no more vestiges of Realism, in which figures were portrayed realistically, except some the dimensional space that he consciously created on the surface of his canvas. Most of the artworks of his one-man shows from the year 2000 onwards characterize the mature and unique style that belongs to Sillada alone. His works manifest surreal representations, biomorphic and highly symbolical elements. The vibrant colors, a trademark of Sillada is all-pervading. His art is internally developed and very much rooted in his inner world and his mind's subconscious. Underneath all these dreamlike images and abstract forms is the naked soul of the artist. As stated by Sillada:
I believe that in understanding art in its totality, one must go beyond from what is given (the invisible), and ruminate through the hidden meanings (the invisible) of symbolic images that the artist wishes to present to the viewers. The latter, in this manner, can then immerse and empathetically feel the hands, the mind, and the heart of an artist, and percolate how his creation becomes a work of art.
As artist creating from autobiographical experiences, one has to 'has feel the hands, the mind, and the heart of Danny Sillada' and 'percolate how his creation becomes a work of art.' For instance, the noticeable elements in his artwork are the space and the spherical figures. These are actually from his subconscious recollections of the place where he grew up, which is in Cateel, a remote town in Davao Oriental. According to him, when he was child waking up in the early morning, he would see mountains and the horizon of the Pacific Ocean, and then see either the rising sun or the swelling moon on the horizon of the sea.
The space that he created on his canvas reflects the vastness of the environment in his hometown. Other recurring elements are checkered cloth, the stones and ribbon-like objects flowing in the atmosphere. His artworks are also teeming with colors, a derivation in the vibrancy and lush vegetation of his childhood hometown. According to him, the colors come naturally when he paints. The paintings titled Beginning & Ending and Convergence are representative works of his current style, which shows random subconscious images from his childhood.
Another compelling and symbolic element in his artworks is the mask. This is a very personal symbol used by Sillada since he figuratively wore a mask while he was still a seminarian. He avows to this when he states, "I had to put a mask, project myself as a man of God, and show that everything is okay despite having my own internal struggles and sacrifices. I had to pretend I'm okay even if I was hurting inside (Ong, 2006)." Sillada had to put on the mask despite the immeasurable pain he felt inside his tormented soul. The death of his favorite niece and the suicide of his two siblings happened while he was serving God in the seminary. The symbol of the mask appears in his paintings such as Cecilia's Red Tears, Behind the Mask, Beyond the Mask, The Mask in my Dream, Masked, A Tribute to Jim Carrey, Broken Vow, Joy and Sorrow, Colored Mask and Broken Vow I & II.
The third phase in Danny Sillada's artistic career is characterized by his abstract surrealist approach. He is more recognized in the Philippine art scene during this phase in his artistic career. However, in order to understand the paintings of Danny Sillada in this phase of his career, it is important to know the artist, as a person because the symbols and elements found in his current work are all reflections of his life. Hence, in this phase of his career, there should be an attempt, in the part of the viewer, to see Sillada's personal life as an indispensable element in his art or vice versa. The artist uses his own autobiographical experience to create his art and his art, on the other hand, nourishes his creative life in finding the meaning and purpose of his existence.
B. The Formalist Approach
Danny Sillada's Search for Truth is a painting from his 8th one-man solo in April-May 2006. Judging from the title, the work already gives the perspective in defining "the search". The subject, strategically placed at the center of the canvas gives the viewer a sense of stairway rising toward an undefined sky, with one three-dimensional block seemingly missing from the top. This already gives the viewer the meaning of hope; hope that some sort of "truth" would be found.
The three-cornered room or space elicits a feeling of an enclosure, with missing roof, opening up to the sky. A red orange sun at the upper right portion of the canvas defines the cloudless sky and a sense of time is seemingly established. Since the sky is painted with gradating color, from dark to lighter tones, it gives the viewer the idea that it is sunset. Truth is an abstract concept, reflecting the definition of abstract itself: an idea existing in thought without any physical existence. However, Sillada tries to capture this abstract concept with the use of color, light, and impressionistic use of strokes on his canvas.
Color has an important function in defining the artwork. In this case, Sillada uses warm colors, such as red and orange, to contrast to the cooler greens and violets. The three dimensional effect of the floor develops a sense of movement, versus the stability of the strategically placed blocks. Sillada makes use of the contrasting colors, with warm browns mixing in with the cooler blues and greens, in obtaining this sense of movement with a wave-like ground of the enclosed space.
With a strong sense of dynamism, Sillada invites the viewer to take a look the undulating movement of the floor, contributing to the abstract definition of truth. The floor also seems folded and woven, never really reaching stability. The floor is unconnected to the enclosed room with open ceiling, giving a sense of space to the viewer. Sillada, by using the metaphor of three-cornered room, returns to the tradition of most Western religious works by creating a three dimensional space within a two dimensional medium of canvas. The space within the room extends the perspective of the viewer, by capturing the viewer's eye to the subject, the rising blocks to the sky. It is through these choices of color that Sillada contrasts the atmosphere inviting the viewer to create a three dimensional space within the subject of his creation.
