Kiko Capile
October 25 – November 6 , 2020
Ysobel Art Gallery
Serendra, BGC, Taguig City
For years, artist Kiko Capile silently but diligently worked hard to push the boundaries of creativity and create an impressive impact on illustration art while juggling full-time work. When the local art scene was teeming with the vibrancy and beauty of hyperrealism, he took his pen and ink to illustrate the scandalous, the decadent, and the self-indulgent. And so, for years now, art collectors and enthusiasts curiously inquired about this composition: Is that how bad he views the world?
After years of being recognized and validated by local and international art platforms, Capile finally decided to make 2020 his first year as a full-time artist with much enthusiasm and creativity. Alas, the year surprised him and the rest of the world with an unprecedented nightmare. While the nightmare that is 2020 is not yet done, months ago, he changed his initial concept for a second solo show, scrapped his idea of a mad world, and reflected on how this year has been a bad one for artists like himself.
Always guided by deep meaningful insights that capture and reflect the artist’s environment and inner thoughts, he strips away the colors and allows his art to look beyond and within. But before he holds his pen to start a long, arduous process of drawing that could last for almost two weeks per piece, he reminds himself that there is no margin for error and no room for mistakes for his chosen art. For the next few hours, his gift of profound creativity runs from his veins through his ink and communicates the themes that perhaps one’s inner being has kept hidden throughout the ongoing pandemic struggle onto his chosen canvas.
Directed as a psychological, surreal narrative, his work embodies strong compositional skills of unconventional and sensational scenes that visually grab you but make you yearn for more, while giving you growing shivers of disgusted delight. Never short on exquisite and precise detailing, each work exhibits gestural immediacy and arresting forms that interestingly create delicate emotional depths and arouse personal experiential curiosity.
A collector once described Capile’s work as a venting-out medium that you did not know you needed. Perhaps, that has always been the impact and beauty of his works. Each piece connects the hidden places in each narrative to the hidden places in the viewer’s thoughts. It is an entrancing bridge of communication that challenges and perhaps shares perceptions and experiences, from bad to unwanted. But for him, if we get out of 2020 alive, we will have a great story to tell our grandchildren about that Bad Year.
– Prim Paypon
*** Due to current circumstances, exhibition viewing will be by appointment only. To schedule an appointment visit, please contact 09228834396. Thank you and stay safe!
