Ricky Ambagan: Connecting the Dots

BY JAY BAUTISTA |

Wind of Change

In these trying and often troubled times, when even a body of water or a group of islands is gravely being disputed, Pangaea by Ricky V. Ambagan reiterates what we have been and knew all along—that we are one and universal. As evidenced in geography marked by the broken connections of land masses in coastlines of what used to be a super continent, Pangaea simulates this united treatise through a shared cultural vocabulary through visual arts.

Ambagan’s themes revolve around science, culture, religion and even philosophy. He celebrates man’s greatest sociological and historical issues infusing them into our most personal sentimentalities. If Ambagan honored unknown Italian masters the last time in Omaggio, he concerns himself in present-day realities in Pangaea. Contemporary anxieties like global warming, environment degradation and cultural amnesia seriously occupy his canvases of varying sizes. Using omnipresent children, lamps representing souls, and luminosity as a positive graphic handle as signature in his works, Ambagan is a poet of the palette combining the local and global, the ethnic and cultural, in adventure-filled settings-- mixing naïve and sophisticated testimonials--straining out what limits the imagination. Ambagan has brought back storytelling by painting narratives into what our collective memory is--we are all shared beings. What appeals to us also affects other peoples from the other side of the earth.

Hidden Gem

His figures are often stuck in a moment—pausing an action—bravely appropriating with abandon popular and critical iconographies from diverse milieus. An interesting dialogue emerges among his subjects. Witness two kids in Hidden Gem, as they are in wonder while in search of something. Both are beside Bansky’s Girl with Balloon with the Easter Island statues and the Stonehenge looming in the background. Ambagan has taken risks in depicting his images and confidently attempting at playfulness. Consider Fix You which has the elements in a traditional Chinese luck signifiers; in Chosen One where our hero favors an imperial soldier in the afterlife; and Happy Thoughts which reminisces on lightness and impermanence of our being, as exuded by Japanese carp kites representing courage and persistence. They become dragons once they hurdle the current--all these adventure relate to Ambagan’s oriental take on civilization, as it happened through cornucopia of classic archeological findings and popular icons.

Chosen One

Mortality and the future of existence affects Ambagan’s consciousness as witnessed in Sleep Tight wherein the presence of a panda is a cause for alarm as flying lanterns provide a semblance of dismal hope in the prevailing darkness; the man in a unicycle has always been a recurring Ambagan creation in his previous shows. It denotes temporal suspension of belief while awaiting for a reversal of fortune of bigger things to come. It makes an appearance in Wind of Change in what appears to be a broken clock signifying twist of fate. As one is facing uncertainty in life’s constant events, one just has to move in order to be still. Cool Change speaks of post-apocalyptic scenarios that may scare the viewer but mind you these are not Ambagan’s intentions. More of a constant reminder as observed in Deep Peace ushering a grim reminder that the world is much darker and deeper than what a jellyfish experiences in the ocean—that we should practice contentment and live within our means to be at peace.

New Beginning

Dramatic interpretation of birth and constant re-birth are depicted in New Beginning and Against the Flow. New Beginning revisits a more cryptic Noah’s Ark as evident in the fossilized animals representing ancient times which blended well in the famous Biblical wrecked ship submerged in water. Against the Flow follows the circle of life as a boy freely floats like a baby featuring that there are more intelligent people born--despite the critical mortality caused by hunger and poverty--while at a young age they are faced with monsters of age-old curses. Puff ushers in sentimentality as that 70s song by Peter, Paul and Mary beckons eschewing nostalgia taking us back to bygone days filled with nostalgia. Finally, I Surrender finishes off Ambagan’s longing for equanimity and transience as it summarizes his faith for humanity. It overwhelms as it grabs your attention showing the scale of man as a mere speck compared to the towering cross. It is as spiritual as Ambagan can get without favoring any religion.

 Against the Flow

Ambagan’s long and arduous process of art making starts off with words as he reflects upon them while listening to audiobooks or watching documentaries on inspiring men such as Machiavelli, Alexander the Great and Gengis Khan. Early in the morning, as soon as he wakes up, he inspires himself with he calls as his “quiet time.” Upon recharging his thoughts he then gears up as he recreates his words into images sometimes translating them in 3D fashion even sculpting them on paper. Upon careful scrutiny on his pieces, Ambagan finds the appropriate colors and emotions rendering them in textured brushstrokes. His palette may use bright or subdued colors as deemed necessary. Ambagan wants subjects shouting their tempered brilliance in silence. His commitment is to his craft and his pursuit for emancipation runs deep within his subjects’ character.

