Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Painting the political crisis

Republished from The Manila Times
Menstrual Period in Political History by Danny Sillada
60 X 48” on Metamorphic Rock, 2005
2. Menstrual Period in Political History 2005
Blue, red, and yellow—the colors of the Philippine flag—fill his canvases. He alludes a woman’s menstrual period to the country’s cyclic political turmoil, and he sprinkles it with satirical images to boot.

Former seminarian Danny Sillada has sure found the perfect timing to unveil his political artworks from 1998 to present. Beginning July 4, The Collection will be on view at The Podium in Mandaluyong City.

Included in the suite of selected paintings is the controversial “Menstrual Period in Political History,” a 4 x 6 feet artwork on an expensive metamorphic rock.

An abstract surrealist, Sillada is known for his sensational paintings on anatomical figures, biomorphic forms and the cross. The poet-painter, former San Carlos Seminary formator and faculty member, will also launch a chapbook of poems and hold a poetry reading at the opening of his show.

IN THE BEGINNING and SUICIDE NOTE (FOR SALLY) by Danny Sillada
IN THE BEGINNING, 2004 21 X 16 SUICIDE NOTE (FOR SALLY), 2004

Sillada is a recipient of Pasidungog Centennial Award in the fields of Literary and Visual Arts in his hometown in Davao. He is the author and thread starter of a well-visited forum on the web, dubbed The Nostalgic Idea of God at Philosophy News Service.
He had also written a controversial philosophical treatise on metaphysics The Absence of Fundamental Choice, and other writings such as The Philosophy of Waiting and The Existential World.

Hatching Peace in My Troubled land by Danny Sillada
40 X 30” Oil on Canvas, 2003.
Hatching Peace in My Troubled Land, 2003

Sillada left his priestly vocation 14 years ago to embrace a calling for the arts. He obtained his degree on Philosophy at the Queen of Apostles College Seminary, Davao; his theological and postgraduate studies at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila; and his MBA at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, Makati.