Flare up through Outbursts
Life Drain
Outbursts is the first-ever piecemeal exhibit by Anthony Castillo at the UPV Art Gallery within the main building of UP in the Visayas.
It illustrates his sketches and representations of ballpoint cartoon by means of utilizing ball pen as his tool in creating assorted drawings and portrayal. As said by Castillo, "Outbursts is an expression of one's self; fundamentally your feelings in your way of thinking."
Prof Gaudilia Doromal, Prof Vicente Tan,
Dellia Jarantilla and Anthony Castillo
His drawings depict persons that exemplify torment, affliction and besieged as human beings. He's also into sculpture. But as of now, his conduit is the ballpoint. For him, it's the most easily reached tool not like in painting that is by some means intricate to get hold of.
His exhibit will run from Aug. 13 to 31, 2007 and is presented by the UPV Chancellor's Committee for Culture and Arts.
Note on the Exhibit
Ordisi Osenio, Melanie Simborio,
Dominique Dabad and Rejay Alvarado
An outburst is defined as a sudden and violent release or outpouring or a sudden spell of activity or energy. All these apply to Anthony Castillo's first solo exhibit, OUTBURSTS.
But Castillo's works in OUTBURSTS are not just an outpouring of his feelings against the circumstances in his life especially his sense of helplessness in the face of bipolar disorder he was diagnosed to be suffering from since 1999. They are also concrete proofs of the sudden spells of creative energy he experiences during or after those moments. The works in this collection are visual journals --Castillo's attempts to capture his struggles, physical and psychological, and give form to the sensations and feelings that he experiences during his manic-depressive episodes.
Artist Anthony Castillo (3rd from left) and
the writers, Francis Lloyd Sauza, Hazel
Mae Gayatgay and Ma Teresa de los
Santos
Castillo, a self-taught artist has been joining group exhibitions in Iloilo since 1992. He has created abstract expressionist works in oil before; but human figuration, specifically drawing using pen and ink or pencil, has been his favorite mode of expression. Castillo has been drawing since his elementary years after learning some basic drawing techniques in a workshop. It is no wonder then that in his first solo exhibit he chooses to present his drawings.
Through them, not only does he display his métier in the medium but also his mettle as an artist who creates pictures from the limitless reservoir of the subconscious.
A light moment with Prof John Barrios
Castillo draws human figures because he, admittedly, wants to understand human nature especially his own. His works, like all surreal works of art, are interesting study materials for psychology students and psychiatrists. Castillo's drawings concretize, among others, mental or psychological stress or pressure, the hollow emptiness of mind and spirit, the terror of living and wrestling with one's demons. Castillo's works do not apologize but they are not intended to shock either. The viewer is free to make his or her own conclusions about them or about the artist because Castillo's drawings are about self-expression. He is not concerned about sympathy or empathy. One can see metaphorically in Castillo's works a human being who has been through a form of hell and has come out to tell it all, no holds barred.
Castillo was a psychology student from the University of san Agustin. He was literary editor and lay-out artist of The Augustinian Mirror. An alumnus of U.P. in the Visayas High School, Castillo was a lead dancer in Teatro Amakan's APIK which was staged in Melbourne, Australia in 1995.