MANILA, Philippines - In a time when nothing is more prevalent than the face — from #gpoy Instagram snaps to seriously-deliberated Facebook profile pictures, visual artist Luis Santos has taken his third exhibit (opening tomorrow at Blanc Peninsula Manila) as an opportunity to deface it. On 3 x 3 foot canvases, Luis renders oil portraits of people as ghosts from memory. “Then It Happened,” the name of the exhibit, tells as much: the portraits catch the subjects between moments, when things catch us by surprise, when it happened.
Of course, when exactly art happened to 27-year-old Luis is pretty hard to pinpoint. Growing up with the family-owned West Gallery just a stone’s thrown away, living in the same house as Malang (his grandfather), Soler (his father), and Mona (his mother), Luis was bound to get bitten by the bug.
While preparing for his exhibit, Luis talked to Young Star about memories, family ties, and what he did with his business management diploma.
YOUNG STAR: You come from an artistic family, with your grandfather, father, and mother all pretty renowned artists. Was getting into art your equivalent of entering the family business or was it a personal thing?
LUIS SANTOS: My family helped in introducing me to Philippine art, but my decision to get into art was definitely not because it was a “family business.” It was after college when I started being interested in contemporary art, but it took me five years to start painting.
How did you decide to make this a full-time thing? You took up something else in college, right? A lot of people say they want to do art but what made you decide that this is something you can do and want to do for a living?
I took up business management but I wasn’t interested (in it) and I didn’t know what to do with it. I started out as a graphic artist in an ad agency and did freelance work. I didn’t plan on becoming a full-time artist; it just sort of happened. I got invited to join group shows, and then I had my solo shows. It occupied my time, so getting into art full-time was kind of accidental.
How would you differentiate the art you do with the art the rest of your family does? And are there any similarities?
Our works are very different from one another. I think it’s because our interests are also very different. But we often ask for each other’s opinions. I really like that our styles vary, because it’s exciting to see new and different works.
Can you talk about “Then It Happened”? What did you set out to do with this exhibit?
The show is about memories – how we perceive and recollect them, its fickle and abstract nature. How it’s constantly changing depending on what and how we feel, how we choose to remember and forget, and how this influences us.
And what’s in store for 2013, Luis?
I have a solo show in late May or early June at 20 Square in Silverlens Gallery and in December at West Gallery. Also, my work will be shown at Art Fair Philippines 2013 this February.
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“Then It Happened” opens tomorrow at Blanc Peninsula Manila (ground floor shops 9 and 10, Ayala Avenue corner Makati Avenue, Makati City). Luis blogs at publicarchives.tumblr.com.