The face of Manila has changed.
This is inevitable, of course. But some of the most noticeable modifications done in the city and other parts of the country balikbayans and locals alike encounter is the result of the resurgence of… street art.
Colorful, evocative works of art can now be found all around the metro and more people are taking notice. These works have also received a steady stream of media attention for the past few years, stirring the public’s interest and curiosity. To many, street art is a break from the usual billboards or humdrum sights of decay in the bustling city. Mapua Institute of Technology’s Rai Cruz shares some insights about the scene.
The artist has gained a following for his work as a street artist and commissioned works, his style easily distinguishable. Like the artist, many aspiring painters start out with being immersed in the fine arts and the desire to explore its various disciplines.
“Upon entering college and taking up fine arts, you begin to realize that what you know is very limited because you are used to what you do. That’s all you know. Then you see that the spectrum is vast,” says Cruz. “Fine arts is [a] very broad [field]; it’s maddening and overwhelming at first. You train in many styles and methods in visual arts while you’re studying. After graduation, you find a niche. That was the case with me. It was love at first sight with street art. It was primarily because I wanted something more accessible [for] many. When you’re at a gallery, it feels just as though it’s only for the elite. [That atmosphere] wasn’t me. So I figured that I wanted to reach more people. I saw the potential in street art as an avenue for me to do that.”
While Rai Cruz has gone on to tap into other means of expression, such as commissioned murals and shirt design among others, he remains very enthusiastic about street art and presents valuable tidbits of information that will help the unschooled onlooker gain a better appreciation for this particular practice.
With this, he goes into full professor mode.
“Let’s differentiate street art, vandalism, and graffiti,” he discusses. “What we have in the Philippines is closely patterned after the West, given its origin. The scene here is very young. Let’s differentiate the three. Graffiti is mainly letters and is rendered in spray paint. They are usually names of groups or individuals. Those are the main identifiers. Street art is any visual art in a public space that’s not graffiti. Posters could qualify as street art. Works in latex paint and rendered via paintbrush is considered street art. There really is no solid definition for it, but that’s roughly a guide that will help people regard one from the other. With vandalism… you can be a street artist who vandalizes. Vandalism is essentially anything illegal. What street artists aim to do is to reclaim public space. To some extent, it’s power play. Does the moneyed class dictate how public spaces should look like? Should this be exclusive to them?”
Rai then shifts and points out common sights in the metro that have, like street art, caused media stir time and again. “One example are billboards. Companies have money, hence the privilege of putting up these giant ads. If you think about it, it’s like vandalism in the sense that it’s visual pollution. For example, when you ride the MRT, you have no say on what you see. You encounter these huge billboards of buff men wearing only underwear. What if you have a child with you? Do you have control over something like that? No. Simply because there are people who can afford to pay for putting up those billboards. Graffiti, somehow, aims to reclaim space that’s for civilians.”
The reclaiming of public spaces went through a resurgence in 2006, when a collective of artists called Pilipinas Street Plan or PSP began to make art all around Manila.
“It was formed by Mark Salvatus, one of the founders of 98B, a collaboratory,“ Cruz explains. “He’s now an established visual artist. Prior to this, there were already practitioners of graffiti, but they did not present their craft in the way PSP did. PSP attempted to work on something and explore street art. We can’t really say that they are the pioneers, but they did make the scene much livelier. Somehow, the group showed that this kind of visual arts isn’t just for gangsters. In a way, graffiti was “repackaged,” if that term is indeed correct. Media took notice and there was hype around PSP’s work. It was both a good and a bad thing. The scene flourished, but its growth was rushed. Since we started late, we’re just doing our best to catch up. The current scene is still very malleable and is evolving.”
Part of the scene’s evolution is caused by the turnover of artists. “Let’s say I’m a street artist and do a couple of murals. I end up with a gallery and my career takes off. I don’t get to explore other possibilities within street art,” says Cruz. “It would also be good to note, that in this many practitioners of street art studied fine arts. If they get the opportunity to be represented by a gallery, they take it. And of course, they can’t be blamed—they have bills to pay and people to support. As a result, they depart from this mode of the visual arts and new artists start with it instead. I am also guilty of not working on more street art.
“When I was starting, I always worked on a street art project almost every week. I’d find a location and just go.”
Rai Cruz is also part of the Cavity Collective, a group of street artists. Being part of this group gives him an added impetus to work on street art despite juggling many tasks.
The Cavity Collective is very active in making street art around the Metro and in Cavite, where most of its members reside. “There are many considerations for picking a location,” shares Cruz. “A space must be abandoned. Sometimes it depends on the wall. Personally, when I select a space, I consider a wall and my creative process is dictated by that. For example, a wall would have craters. I would end up making an artwork around that, say like something dripping from the craters. I don’t have a study or sketch before executing a work.
“On my commute home, I’d see an interesting-looking wall and that’s when I prepare a study for it. There are also times when I work on something on the spot. The process could be spontaneous as well. Other artists may have different processes, but that’s mainly what it’s like.”
Cavity Collective started as a brainchild of Blic, another street artist, and has been active for the past three years. There are many crews all over the country, many of them formed after PSP entered the scene.
Rai Cruz remarks how in such a short time, there are already indications of how the street art scene has grown and is continuously growing. “This year, we see graffiti artists veering away from the usual styles of graffiti. It’s hard to describe, but they’re slowly finding their own style. Graffitti usually isn’t readable, but that has changed. One example I can speak of is the work of KooKoo. Her work does not need deciphering. For street artists, the practitioners have lessened, but the trend is to work on bigger spaces. The works are more detailed and more complex.”
Also, check out RaiCruz.com