Ambagan is versed in carefully composed stories on his masterpieces. He has no regular pattern and prefers to deconstruct images from various sources. Lately he assumes the role of a cinematographer in the way he presents his artistic scenes. His prowess lies in his moments of delight-- being theatrical on canvas is his aesthetics.

Pangaea is a hopscotch where you can customize how you would like to connect Ambagan’s framed pictures to comprise your one big bespoke exhibition. It disturbs your peace as you do your rounds in this year’s Manila Art. It is interventionist against convention done in Ambagan’s in-your-face realism—a kind of counter culture being introduced into the mainstream. It is an adventure with challenges wherein the hero wins in the end. Like a chess game, viewers can either take the lead as king or queen or be a pawn rooting in the sidelines. No matter what we shall overcome—as we are all in this together.

Ricky V. Ambagan: On the Shoulder of Giants

BY JAY BAUTISTA |

Like the man playing the violin while riding the unicycle on a tightrope he oftentimes depicts in his canvases, Ricky V. Ambagan is at the crossroads of his ongoing career of 18 years as a visual artist and he is aware of it. Too old to waste with paint yet too young to repeat his previous images he has painted in previous exhibitions. In Omaggio, he reminisces fantasy adventures as he honors the discipline of painting from unrecognized Italian painters resulting in new art historical perspectives and directions. As significant as the task of rediscovering memories for Ambagan, he flexes the depths and breadths of his artistic prowess in this creative provocation. Omaggio provides you the playfulness that he longs for and the passion that is still there all along. It leaves you with the feeling of nostalgia, contemplation and elation.

As a child it was his grandfather who was fond of storytelling in the family. Ambagan imbibed his sense of wonder in recalling world war exploits and how they survive living in poverty as they were rebuilding their lives. The tales ingrained much of how Ambagan would visualize scenes as he decided to become an artist since his grade school days. While researching for subject matters in art through the years, as a fine arts student Ambagan was enthralled by how these Italian masters have already advanced mixing three or more paints since the 15^th century onwards; how highly artists commanded each court or community in every rural town of flourishing city. Much of what we learned as iconographies and iconologies emanated from their hands and minds. They classically composed a religious scene to the happenings of the apocalypse to Victorian romantic affair from their own canvases. Until this day much of what they churned out are still being copied by other painters unmindful of them as originator of ideas.

 Respecting these bygone masters Ambagan appropriates by building upon on what we have seen they have created. The brilliance of Ambagan is that he slices a chosen masterpiece by employing an element of awe by adding the present as nostalgia on his own. He adopts his grandfather’s narrative trait in delivering these tales that he cannot help but imagine not involving himself for the viewers. More often they could be his younger self with his friends or even his children. Some are cloaked with blanket as a theatrical device he used to do then or they take the form as one of the characters themselves or morphed in detail as the door or carving on the picture. Light is omnipresent, whether from a gas lamp, flying lantern, or a round hint of luminosity peering through from afar as a constant for Ambagan. How he positions them as part of the overall tableau revitalizing a masterpiece within a masterpiece all together is signature for him.

By nature, we are taken on a visual trance as time travelers in Omaggio. From Roman Coliseum to Neverland, Ambagan imbibes the thought that he knows where and how to take us. He even allows us to marvel at architectural details of doors and how artists before took us notice of the places and situations of a well-appointed time. We are not merely in an art gallery but in a palatial museum being transported to the setting of the scenes themselves. Impacting his viewers a kind-of-deja vu that unravels like the paintings have happened to one’s life yet they are only looking at it for the first time. In summation, as he steps on the shoulder of giants, it is Ambagan who is honored himself.

Ricky Ambagan: Pulling the String to a Full Stop

JAY BAUTISTA|

I'm Coming Home

The increasing pressure to phase out our beloved jeepneys from the main thoroughfares of Manila (and Baguio) where they once ruled is surmounting by the day. The government says they don’t even physically fit any more—an unpleasant sight--a stumbling block to progress; that their sheer volume has become a liability even as commuters cramp them up every early morning filling up their maximum sitting capacity.

