THE furniture maker’s son gathers the unused timber scattered around his father’s small workshop – the discarded remains of the day’s work.
These heavy planks of kamagong
stained rich auburn, bright and vivid chips of narra, and countless other slats
of wood in deep earthy shades and tones, otherwise would have been left on the
cutting room floor to rot or be used for kindling, are collected and kept by
the furniture maker’s son to be arranged in a pile in one corner.
You see, he feels a certain
kinship to retaso and broken things: these scarred pieces of wood with their
grains like heart lines and veins, because he sees in them glimpses of beauty
and potential most people may fail to notice.
The furniture maker’s son holds up the cut up fragments, seeing wings and roses hidden just beneath their surface, just waiting for someone passionate enough to set them free.
“I want viewers to reflect
when they see my artworks and hopefully find snatches of themselves in it,”
shares the 30-year-old Jeanroll Ejar of his first solo show, Retazo.
A devoted sculptor, Ejar has
been immersed in the craft since he was in high school, when he had to work
shifts as a furniture maker at the age of 13 to support himself through night
classes.
Ejar shares he learned the skills at an early age from his father and mother who ran a struggling furniture businesses in Negros which they brought along with them when they moved to Iloilo.
Ejar shares he learned the skills at an early age from his father and mother who ran a struggling furniture businesses in Negros which they brought along with them when they moved to Iloilo.
He had really wanted to apply to the Iloilo National High School (INHS) School for the Arts, but his family didn’t have the means. Ejar graduated from the INHS night class in 2002, but coming up with money for college was another struggle.
“Usually kung mamangkot sila
kung ano imo na-graduate kag wala ka masabat, tulukon ka lang nila babaw
dalum,” relates Ejar, who had to drop out of college, lacking the finances to
finish his degree. “May ara man kami i-offer, di nila dapat kami pag-ilook
down, hindi nga kay wala kami sing privileges nga ila na-enjoy, amo lang kami
ni, asta dira lang kami.”
And indeed Ejar has proven
himself strong against adversity, coming out on top of numerous art
competitions despite being deprived of the education that should have been his
right.
It was in 2005 when Ejar
started experimenting, not just using wood for furniture, but as a medium for
art. Ejar shares that he would cobble together the scraps and retaso timber
around his father’s small workshop, so he could use them for his own projects.
In fact, all of the wood
used for this first solo show of his were discarded pieces and planks,
repurposed and carved into intricate sculptures by the steady hand of a
passionate artist.
Most striking in the exhibit are “Hit Me Love” and “Hit Me Wisdom” – anatomical carvings of a heart and a brain, recurring symbols in the show, tied down to dart boards by kalat strings, rose-tipped arrows piercing them in every direction.
Most striking in the exhibit are “Hit Me Love” and “Hit Me Wisdom” – anatomical carvings of a heart and a brain, recurring symbols in the show, tied down to dart boards by kalat strings, rose-tipped arrows piercing them in every direction.
Also fascinating is Ejar’s
affinity to flight, “Set Free” features several figures behind locked cages and
a lone winged heart that has managed to mount an escape, “Soar High You and I”
with brains doubling as balloons carrying heavy hearts, and “Sow Love, Reap
Love” depicting birds in the air dropping heart-shaped seed to a crimson field
of roses.
But the main piece, Ejar
shares, is his favourite entitled “Fix Yourself” and its zigsaw puzzle man
trying to stitch himself back togethet with a red thread.
“Daw ginakay-o mo imo kaugalingon,” explains Ejar. “Tanan man kita may mga personal nga bagay nga ginaagyan, kung may mga problema ka nga hindi ka ka-move on, hindi ka dapat malugmok, hindi ka dapat mag-stay dira, dapat magbakas ka man para mag-bag-o, para madula ang burden nga imo ginadala”
“Daw ginakay-o mo imo kaugalingon,” explains Ejar. “Tanan man kita may mga personal nga bagay nga ginaagyan, kung may mga problema ka nga hindi ka ka-move on, hindi ka dapat malugmok, hindi ka dapat mag-stay dira, dapat magbakas ka man para mag-bag-o, para madula ang burden nga imo ginadala”
Ejar shares that with his
father’s advance age, the man who taught him his craft, now finds it difficult
to carve.
“Gusto ko makabulig sa mga
parents ko. Through sa akun art nakita ko nga masadya sila, hopefully ang
gina-obra ko makabulig man sa ila”
Retazo explores the
bittersweet aspects of life, delving on melancholic yet hopeful memories of
love and family, playing on the dynamics of the mind and the heart.
“Dapat buhaton mo kung ano
gid ang love mo,” shares Ejar, who went through so much in his life, yet
remains radiant and optimistic. “Obrahon mo kung ano gid ara sa imo
taguipusuon.”
Retazo, Jeanroll Ejar’s
first solo show is on exhibit for the public at the Casa Real Gallery at the
Iloilo Provincial Capitol. It is part of a series of shows building up to the
2016 Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference (VIVA ExCon) to be
hosted by Iloilo this Nov. 17 to 20.
