Arnold
Arre at the Crucible Gallery : Filipino Fantasia
by Dexter C. Osorio
May 1, 2000 - The Manila Times
What if...a comic book
illustrator produced works that were good enough to be put on exhibit?
What if... a legitimate art
gallery took the chance on an unexplored genre?
And what if...sales of the
erstwhile comic book artist's works reached six figures on opening night alone?
Arnold Arre, like the rest
of us who aren't accountants, has always been fond of asking "what
if" questions ever since he was a kid. Now look at what it got him -- a
one-man exhibit entitled MYTHOS at the Crucible gallery (4th level, SM Megamall
Bldg A), where 15 of his "what if" paintings are currently making
waves.
Arre has been drawing since
age three, and finished with a degree in Visual Communication at the UP College
of Fine Arts in 1994. He then worked in several ad agencies before co-founding
Alamat Comics, where he now has four comic book credits to his name, including The
Mythology Class,
their current bestseller.
Although none of Arre's
paintings will ever be mistaken for a Malang or Amorsolo, there was still
something about them that made Crucible Gallery co-owner Sari Ortega pause when
he came across The Mythology Class while browsing in Comic Quest.
"I saw that the covers
were painting quality," Ortega said. "And when I found out that all
of it was original -- that none of the images were computer generated...I
realized that this was real art."
With Ortega's realization
came Arnold Arre's big break, and the rest, as the ysay, is (fantasy art)
history -- a first for the artist, the gallery, and the genre.
Artsy Fantasy
Fantasy art developed as an
offshoot of fantasy literature (fire-breathing dragons on the cover reassured
buyers that the book is not about calculus). It was made to complement fantasy
writing and fantasy gaming, and came to be found on the covers of fantasy
novels, within the pages of Heavy metal Magazine, and as adjunets in TSR's
Dungeons and Dragons
role playing games, to name a few.
Since fantasy art deals
with make-believe subjects, it naturally veer toward realistic and
supra-realistic rendering, since the whole point is to make fantastic
characters believable.
Japanese animators, for
their part, have popularized a distinct rendering style that lies somewhere
between out-and-out realism and Saturday morning cartoons -- it is
characterized by idealized proportions, charming characterization and a
painstaking attention to detail.
Although the genre's
following has traditionally been literate adolescents and prepubescent
schoolchildren, the development of fantasy writing and the emergence of
top-caliber artists consequently attracted a more mature and discerning
audience. (Comics are now called graphic novels, and rightly so - plot,
characterization, and storylines have ceased to become juvenile, while the art
has transcended the soullessness of pencil-ink-and-color illustrations).
The recent emergence of
artists like Bisley, Moebius, and Elmore (not to mention hordes of Japanese
masters like Yukito Kishiro and masamune Shirow) has further helped popularize
fantasy art and bring it closer to mainstream acceptance.
Hip-hop manananggals and
texting cherubs
Arre's vision of Filipino
mythology is far from the usual textbook illustrations of menacing monsters and
shadowy ogres. it shows engkantos playing piko, tikbalangs waiting for a ride,
higantes strolling in a field, and supernatural beings glibly interacting with
mortals in everyday situations.
"I try to find the
fantastic out of the mundane," he said. "We have a colorful culture
and a rich mythology, and I use it together with real names and real
places."
His works are also suffused
with a childlike playfulness - closer examination of Two Cherubs, for example, shows that one of the
nubile angels is busy sending text messages on a cellular phone.
And although he claims to
be traditionalist in the sense that he eschews computer generated images, his
mythical creatures always seem to have a touch of the contemporary - his Manananggal
with Red Hair, for
example, is clad in loose baggy pants (which offer a peek of her French-cut
underwear), a white tank top, and senakers.
Arre uses airbrushed
watercolors, and usually takes anywhere from 2-5 days to finish a canvas.
"I dont think I can achieve what I want to do using any other medium. I
use the airbrush because it's very technical and it's what I'm comfortable
with."
And so, after having evoked
our childish delight (ooh!), breathless admiration (ahh!) ad stupendous
adulation (cool!), what has Arnold Arre in store for an encore?
"I want to be known as
a chronicler of our times...I want to go into depicting technology next."
With his unending "what
if's" and seemingly tireless sense of play, who knows, Arnold Arre might
just pull it off after all.