Together with the use of color, Sillada also uses light in defining this abstract perspective of his subject. As discussed earlier, the sun in the background gives the viewer some sort of sense of time. The red-orange sun, warm in terms of temperature, in contrast to a darkening blue-violet sky, signals the beginning of sunset. The direction of light is conveyed as coming from the foreground to the background, filling out the green three-cornered room opening up to the sky. Shadows upon the boxes only further contribute to Sillada's creation of a three dimensional space in a two dimensional medium, giving the boxes more "life" in a sense, a contrasting stability versus the wave-like movement of the floor. Line is important in this piece: the straight and stable lines of the boxes contrast to the wave-like movement of the floor, rendering the viewer to search for a steadiness within the subject; contributing to the title itself, as it is a search for an abstract concept, which is the truth, literally and figuratively.
Stability, however, is not within the subject, since the rising blocks give the viewer an illusion that they were placed rashly and therefore, the blocks were unstable, however close to the sky they may be. The only steady focus of the piece itself is the setting sun, in the open window of the farthest corner. Sillada's "The Search for Truth" is an abstract work, but by the use of strokes is, in a sense, reflecting the impressionistic style of Matisse. The strokes are heavy, but intelligently outlaid to evoke the textures of light and color within the subject. Sillada is successful in creating the three dimensional space in his medium on the two dimensional canvas. Remarkably, his color, tonal values, texture, and impressionistic use of stroke to define the abstract concept of his painting "The Search for Truth" depict the abstraction itself in ironic perspective.
C. Psychoanalytical Approach
Freudian theory is the popular methodology when it comes to psychoanalytical approach. For a critic who uses Freudian theory, the interpretation focuses on unresolved childhood conflicts and repressed sexual desires that are expressed in the adult artist's work (Tucker, 2002, p.221). In addition, Tucker asserts, "from a Freudian perspective, the artist's obsession with the creative process is seen as a channeling or sublimation of sexual desires...The artist's work is then examined in part for what it reveals about the artist's subconscious fears and desires (Tucker, 2002, p.222).
Freudian theory is applicable to the artworks of Danny Sillada. Several phallic symbols show up in his artworks. In fact, a great quantity of his recent paintings has the phallus in it as one of the recurring symbols. Examples of such paintings are Subliminal I, Subliminal Desire II, Searching, Mutiny, and Sleeping all contain the male sex organ. Despite being colored differently, it is still evident in a varied shape, which the symbol represents in the paintings.
In addition, not only does he create phallic symbols in his paintings, there are also allusions to the female sex organ. In the controversial painting titled Menstrual Period in Political History, there is a satire on the political conditions of the country by carving a form that resembles a vagina on the surface of metamorphic rock. This is an open and uninhibited revelation of repressed sexual desires in part of the artist. The sexual repression can be understood based on the artist's background.
First, his natural father died when he was merely nine years old. He had a stepfather, which his mother married to a year after his father's death, who disliked his creative endeavor as fledgling musician at thirteen. He remembers, with nostalgic bitterness, how his stepfather smashed his guitar into the wall and how the young Sillada gathered the broken pieces with tears silently flowing from his cheeks. Until now, the childhood conflict against the stepfather could have not been resolved. Or if they were, a subconscious tension still exists. Secondly, the artist spent several years of his life as a seminarian. He was not able to explore his sexuality as a teenager up to his adolescent life, which might have had been repressed during his years in UST and San Carlos Seminary. Because of the repression, the artist might have felt the sexual repression in the past seeking for liberation in his artworks. Even if he is now married and has three kids, there might still be lingering repressed sexual desires in his subconscious, which would come out every now and then on the surface of the paintings that he created.
In an interview with Jacqueline Ong, Sillada explains the presence of phallic symbols in his paintings that "they arise out of repressed desires. It is a sign of power for the things that I have lost during my stay at the seminary (2006)." As an honest artist who strips the exterior coverings of his inner world, Sillada confirms the veracity of the Freudian analysis of his artworks.
D. Social Approach
"The Falling Stars" by Danny Sillada describes the bleak atmosphere on social issues in the country. He addresses the harsh realities on political and economic condition in the Philippines and the government's war against the rebels in Mindanao, Sillada's homeland. The painting as a whole depicts the Philippine flag with colors as if slowly fading into oblivion. At the center of the flag is a mask as if representing the Filipino people hiding behind, confused amid the troubles and conflicts that pervade the daily life of an average Filipinos. The mask with the fatigue shapes and colors more significantly represent the armed soldiers and guerilla fighters in the highlands, fighting one another and struggling in the losing battle for survival and supremacy. This seems to be the theme of this painting, as the mask somewhat mocks what the Philippine flag is supposed to symbolize: unity, independence, peace and order.
