Bjorn Calleja
August 31 — September 28, 2023
Artinformal Makati | Gallery 2
The Alley at Karrivin Plaza, 2316, Chino Roces Ave. Ext., Makati
Triumph of Ignoranza
Drawing is an act of will. For Bjorn Calleja, it begins in pieces, intimating the world in a manner like problem-solving. Muddied pastel contrasts with assertive bold lines, establishing a dynamic of tension. Each vector leads the eye, heaving together forms to connect proportions. Not without spontaneity, the images are spotted with raw, unrigid strokes, following an aesthetic that misbehaves and breaks away from tradition. Calleja transitions between disciplines, moving away from a prolific practice of canvas paintings to cultivate his draughtsmanship. While drawing is a visual mode connected to natural impulse, especially while young, until recent times Calleja has veered away from the practice. With this recent shift, he employs pencils alongside pastels, charcoals, and graphite, layering textures in synergy, despite the challenges posed by the different tools. Drawing, unlike other mediums, affords no room to truly start over. While avoiding mistakes, Calleja stresses the importance of learning to live with it.
The images themselves stand against the climate of culture, making light of heavy elements in Calleja’s disruptive aesthetic. Tenets of his style remain in distinctive faces with highly lined, bulbous irises. From smoking landscapes and legs mid-kick to pointing fingers in “Remind Me to Remind You” the figures mirror chaos that is sometimes external, often internal. The forms oscillate from an Akira-like overflowing organism in “People, Things and Shitty Days” to explosions of kinetic energy in “Everything Blah Blah.” These illusions of three-dimensionality show facets of a changing world, however impartial, evoking Susan Sontag’s musings written “On Style” that, “The greatest artists attain a sublime neutrality.” Within frames are forms that seem worlds away, as Bjorn Calleja asserts that meaning or classification is not necessary. He likens the sketches to reality, that if life has inherent meaning, then we are still ignorant.
By Lala Singian
