Olan Ventura’s fake plastic heroes

You have to dig the irony of the title of Olan Ventura’s exhibit at the Big & Small Art Gallery, which opens on March 29. Plastic Realism. What’s so synthetic about reality, anyway? How can a thing be plastic and authentic at the same time? It’s like being both organic and mechanical. (Like H.R. Giger’s green extraterrestrial horrors encased in heavy metal while sprouting fleshy limbs and wings, writhing in an orgy of iron and intestines.) In Ventura’s case, he renders comic-book heroes in all their artificial realism.

"Super-heroes such as Batman and Superman have become icons," says the 28-year-old artist. "In the minds of kids, they exist and yet don’t exist at the same time." Aye, there’s the Iron Man, er, irony.

Olan Ventura is one of the finalists in the 2002 Philippine Art Awards. He bagged first place honors in oil category of the Shell Art Competition in ’98. Olan is the brother of Ronald Ventura, one of the country’s best young artists. Ronald’s most recent paintings were littered with white torsos, flowers and sheets of wearable skin. His artistic comment was right on the money: Aren’t we all going through life like disembodied people sporting fake personalities? As an old Stranglers song goes, "If we could peel away the skin, is there anybody there?" Another Ventura sibling, Roldan (whose nickname is, I swear, "Manok") also paints. Abstraction is more his shtick. In his latest show, Olan deals more with figures – or action figures to be exact.

He admits that his concept is a subtle diatribe against a society that has reduced culture to the substance of plastic – heroes and icons have become tragically comic, predictable and disposable. Role models reveal nothing inside them that would pass for soul. Artificiality is the new reality.

The funny thing is that Olan based his oil and acrylic paintings on real DC Comics toys – his own. "I collect superhero figures. I haven’t shown my Green Lantern or The Flash action figures to my kids because they might get them from me (laughs)."

The artist depicted the action figures as bound, very much like Swift’s Gulliver. "I wanted to show that no matter how incredible the powers of these superheroes are, they are still held captive by the imagination of the children who own them."

Olan’s Plastic Realism, his fifth solo exhibition, is a sort of follow up to his Gandam robots show last December. He was planning to give the paintings to his godchildren for Christmas, but a couple of pieces got sold – which is both a good and a bad thing. His show at the West Gallery last August dealt with family and portraiture.

He explains, "Instead of creating family portraits where the family-members are standing together and looking very prim and proper, I chose to portray them as scattered and preoccupied with other activities – nagbubunot ng balbas, nagugupit ng kuko (laughs)."

For his future project, Olan plans to paint Pinoy "idols" – such as FPJ, Nora Aunor and German Moreno. Olan quips, "Balak ko ipinta si Kuya Germs na natutulog – ‘di ba slogan n’ya ay ‘Walang tulugan!’ (laughs)."

If you ask Olan what his overarching artistic statement is regarding Plastic Realism, he would tell you that he simply wants the viewer to – pardon the pun – toy with the idea.

"Laruan naman ‘yan eh (laughs). These are icons in the minds of children, pero ang dami ring nababaliw na matanda sa toys."

Yes. The fake plastic things that make us lose our minds in this fake plastic world.

* * *

Plastic Realism is on view from March 29 to April 10 at the Big & Small Art Gallery, at the fourth level of SM Megamall Bldg. A, Mandaluyong City.