Hundreds of Filipino warriors and ordinary citizens were seemed to be faceless, nameless and voiceless to speak out their fears and grievances. Right on top of this faceless mask, are straws of different colors that would mean that these Filipinos still have inherent goodness inside.
The use of the flag's colors symbolize that despite the hopeless condition in the country, the rebels and the entire Filipinos, who are marginalized, have one thing in common in their struggle to live, which are rooted in Filipino ideals - patriotism, freedom, and peace. The smooth fading colors at the background can stand for the slow and careful neglect of such unity and love between citizens. While the darkening and deepening of the colors red and blue towards the bottom may imply the bloodshed and sacrifice in our destitute society. The two fallen stars, as if trying to escape the picture, further express this waning of hope and ideals among the people. Lastly, "The Falling Stars", as the title suggested, symbolizes that a Filipino dream is elusive within the present condition of our political system and governance of our political leaders.
E. Semiotic Theory
According to Amy Tucker, "semiotic theory, which examines how signs and sign system derive meaning, has long been used by art historians to analyze the significance of images in artt, most notably in the form of iconographic studies. Early iconographic analysis decoded the language of visual images by pointing to the literary texts or art-historical precedents to which these images refer (2002, p.252)." The semiotic theory in art criticism can be applied in Sillada's artworks since his paintings are predominated by signs and symbols that can only become intelligible once deciphered in an appropriate manner. In applying the semiotic theory, it is important to establish how the artist is able to make use of certain signs that have underlying socio-cultural meaning so that the viewers who are knowledgeable of such shared meanings could properly interpret the artwork and understand the message being conveyed by the artist.
In Sillada's painting titled "Hatching Peace in my Troubled Land", there are two important socio-cultural signs that he uses effectively. First, there is the presence of the Sarimanok. This is a mythological bird that is found in the myths, oral traditions, and beliefs of the people in Mindanao. By using the Sarimanok, the artist is emphasizing that the Troubled Land he refers to in his title is his homeland Mindanao. Only a person who knows the Sarimanok and its underlying meaning could comprehend that Sillada is indeed referring to Mindanao in his painting and not to some other place in the Philippines. As made manifest here, the artist effectively uses a socio-cultural sign, which is the Sarimanok, to stress his point.
The second sign that he employs in the painting is the egg. The connotation of egg in various societies and cultures is that of birth and transformation. Relating it to the title "Hatching Peace in my Troubled Land", the artist is trying to say that there should be a naissance of peace in the war-torn and conflict-laden Mindanao. Sillada is calling for peace to happen in his homeland, and he uses socio-cultural signs specifically the Sarimanok, which is a shared symbol in Mindanao's diverse cultures and traditions, to reach his audience.
In fact, the artist is already insinuating on how peace could be achieved in Mindanao by his usage of the Sarimanok as messenger of peace and good luck. As people who commonly understood the mythological Sarimanok, the Mindanaoans should strive for peace since they have a commonality they share in their traditions. The image of the Sarimanok in Sillada's painting alludes to a shared symbol amongst the people in Mindanao, who have fought against repressions for years. By using this shared sign, he summons the people of Mindanao together as a people who have something in common despite their various differences. The artist binds them together with the sign of the Sarimanok and calls for peace to happen in his bloodied homeland.
IV. REFERENCES
Canete, Reuben (2000). Danny C. Sillada and the Metaphors of Dreams and Existence. A monograph on the Metaphors and Dreams exhibit.
Montilla, Lorna. (1996). Sillada Returns from the Landscapes of Nightmares.
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Lifestyle section, July 15, 1996.
Ong, Jacqueline (2006). Danny Sillada: A Passion to Create.
What's on and Expat May 14 - 20, 2006.
Sillada, D.C. (2006). Cuadro Filipino. Retrieved from http://diaryofsilence.blogspot.com on September 30, 2006.
Sillada, D.C. (2006). Diary of Silence. Retrieved from http://diaryofsilence.blogspot.com on September 30, 2006.
Tucker, Amy. (2002). Visual Literacy. NY: McGraw-Hill.
*An interview with Danny Sillada (transcript provided)
**A multi-media CD provided by Danny Sillada to the researchers. (Copy of CD provided)
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The above photo: ""Self Portrait: My Life in a Cage", 1997, 50 X 40", ", oil on canvas by Danny C. Sillada; photo at the bottom: "Adam & Eve", 2003, 40 X 30", oil on canvas by Danny C. Sillada
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