The curious case of Jel Suarez

With an elfin frame and cheery disposition, the 23-year-old collage artist whose work draws inspiration from the likes of Godzilla and Ultraman Ace is the farthest thing from what you would expect of a pre-school teacher.

MANILA, Philippines - Strange little girl, this Jel Suarez. Her elfin frame and sunny disposition give away her young age; a cheeky 23-year-old who spends most of her day surrounded by pre-school kids at her day job, as a teacher. But once the desks and colorful notebooks are stowed away, her cornflake girl image washes down, burrowing herself into a cocoon of dusty books and paper-cut figures, which allow her to harness the vastness of her imagination. Although reluctant to be called a “collage artist,” owing to her relative inexperience in the artist’s realm, Jel finds it a convenient label to assign to her thinking process, which, as she puts it “progressive, absurd, fanatical, and beautiful.”

The peculiar and the weird run through Jel’s visual vocabulary: Godzilla and Ultraman Ace mingle with forest creatures, pages ripped from a forgotten book form new worlds where enigmatic creatures roam free. There are nubile girls with lacunae for heads, anatomical parts decorating bleak landscapes, and disembodies nymphs emerge out of tree trunks and murky waters. There’s a sense of stormy undercurrent running through her works, especially when you consider the fact that Jel’s personality is the exact opposite of the darkness inherent in her works.

“It is through my works that I am able to express my angst and frustrations. Hindi ako marunong magalit eh. The past months have been pretty eventful and using this as an outlet helped me understand myself and deconstruct my issues. Feeling ko, I’m solving a fictional puzzle in my head tapos pag naayos ko siya, mas magaan or balanced yung feeling ko. Kahit ako kasi nagugulat na ang dark nang output ko. I’m probably just miserable (laughs),” she shares.

But it is in her process that Jel feels boundless. Armed with books hawked from Book Sale and vintage bookshops she frequents in Los Baños, Pasay, and Escolta, she gives these found images—illustrations of the human anatomy, pop culture figures, and encyclopedic panoramas—a new lease in life. Though she’s not confined to the back catalogs of the ‘40s to the ‘60s, there is a certain tone that she currently prefers to transform. She shares, “I’m very selective and careful with my source materials because I wanted to keep the same tone for my works. I kind of avoid using glossy materials because I don’t connect as much to the images. Parang they are too vibrant for my feelings (laughs).”

After a sold-out turn at this year’s Art in the Park, she’s finally landed her first exhibit at Vinyl on Vinyl, Don’t Forget to Breathe, which finds her populating the gallery with “recorded dreams” with another young collage artist Chalk Zaldivar, channeling the same visual remembrance as Akira Kurosawa did in his film Dreams.

Currently, she’s working on several commissioned works, including an album cover for a hip local label and a film going to Busan International Film Festival. Her to-do pile might be gaining volume but she’s more than happy to get her hands to work, accompanied by that blissful feeling of accomplishment, furthering her passion for her art. Though she occasionally feels small compared to the burgeoning ripeness of the local art industry, which turns up more young artists every year, she recognizes that she’s given the unique opportunity to showcase her work at such an early stage in her career.

“A lot of deserving artists devote their years doing their craft. And having zero background in the arts doubles the pressure I am feeling to somehow prove my craft,” she shares. [But] right now I’m just so happy to be surrounded by inspiring artists who are persistently encouraging me to just keep on doing what I love.”