Certain Maladies: Leonardo Aguinaldo’s ‘Side Effect’

MANILA, Philippines — Leonardo Aguinaldo’s exhibition for the Art Fair, “Side Effect,” borrows terminology from prescription drug labels to characterize the subjectiveness of healing and illness. Effects range from the “mild” to the “severe” with an entire spectrum of possible symptoms in-between, only sometimes detectable after careful guesswork. Aguinaldo avers: “You feel like you are getting well, but in reality a side effect is developing in the long run.” In the following interview the artist describes his works and elaborates on how his ideas shifted during their production.

PHILIPPINE STAR: Please tell us more about “Side Effect.”

Leonardo Aguinaldo: Side Effect” came from the idea of taking medicine. I tried to relate this to how, in current events, we are given solutions to problems of our society that sometimes don’t work in the long run. As the title suggests, it deals with the immediate or long term effect of events that have transpired on personal, social, and cultural levels. “The Awakening” (acrylic on table cloth, 48x 48 in.) is a reaction to the beginning of the new administration. During that time there were so many reactions and one of them was the fear of martial law. In the painting’s lower part, the old leader Marcos is awakened by a flowing bottle of gin being shoved from above by a goat. To its right is a dog digging in his head investigating what’s the commotion underground; the mirroring of Jessica Rabbit suggests a plot, and on top there’s a farmer ready to plow his field suggesting control. The work “The Ancestors Ride the Circus Horse” is about the fanfare happening in the world of social media mixed up with reality. Here, it is difficult to find out what is fact. In the foreground is a rendition of an old photo from 1900s (more on ethnography below) and surrounded by some words, the account of an old man.

The work “Perya” (oil on canvas, 4x 9 ft.) depicts a “piggy game board.” Here, there’s the element of luck, but to have luck one must pray. Above it is written in Ilokano, “Agkararag tapno mangabak.” This was inspired by my frequent travels to ilocos. It’s amazing and sometimes it’s funny that people are crazy about numbers. It’s because of lotto and STL (Small Town Lottery) — formerly jueteng — it seems that everything is numberized.

All of these I think are side effects from long ago, perhaps from the time of the Spanish period.

The series changed direction when my mother was brought to the hospital. At that time I was just putting together the concept for the fair. My focus shifted. Her long stay in the hospital inspired me to do works about it, her sickness and the experience in dealing with her illness. “I See You (ICU)” is about the state of critical condition. In the picture are doctors doing examinations and life-saving procedures but maybe in her eyes they are saints ready to take her to the other side, body covered with the face-recognition app — perhaps technology will do the trick, lying in a bed of water for further healing or it could be a sign of death. Dextrosed charged with prayers, etc. Beside it is the phrase “memory loss,” also a side effect of her illness.

“Prayer 1&2, mahal na dasal and Saviour” deals with hope and wellness; “Never Say Die” was inspired by the rock band Black Sabbath. In it you’ll see all the life support systems: on the sides are a level hose, reminiscent of the tubes for dextrose, oxygen, etc, pointing upwards tapping into the spiritual. The work basically is about the persistence of life, no matter what, it just keeps on going and going.

“Fighting Artists” is a personal account that happened when we had too much to drink and too much to talk about, it got rowdy.

I used the color luminous yellow not only to tie the works together but also as suggesting a notion of safety as the color is used in visibility vests or any place that requires it like danger, etc.

You have been working with prints for sometime now. Why has printmaking persisted in your work?

(My) process follows the conventional way of printmaking. For large prints I use a spoon or wooden ladle as press. I use printmaking as an alternative like when I’ve done paintings for a while then doing prints gives that feeling of relief. The long process is meditative, and the final result is unpredictable and that makes it special.

There are works that I choose to do in print and not on other media, the reasons: 1) By intuition (this subject looks better on print); 2) I want to make multiple copies of an image; 3) Both ways (maybe this picture would also look good in print); and 4) When starting a new series i.e. agricultural cycle of the mountain provinces.

What do you think of the term “ethnographic art” to describe your work?

I think it is more of ethnic art (or inspired by ethnic art) I think the “ethnographic” was in reference to ethnographic materials like photographs taken from collections of museums or publications from earlier times (colonial period). In my art making I always tap into history, oral traditions and folklores as inspirations, and one of them is looking at images that have nostalgic and vintage value that resonates well with the idea of the work in progress and trying to incorporate them and give it new meaning.

I think my work is not ethnographic in any way. I’m not doing systematic recording of cultures, what I do is just recording what I see, feel, and experience around me and do some comment or critique in visual form.

Could you please tell us more about the everyday people in your images?

Yes, they are the daily people; you know, the worker, the foot soldier, the slave, the dumbed-down consumer, but despite that, we can see the persistence to survive, to be happy, to be a good citizen, God-fearing and hopeful that someday things will be all right or different. Those are the people in my works.

I know them by observation. I think when we stop learning we stop growing, and creativity stops as well.

* * *

Special thanks to Agyamanak Prof. Erlyn Ruth Alcantara for her assistance in facilitating this interview.