The purposeful art of a young pop surrealist
By Ron Gonzales
When I ask emerging Filipino contemporary artist Ryan Uy what his greatest fear is, he says: “To be irrelevant.” But looking at the trajectory of his career, this seems highly unlikely.
At the time of this writing, Ryan is in the thick of prepping for his first solo exhibit while working on several large commissioned pieces. He is already set to join a couple of group shows in Manila and an international exhibit in Taiwan. Another online show on his website ryanuyart.com is in the works for the last quarter of 2021. The self-produced online exhibit will be his fifth in just a little over two years, and none of these would be happening if he didn’t turn his back on his former life as a sales executive.
“I had my life planned out—work for the next five to 10 years and retire in my 40s. But following that path also meant giving up on my dreams. I knew I’d eventually regret staying in a profession that would always make me feel like something was missing, even if that job paid well, or gave me opportunities to travel.”
Ryan says he’s quite lucky to know early on what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. “I’ve always wanted to be an artist,” he says. “And it’s something I’d known since I was nine when I received my first watercolor set.”
Finally deciding to be a full-time artist, though, was a bit daunting for Ryan. “I had my insecurities. I still do,” he confesses. “I don’t have an art degree. Everything I know about painting I had to learn on my own. And I’m still learning as I go,” says the self-taught artist.
Clearly, the lack of self-confidence never stopped him from going after his dream. After quitting his corporate job in 2018, Ryan quickly picked up his brushes and painted like a machine on overdrive, eventually amassing enough pieces to mount his first online show.
There is an ancient Japanese belief that your wish will be granted if you fold a thousand origami cranes. And the only thing I wished for was for my father to survive cancer. Sadly, he passed before I could even complete the thousandth piece.
Looking at his archive, it’s hard to imagine that the contemporary pop surrealist who shows such compelling work now is the same artist who made all the watercolor pieces in bubblegum colors three years ago. The transition, he explains, happened when he wanted to be taken more seriously as an artist.
As he took the advice of industry insiders to heart, watercolor had to take a backseat. The change was immediate and apparent. With acrylic as his new medium, biomorphic forms became straight lines. Geometric shapes overlapped, pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle. Dynamic abstract pieces in a more sophisticated color palette suddenly filled his canvases.
These caught the attention of many interior designers who quickly snapped his pieces for their projects. But what Ryan really wanted was to show with a gallery. For him, this meant being accepted in a very unforgiving and competitive art community. The validation came when Vinyl on Vinyl agreed to feature his pieces in Art in the Park in 2018 and 2019. Altro Mondo also included him in its lineup for its Rondo show where he joined other big-named artists like Leeroy New, Jinggoy Buensuceso, and Demi Padua.
The new kid on the artist block was starting to get noticed. Invitations came for him to speak at workshops, judge art competitions, and join group shows. Commissioned works also started to pour in. But just when everything seemed to be going so well, life threw Ryan a major curve ball when his father—his number one supporter and the first person who encouraged him to go after his dreams – was diagnosed with cancer.
Despite being devastated by this news, he used this painful chapter to channel his energy toward creating pieces for his third online exhibit “Nothing Is the Same Again” as an homage to his father. It was a poignant and profound collection that revealed the suffering he was going through. Perhaps it was the narrative that resonated with people or Ryan’s new aesthetic that appealed to the art-going public, but whatever it is, the pieces sold out in a few hours.
“Ironically, my father’s illness and his passing gave me material for artistic expression,” Ryan intimates as he explains the story behind the origami cranes for which he is known. “There is an ancient Japanese belief that your wish will be granted if you fold a thousand origami cranes. And the only thing I wished for was for my father to survive cancer. Sadly, he passed before I could even complete the thousandth piece. I knew I would never get my wish so instead, I used the cranes as a metaphor for my grief,” he says.
Faceless boys also figure heavily in his pieces. “They represent me and many others who are going through the same struggles. It is my way of saying, I know what you’re going through, and I empathize with you. I want to tell them that, although it really hurts, things always get better with time.”
This sense of optimism is echoed in his first solo exhibit dubbed “At The Brink of Dawn” at Qube Gallery. “We’re quite excited. It’s about time he has his own show. I think he’s more than ready for it,” says his manager, JT Gonzales.
Equally excited is Ric Gindap, creative director of Design for Tomorrow, who has been following Ryan’s career from day one. “I probably have over 10 of his pieces, some from his earlier works, which are very different from what he’s doing now. But even then, he already showed so much promise. He always had his own aesthetic. He never tried to copy anyone. I’ve seen him mature as an artist, and I just know he is going to be a big deal in the art world someday.”
Consisting of 18 paintings, the exhibit tells the story of Ryan’s journey of self-discovery and healing as he navigates life one year after his father’s death. “Before, my first instinct was to fill every space of my canvases with origami cranes because I wanted to be reminded of the pain of losing my dad, not knowing that painting them over and over would help me heal.”
Unlike his previous works, most of his newer pieces exhibit a lot of restraint. Colors are more muted, almost monochromatic, with an element of poetry hidden beneath the layers of paint.
Spaces on the canvas are also left to breathe, allowing your eyes to focus on the main subject—the faceless boys, although in this collection, a female character is introduced.
This is also the first time that Ryan gives you a sense of the characters’ surroundings. Here, they wander and explore the city. A lone crane follows the boys wherever they go, which for Ryan is a reminder of his dad’s presence, telling him not to be afraid.
The tone and message of his works may have changed, but the rigor, discipline, and backbreaking attention to detail remain. His pieces have a mechanical precision that, from afar, makes them appear digitally crafted, a remark he says he often gets. But look closer and you’ll see the clean lines, the graceful gradation of tone, and you begin to marvel at the many hours the artist must’ve spent creating each piece. You can tell there is a strong Japanese influence in his art, which alludes to his love for anime.
JT Gonzales explains his plans of taking Ryan’s art globally, starting with his first international show in Taiwan: “Ryan’s aesthetic is very international. Manila buyers like dark, gloomy, and conceptual art, and male figurative works don’t jive well with the local art crowd. So, his works will find more appreciation with audiences who have a different aesthetic.”
Ryan has every reason to be excited about his first solo show, not to mention his first participation in an international exhibit, but he says he’d rather focus on creating more pieces he hopes would inspire many to realize that their struggles will always make them better and stronger. That alone, he said, would give his art more purpose. This, I think, is what makes him more relevant as a person and as an artist.
At the Brink of Dawn runs from Aug. 19 to Sept. 2 at qubegallery.ph. Physical exhibit is scheduled to open tentatively on Aug. 21 at Qube Gallery, Cross Roads, Gov. M. Cuenco Avenue, Cebu City, pending the lifting of quarantine restrictions. Call +63 918 807 4175 or email the gallery at [email protected] to request for a private gallery tour.