Taken from my submission diary:

The Inspiration

It was very challenging for me to find a specific art, much more to look for an art from a local artist. Since I do not have much background about arts, the history, and personas (I am a computer science student), it took me a long time to find the art that I will use as a reference/origin.

Of course, my first Google query was “Filipino artists”, but I told myself I wanted someone that is not that famous so my reference/output would be unique, but it was quite a struggle. I asked an artist friend, and her tip was to select a famous artist, but then select a not-so-famous art.

As I was scrolling through the sea of strokes, I forgot my criteria of selectivity. Instead, as I look past each art all that I’m processing is how it could be recreated given the current issues of our country. In the end, this was what I chose:

To be honest, I was very confused as to who the artist really was (and I still am, up to this point). Whenever I search for Fernando Amorsolo’s Tinikling, different arts show up, although they all have common styles.

Upon further inspection, their titles are different but similar. Tinikling (Bamboo Pole Dance), The Tinikling Dance, Tinikling Dance, etc. Looks like Amorsolo really loves to capture the casual beauty of the culture into canvas.

When I was in high school, I experienced dancing Tinikling. With the cheesy memory of friendship and nostalgia comes the pain whenever the bamboo poles grind your ankles like hungry teeth, and the fear of them hitting your feet again.

I also remember the history being that the Tinikling is a dance where the dancers imitate some birds dodging traps of some sort. Upon further research, it is said that the name Tinikling is derived from the birds known as Tikling. It is also said that the dancers imitate the movements of a tikling bird as they dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers to protect their fields (Valdeavilla, 2018).

It just so happened that a some ago, I saw a shared post from a Facebook friend about Bong Go backing out of the presidential race, which became the revolving issue for my idea. First, Bato dela Rosa’s last-minute candidacy, which he then backed out around 5 weeks later, Lakas-CMD partylist placing two “placeholder” candidates as they wait for Sarah Duterte to change her mind about seeking a national post in 2022 (Cupin, 2021), and now this. It’s as if the candidacy is just a game for all of them, dancing, having fun.

Render Versions

Render 1 - Golden Wastes

My initial thought was any of them dancing Tinikling in the venue where they filed candidacy, which according to De Leon (2021) was in one of the tents of Sofitel in Pasay. The environment would be bland, dark, and reddish, as to mimic the known era of the party and all their connections. The dancers would be gold, but would be colored like human waste, one hand holding up a fist indicating the symbol of the current administration, and another hand which had seemingly let go of a paper for candidacy, as if it does not matter much. Moreover, the paper falls gracefully in front of the headless person on the right, as to mirror the candidates’ shameless and blatant decisions.

Render 2 - Circus Models

Obviously, it did not look like any of that at all. The dancers did not look like any of the candidates (I was thinking of copying one of the reference image below), but to my defense I do not know how to sculpt. The environment was extremely dark. The golden texture alongside spotlights and the seemingly red carpet made it look like a FAMAS or Oscars Award, which triggered a dilemma in my head. I asked my friends regarding my dilemma, which then became much clearer.

I wanted to portray something lowkey, as to make the message vague, like those arts with multiple meanings that keeps on being discovered- something that wouldn’t die over time since anything can be a message. But as it turns out, a political art feels off for that idea. To be political is to be certain and justified, and the message should be direct. I needed to fix that, or else misunderstanding will take place; and we all know misunderstanding politics is disruptive.

For the next changes, I imagined turning the whole environment into a circus, a very famous analogy for this kinds of circumstance, mainly because it makes these people feel like clowns- not serious about anything at all. I also changed the dancers from gold to stone-ish white to reduce the FAMAS vibes. With my sculpting skills (/s), I decided to just screw with inflating and deflating the muscles, much like how they are screwing the candidacy (and their positions in general). This is also to create a contrast between the pale and nearly-dying bodies surrounding them.

Render 3 - Stone Clowns

I wasn’t satisfied with the current texture of the dancers, and so I updated it to be more stone-ish, because you know, bato. Hehe. I also gave them a large red nose which is a very common asset for clowns. More camera persons were added to the side to make it look more crowded, as if the dancers really wanted all the attentions they could get. Lastly, I fixed the lighting to make it seem more realistic.

Render 4 - The Red Spotlight

As cherry (bomb) on top, I added more power to the red spotlight shining from above through the fist hand that generates a sillhouette for the headless skinny person holding the left side of the bamboo sticks, for clarity. This symbolizes the upperhand of the mighty towards helpless citizens.

The Art of 3D

I do not know much about art forms, but I believe the two arts are different, since Amorsolo’s Tinikling is made using oil on canvas, while my output is digitally generated and rendered using a 3D software. Since I have no ability to draw or paint, I reckoned it would be wise to use tools at my disposal, and tools that I can use fairly.

I firstly imagined the art just being circulated online, since there are now- more than ever- greater audience on Facebook and other social medias. It would have the widest reach. However, since the environment was made using a 3D software, virtual reality tools may be used in order for the user to step inside the environment themselves for an immersive experience, though unfortunately such tools are not abundantly available in our country due to the cost. It should be nice to have a full virtually-dependent museum for these kinds of arts.

Maybe if officials aren’t dancing Tinikling on their positions anymore?

Final Thoughts

Most of the time, I’m worried of creating arts and outputs that reference current issues, specifically the fact that I might be giving or reflecting wrong ideas, or that people might misunderstand the message of my output; scared that I may not be able to fully defend every inch of idea that they get from it; of people believing my output is purely for clout and not functional or helpful in any way.