Manila (CNN Philippines Life) — Jel Suarez’s path to being a collage artist was a confluence of two things: an overwhelming desire to create, and a plethora of books waiting to become materials. It was after seeing an exhibit by artist Carina Santos in 2012 that she began her fascination with collages. At home, she was surrounded by books, and it made sense to try her hand at creating pieces using whatever is available at hand.
“I tried drawing, I tried painting, pero feeling ko hindi ko nakukuha yung gusto kong gawin,” she says. “I guess kaya din collage ‘yung ginagawa ko kasi mas natural ‘yung process for me kapag meron nang materials and then from there gagawin ko na ‘yung art.”
Suarez has never had any formal training to be an artist. She used to teach kids full time, but after solo and group exhibits kept coming, she decided it was time to wrangle with her passion head on. She quit teaching and, as of July this year, rented out a space in Makati to have a little studio of her own.
Her first solo exhibit, “Don’t Forget to Breathe” was shown in 2014 at Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery. She’s also shown at Blanc Gallery, Underground Gallery, Art Fair Philippines, Art in the Park (where her works were all sold out), and Chung Shan Creative Hub, Taiwan. Her works also frequent the pages of Rogue Magazine, L’Officiel Manila, and The Philippine Star.
For her second solo exhibit, “Yet We Continue to Build There, The Structure,” her exploration becomes more complex and abstract. The pieces are culled from various books on sculpture and classical art — limbs and other body parts cut and rearranged to resemble something like a sinister landscape.
“‘Yung material ko for the show, nanggaling from a book which I chanced upon a Booksale, na Catalog from the Museum of Modern Art — a 1950s catalog of sculptures na exhibit sa MoMA. And then nakita ko dun ‘yung gusto kong gupitin. Ang hirap sa akin yung maghanap ng materials but when I saw that book, alam ko na kung paano ko siya gamitin, I know na how to destroy the book. (Laughs) So ‘yung show … para siyang continuation ng previous ko na shows but this time nakuha ko na ‘yung gusto kong mga images.”
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Video by JL Javier
“Yet We Continue to Build There, The Structure” will run until Dec. 3, 2016 at Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery, 2135 Chino Roces Avenue, Makati. Check the event page for more details.
