After Mirth

Lorena Ruiz Santos

Every once in a while, a ferry leaves for 2012. It is a dark and distant land where lost dreams are reborn. Passengers are often asked to bring one thing, one thing only, that they wish to bring to this land. They must choose well, for it is a one-way ticket. Often, they carry souvenirs from the past to remind themselves of what to retrieve from this world. No one knows if any of it bears truth. They take their chances and board the ferry.

The clock strikes midnight. The passengers are ushered into a new era of recovery as much as discovery. Cheer is splattered across the grids of a city. A dancer, a petal from a day-old rose, leans backwards to catch morning sun. A woman with a green thumb unearths a shipwrecked piano from the day’s psalm. Weave and legend unravel from their quilt. Flowers preserved from an in between season thrive in their bottles. One mountain refuses myth and history, reclaiming its majestic mystery by daylight. Color bursts the way a voyage dream does, takes the place of rain. Three women paint their lips red, play their strings, play on until they are neither angels nor troubadours. A man leads another man in the true history of tango.

What is your story and what did you bring?

“I am a dancer. I was much better at it in my youth but I just love to dance. I make dancer sculptures to capture the vivid moving scenes etched in my mind.”

Ferdinand Cacnio brought dance. For him, a piece of sculptural work can capture a singular moment for eternity. He is fond of depicting excerpts from the dance with metals which he admits are too tough for this subject, but he is an artist who knows his materials well. He attributes his practical knowledge to his training in civil engineering, and his sophisticated aesthetic sensibility to the influence of his father’s practiced eye.

Jack Salud brought song. Song and serenity compose the pointillist’s main motif. It is his intention to take viewers to a place of tranquility and to generate optimism for the future. His women serenade the viewers to that end, clad in cozy robes, their eyes shut as if in a state of tempered bliss, and lit by a soft glow — every bit about his composition instills a rare senseof peace.

Max Balatbat brought a brothel. He prefers to present the gritty reality in which city folk truly dwell, and how they manage to live a life full of “love, joy and happiness.” The impetus for his work also arises from the need to reveal the true color of the “carnival empire” of his childhood.

Chiqui Rodrigruez brought stars. As with all the other pieces from Nothing but the Stars, Chiqui was inspired by the sparkle in the eyes of a woman reflective of all the love overflowing within. She dedicates the whole series to every woman who shares this vision.”The easiest way for me to describe women is to compare them with songs and melodies that inspire us, give us feelings of melancholy, give us feelings of joy.”

Justin Nuyda brought a mountain. From his series of Mindscapes, he continues to capture in panoramic splendor the essence of private, otherworldly interiors. He brings the earthy to a more ethereal plane with Mt. Kitanglad.

Daniel dela Cruz brought a woman inside a piano. My Soul Finds Rest is based on an inspirational song in praise of God. According to dela Cruz, this piece illustrates “the deep spirituality within every woman.” The woman becomes the piano and its psalms and hymns. She and the music are one in his vision.

“I believe I have started to understand my subliminal thoughts through ink on paper. Though I may not fully understand how these thoughts happen, I just let them reveal themselves. I believe that through my art, I can communicate with my audience’s dreams and memories.”

Have you found what you were looking for?

The passengers sift through their sacks, with some still intently searching for their totems. No one can glimpse if this land’s promises bear any truth but like clockwork, the ferry leaves the dock with its hopeful travelers.