Spoiled Brat Persona

Monday, September 21
at 6:00pm

Underground
Lower Ground & 2nd Level, Makati Square, 2130 Don Chino Roces Ave, Pio Del Pilar, Makati, 1223 Makati, Philippines

Spoiled Brat Persona

James Esguerra is an artist that creates pieces that questions uniformity, an artist that embraces the freedom of art, and celebrates its potential of retrogression and eccentricity.

Spoiled Brat Persona recklessly delivers the faces of distasteful human behaviors that reeks in modern day society. Personalities in our present day sprouts crowds of wannabe demigods, self-proclaimed “Einsteins”, and babies pretending to have been born with silver spoons in their mouths, are some of the conceptual inspiration for this exhibition. Unpleasant traits that would be put in a bad light in the olden days, are now undeniably a trend, a bad, untouchable trend, making this a very interesting theme that Esguerra has pursued. A showcase of self-obsession, avaricious characters, and untamed autocratic traits, will be laid out in a grim, yet comical manner, a method where he is at always at ease.

To tackle such theme for most artists, there is an ulterior motive for mankind’s refinement, a supposed eye-opener, a call for change per se, but for Esguerra, it simply is for the sake of having a subject to do what he loves to do, which is to shock, offend and make people laugh all at the same time through his paintings. To better understand his point, envision a revolution that aims for no change, a nonchalant abuse of fallacies without seeking to correct its audiences, a relentless assault and mockery of the fabricated reality created by man while being so carefree, disregarding the opinions of society.

In this show, expect an ocular symphony of warm neon and pastel colors paired with grotesque and goofy-looking characters, catastrophic elements, and mundane symbols, accompanied with leitmotif (which was mentioned prior) that may be sensitive or jarring to others.

This first solo exhibition, will provide you an opportunity to have a peek of what transpires in his abstruse mind. His works, undeniably, have unconcealed trails of his musical affinity on a liberal scale from pop to extreme metal. Influences from old cartoons and comics, Japanese culture, weird humor, and reckless friends, are all garnishes to his plate of visual piquant artworks, similar to a chef who likes to use his favorite ingredients. A supplemental idea of what it is like to see one of his past works, you would also ask yourself, “How did he combine Jesus, a swastika symbol, a disfigured orc, a nuclear plant, and so on, in one picture and make it work? How?” It is an immense degree of technical thinking that requires imagination beyond the realms of usual norms and semantics, accompanied by his cordial approach on colors, his art takes the viewer in a twisted domain of confusion, horror, candies, and thoughts of fluffy bunnies while sliding through a rainbow all at the same time.