This is where visual artist Ricky Ambagan pulls the string to a full stop. Paying homage to the Patok, a parlance for the last of the rogue jeepneys, Ambagan has kept the faith for these most enduring Pinoy icons. Patok is a sub-species of jeepneys plying from Montalban or Cogeo via Marcos Hi-way. Bigger than the usual 16-seater capacity, they have been built for one sole reason for being--speed; most are candy-colored and heavily decorated using airbrush. 

Basang Basa sa Ulan

With young and restless drivers at the helm, Patok travels you in hasty, topsy-turvy-style, often arriving at your destination in record time. They take you to Montalban—like in a drag race--in the shortest time possible–even that claim is an understatement. They too are notoriously loud for their music.

Patok:Ang Pagbabalik ng Langgam is an ode--a narration of the travesties and intricacies of the last days of the jeepney. A roving telenovela--as Ambagan likes to call it--because we are a reflection of the kind of transportation we get into.

Other jeepneys today are barer for its practicality but the Patok are praised both for their functionality and aesthetics. What was once a war surplus and replacement for jitneys (thus the name) became a rolling showcase of our folk artistry. The jeepney became an extension of a driver’s humble abode: how he extends an altar in his dashboard complete with vigil bulbs; how he adorns its ceiling with copied paintings from masters, alongside names of his loved ones; how he uses curtains to ward of dust and keep ventilation for a smooth and safe trip.

Ambagan does not capture all their dirt and grime but seats in front as a hopeless sentimentalist, tempering that in-your-face rap music with jingly-jangly chords, even acoustics of the heart. In I’m Coming Home he sets the mood how the ever-dependable jeepney will always be there by remaining available 24/7. No matter how late —the graveyard shifters, the overworking employees, clandestine lovers unaware of their stolen moments, the sordid drunk coming from revelry—all depend on the jeepney to get safely home. Composing the picture Ambagan shows how lonely the crusade and uphill battle they now face. Yet the stars are out in full support for their cause.    

Basang basa sa Ulan implies in you an uncomfortable situation and captures another practicality of the Patok--how it is to survive without being drenched in the rain. Ambagan’s brilliance gears up when he juxtaposes his subjects along with the title of the most popular Aegis song. He resembles it how it is being soaked—both in our bodies and feelings—from the July showers evokes discomfort yet nostalgia; how art and music blend well in a painting. Ambagan has been there, done that.

Come Together

Come Together reprises that inviting Beatles song with the pedestrian as trigger word linking the famous fab four crossing through Abbey Road. Notice Ambagan suits his images with whatever his idea he had in mind. No photos as reference but imagination and how emotions play when that song was first played. Reminds one of the good times, as we flash back reminding the soundtrack of our lives.

The Jeep of Medusa

They may not be as comfortable as it was then but a Patok experience is on the extreme in riding dangerously, so to speak. Ambagan observes how these accents and accessorizes daily living. Each Patok jeepney is a wandering statement, its character emits from the graffiti’s they espouse, as well as the sentimentality of the music it pipes in. Ambagan laments that the day would come they will just end up in glass cases enclosed in a cold museum for viewing purposes only.

The Jeep of Medusa is an astoundingly haunting sepia, pencil, and charcoal on canvas. Against the colorful palette is this centerpiece discussing the plight of the jeepney. Opposed to the desperate survivors of the shipwreck as Louis Andre Theodore Gericault depicted his masterpiece, Ambagan took off with liberation and breaking free from human frailty and futility.

Folk religiosity has been a recurring subject for Amabagan. Lord Patawad remains a subliminal in its message. He has committed to his creative passion but more faithful to his God. Finding Pepe reflects Ambagan’s nationalist fervor. Here he situates Jose Rizal as a lowly passenger among the throng, busily absorbed in reading today’s news. Affected by the goings on with our current state of affairs. Ambagan hints we may be giving up our values for less mundane and superficial things.    

Finding Pepe

The subtitle Ang Pagbabalik ng Langgam reminisces Ambagan’s previous exhibitions which featured multiple of people en mass be it in Manila, downtown Baguio or flooded Malabon. His style of distortion, marked up by raw and coarse brushstrokes, endeared in humor and memory are the hallmark of his visual style. How he angles his canvases, twisting and twirling his subjects convoluting the kind of complex quagmire they are into. Not veering desperation rather he counters perspectives that would find meaning to whatever longing that may come along their way. His colors burst with bravura often engaging even provoking the viewer as a call to action and not passively observe.

