Artist Raul Jorolan goes ‘KaBloom!’
Altro Mondo Creative Space presents “KaBloom!” a one-man exhibit by painter, filmmaker, creative/art director, illustrator and graphic designer Raul Jorolan, who reimagines nuclear mushroom clouds in a more floral, hopeful light.
While atomic blasts are usually accompanied by images of fiery death and total destruction of cities, Jorolan “wanted paintings to counter all these violent, nightmarish images.” He calls it a “visual switcheroo” on the typical nuclear blast imagery. An allegorical representation, instead of fiery devastation, the artist offers “a high-energy explosive yield of colorful and vibrant blooming flowers of different varieties forming the pyrocumulus mushroom cloud. A paradigm shift — from Armageddon to Euphoria, from annihilation to exhilaration, from ravaging to ravishing.”
Jorolan calls “KaBloom!” a “satire series” of 16 oil paintings that “bursts with happiness, bringing forth a fallout shower of hope” to “offset the negativity and instead project positivity to the overall image of a nuclear bomb blast.”
The exhibit is now viewable on Instagram.com/rauljorolan.art, and Facebook.com/rauljorolan.art.
Jorolan explains that his current painting subject “came into being when I was soaking up the trending world and current events… A rogue country led by a young, power-tripping dictator was recklessly test-firing missiles that alarmed the whole world,” referring to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. “For decades, much to the peace-loving world’s collective relief, a treaty banning nuclear tests has been in force decelerating the Doomsday Clock countdown to Apocalypse. Now, this country’s dangerous behavior is threatening world peace by kick-starting tensions again.”
After graduating from University of Santo Tomas with a fine arts degree, Jorolan shuttled across the visual world, building an impressive body of work and valuable experience both in the Philippines and as an advertising expat in Hong Kong.
His personal mantra (“What if, why not!”) gives him an open, explorative attitude, always on the lookout for the fresh and new. He’s been immersed in various creative disciplines along the way, such as advertising, delightfully adding all to his visual repertoire.
With a knack for storytelling, Jorolan fused this with his ability to imagine, draw and create visual narratives through storyboards. A TV commercial directorial break helped him blaze a new, exciting creative direction. While slugging it out in advertising campaigns and shooting TV commercials and videos, he hunkered down to serious painting on free days and nights. This led to rediscovering his figurative style of work. Triggered by urban exposure, comic books, music and the contemporary world of advertising, Jorolan’s art shows the influence of pop culture.
His first solo show, “Popsuey” (an amalgam of “Pop” and “chop suey”), allowed him to fully realize his true vision. He has also joined a number of group shows.
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View Raul Jorolan’s art on Instagram.com/rauljorolan.art, and Facebook.com/rauljorolan.art.
Tracie Anglo-Dizon’s ‘Ornament and Crime’ is a revolt against beauty
In “Ornament and Crime,” Tracie Anglo-Dizon challenges the premise that a painting has to be “pristine” for it to be beautiful. For this exhibit, her second solo show for Pablo Gallery, Tracie disrupts her otherwise immaculate paintings with various drips and streaks, a process she describes as “vandalizing an image to break the illusion of the picture.”
For these paintings, Tracie also took inspiration from Chinese ceramics. “I find the ceramics from the Qing, Yuan, and Ming dynasties to be the most beautiful,” she says. “The works from the Wanli period, with its Wucai style of ornamentation, are especially striking to me.” But the pieces in “Ornament and Crime" are not rote recreations of ancient works — instead, Tracie deliberately breaks the exquisiteness of her subjects.
“I try to paint these images as realistically as possible, but I like retaining the mistakes, as it shows the human hand,” says Tracie. “I started adding drips on plates back in 2015, because I wanted to paint a crying plate. I liked that the drip added another layer to the painting and broke the illusion of a realistic rendering.”
This act is revelatory. Instead of destroying the work, these violnt brushstrokes unlock something hidden within. “Melting Lotus Blooms” is a painting of a Ming dynasty plate, with the lower third of the canvas overpowered by parallel paint streaks. It looks like the painting is unraveling, the same way a carpet unravels when you pull a single thread. Here, the painting unravels into its component colors. In “The Rage Within Us,” a dragon spews vivid orange streaks from its mouth. The gesture is almost childlike — how many of us have always wanted to “improve” classic pieces with cartoony flourishes?
Streaks, drips, and motion lines are consistent elements in “Ornament and Crime.” Beyond anarchic joy, they also communicate tension. This is entropy. This is void, if the void were a melting swirl of deconstructed hues. This tension was partly inspired by recent events, particularly the quarantines (of various flavors) we’ve had to go through.
“I painted for this show during the lockdown. I found myself responding to what was going on around us,” says Tracie. “I used these drips and strokes to highlight a particular emotion.” These emotions are perfectly represented in the paintings. The pieces can barely hold themselves together — and that is something many of us can relate to.
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“Ornament and Crime” runs until Aug. 15 at Pablo Gallery - The Fort. The gallery is located at Unit C-11, South of the Market Condominiums, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
To enable people to view this and succeeding exhibits during quarantine, Pablo is launching its own virtual gallery. The project was developed by Acid House and Pablo, with assistance from .G/FK/DS. The virtual gallery is viewable at https://www.pablogalleriesph.com/pablo-vr
Visitors may still view the works in person. Entrance to the gallery will be by appointment. Social distancing will also be enforced.
About the artist
Tracie Anglo-Dizon studied drawing and painting at the Art Students League, and graduated from the Parsons School of Design in New York. She worked as a creative director in New York, Singapore, and Manila for over a decade before returning to her first love, painting.
Tracie received instruction and mentorship from artists Jose John Santos III and James R.H. Holdsworth. In 2011, Tracie participated in her first group exhibit in Singapore. Two years later, she took part in “A Curious Limbo,” a group show curated by Manuel Ocampo and held in Manila. Between 2013 and 2018, Tracie participated at Art In The Park with Silverlens and Tin-Aw Galleries. In 2018, Tracie held her first solo show at Pablo Gallery.
In 2019, she co-organized a fundraising group exhibit with Ocampo and Gerry Tan for the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art. That year, Tracie also took part in a group show at Tin-Aw Gallery.
Follow Tracie on Instagram: @tracieanglo.
