FOR all the art world’s hubris, the man of the street is often alienated from art. The latest work by internationally emerging artist Anton del Castillo, who needs no introduction in Manila’s sizzling art scene, puts a stop to all this dissension and class struggle. You don’t need a PhD in art theory to understand his latest oeuvre because, as a child, you were assumed to have played games with others—and, no doubt, even more cunningly in the present than ever before.
In contention to the sinister side of games, del Castillo has used available technology to reproduce, in large format, metal jackstones seemingly thrown from heaven on an available garden. If viewed singularly, a jackstone tossed into the field of vision may recall the childhood game that boys also played to co-habit an identification with girls, or perhaps to trump them at their own game, leading to the endless signification of the battle of the sexes.
But the metal jackstone, if viewed singularly, is best thrown onto the lap of unwitting viewers. This recalls the golden apple that Eris, the Greek goddess of strife, hurled onto a dinner table for “The Fairest” to claim as her own, igniting a quarrel among three spatting goddesses—Athena, Hera and Aphrodite—who squabbled for the beauty title, ultimately leading to the Trojan War. All this because Eris felt shunned as the only goddess not invited to the feast.
Unlike the Eris apple, the object of the artist is not made of gold, but it is just as precious, leading to a sort of war among competing art collectors. Fortunately, del Castillo has made multiples, believing, as Mao and Warhol did, that war can be diffused when there is significant production for the masses.
And yet, each multiple may be said to be unique. Each scratch on the metal surface is a violent representation of love betraying hope for a better tomorrow, as the exchange value of the objects will accrue to the artist’s unfolding project and destiny. Each strike is unique and was made with a prayer.
Meanwhile, as a symbol and a modern icon, the jackstone overturns the ready-made as it appropriates its form while elevating the dignity of the artist who works with quality metals and exotic processes—the grit and the grind to create the object from scratch. Quality, then, of material and concept serves as the basis for his art, not marketing gimmicks used by many to construct celebrity. In the realm of meanings, these jackstones, no matter how precious, may be hurled like a diviner’s oracle bones on the floor. They will not crack. We can turn the jackstones into a study of chaos and game theory which seeks to put order to the random throw, and asks, “What’s next?” When the work is displayed, pundits will look for art world significance.
Del Castillo explains, “My work as an artist comes from my personal experiences in childhood until my recent undertakings in life. It is an unrelenting attempt to relive the past and bring it to the present—an effort to linger in the past and portray to society how simple life was yesterday, how happy and carefree things were, and how evidently that it is no longer found in present times.
“As a child, I played with toy soldiers, rocking horses, and even jackstones, thus the creation and fondness with toys in my artworks. As I grew older, life became more complicated, and society more disarrayed. I appreciated the simple joys in life when I was a child, particularly when I was playing with toys. Now as an artist, I rekindle that joy and ultimate happiness, my special place where there are no worries, problems or difficulties, just the unending chance to play.”
The work is full of joy, yet it is also a mirror to a cultural demise where contemporary socialization is often the mediation of avatars in a modeled environment. Traditional games were once a starting point of early communion, a way to put order to animal instinct, and create solidarity through friendly competition. Technology has seemingly threatened to take this away with contemporary games that foster a new kind of socialization. Though this allows friendship with the artist with a single click on digital networks, one really wonders where this isolation will lead. Will new cultural patterns change the nature of man?
But in the ruin of his memory, the artist has found a celebration of sculpture to mark these times gone by. In this, del Castillo also creates a hierarchy of values: Closer contact with people is better than any newfangled technology. As a young father, the jackstones are symbolic of reverence for family life, which also reflects on his eclipsed childhood now regained in wisdom through legitimate life events with his kids. In the symbolic order, money is nothing but comfort, domestication is bliss, and love conquers all. This life game is open-ended to many possibilities, just like the joy and friendship that may be cemented through a play of jackstones. Such a game may soon be forgotten like the patterns of life that slip away because of newer takes on old games. Del Castillo, therefore, asks: Has humanity really progressed from what we were in the past? He has found some answers: Don’t treat life as a game that separates the differences between losers and victors. Games were made to instill community, not alienation. Love the individual, but don’t forget the people. Remember that the power of society to agree on what is art creates art.
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Anton del Castillo’s A Child’s Memory is on view at the Ateneo Art Gallery until May 2015. The gallery is open weekdays from 8 am to 7:30 pm, and on Saturdays from 8 am to 6 pm.