Filipino artist worth his salt had a take on the jeepney. Vicente Manansala focused on its aesthetics as a folk art; Cesar Legaspi probed on its definite lines and earth-toned hues; Mauro Malang’s jeepneys appealed like general postcards to the tourists; Manny Garibay focused on their interior jeepneys being a socialist stage, the happenings inside while in transit. Ambagan is anecdotal highlighting the stories behind his paintings that make you stare long and hard, whether you empathize, amused or baffled at the drama behind it. How scenes elicit a smirk is what inspired him to feature this. Ambagan nonchalantly contributes to the contending dynamics of our culture and a deeper encouragement that the Pinoy will survive whatever that comes his way. 

Lord Patawad

With the clock ticking, though jeepneys may still be the preferred informal mode of transportation of the general publics, however like terminally-ill cancer patients, they are now living on borrowed time.

In Patok Ambagan honors the jeepney one last time while it is still breathing, fighting for its life. He parallels the existence of the jeep with the timeline of our country—too crowded, rowdy--with every passenger has a preferred direction to take. Everything that is happening in us—be it political, entertaining or poverty reflected--revolves around the goings-on of the jeepney, as one takes a collective ride. In the end, Ambagan is just an artist who commutes.

Ricky Ambagan: Fresh Produce

BY JAY BAUTISTA |
 

What Grows on Your Garden

Alluding himself to that red watering can amidst a bright yellow mood Ricky Ambagan further expounds his recent paintings in What Grows in Your Garden. Done in visual atonality employed with a sense of caprice, Ambagan tempers how one must empty oneself to be filled up again. He derives deep from popular images ranging from art history to domestic everyday scenes in what constitutes as his banal memories, amplified fears and hopeful predilections he unconsciously tends to be our own. The act of transfiguration allowed us into his innermost kaleidoscope--be it personal or social--in these 16 pieces on display.

Two of Us

 The strangeness of how a scent, or in this case, a song could evoke an emotional chord from the past is evident in Two of Us. Reminiscent of that popular Beatle song, there is more to those three abandoned cars left to rust in remembrance in a gloomy forest. As time happens too fast, our lives are revved up in one swift pace that problems of our time are failing to elicit memory can be both disruptive and aching activity in such a busy traffic of images.

Beast from East

Beast from East “historizes” the book of Revelation in its present context and debunks age-old myths by means of eclectic iconography. One of the hardest books of to understand, Revelation is the final battle between good and evil with the Anti-Christ leading to deceive humanity. Gathering icons such as the sumo wrestler, robot, and golden dragon in the middle appropriated in the equation, one cannot fathom not only who will emerge as the victor, which is good and bad in this conflict. Mushrooms provide the neutral illumination in a rather barren ground. Even a burning mosquito killer is defiant.
 

Behind the Trees

Even with the cast and setting complete, one may think that Behind the Trees is all on the vanishing of the Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. It could also dwell about true love, when a man and a woman and that you-and-me-against-the-world adage in between. Ambagan’s juxtaposes his naïve characters in alarming compromise conniving in a somewhat alerted hues of the scene, pausing or even being stuck at the moment.   
  

Well versed in composition, Ambagan’s painterly technique induces raw and transparency in materiality breaking off his previous heavily brushed canvases, with earlier ones some tediously done in arresting distorted strokes. In creating this current space he is more restless in form, more lose to his liking. Branches in dark tones resembling nodes of electrons (its similarity to veins) in a digital mind are constant in all the pieces. Ambagan holds on these distinct framing, favoring what is stunning and of wonder to his brushes.

Last Dance

Last Dance pushes one out of his comfort zone. How far can one commit in attaining one’s goals not to lose motivation? A ballerina on the edge of a couch realizes the-when-I-grow-up-dream vis-a-vis the corporate job that pays the bills dilemma. One must not be limited to one’s goals set for oneself yet do you leave the nest for greener pasture abroad or do we conform and be rats ourselves in the race?

The brilliance of Ambagan is how he always keeps his concepts unsullied and intact. Entering his fruitful mid-career, he continues to splatter fresh paints on his big bright ideas while keeping his audience looking remains evident as he is still relevant. One eagerly awaits his next bountiful harvest.  

What Grows in Your Garden is the 6^th Solo Exhibition by Ricky Ambagan. Ongoing until May 22, 2015 at the Gallery Anna, SM Megamall.