Accustomed to letting casual viewers of his works figure out what they are, Juan Alcazaren plays along with the visual “20 Question” guessing game in his new one-man
Exhibits, Bigger Than A Bread Box. On view at the West Gallery in SM Megamall from July 7 to 19, Bigger than bread Box feature Alcazaren’s latest masterpieces out of collected found materials.
Alcazaren has always been able to find ways in giving scraps, which may include some of his discarded artworks, new, aesthetic purposes. Bigger than a Bread Box does just that. While he has toyed with the freewheeling idea on floor installation, containing the found materials in fixed, two-dimensional areas has given it a fresh perspective. Painting the objects in white allows viewers a wider leeway to see what they want to see. From Afar, Alcazaren himself sees the works as miniature architectural pieces, as if they were aerial shots of cityscapes.
While Alcazaren discloses that he used old toys, old coins, small kitchen utensils, nails, pins, thumbtacks, and other materials that no longer serve their original purposes, he wants viewers to see something new and not just try to identify what looks familiar to them. He painted them white “to remove the history of every object“ he has used, as if letting them acquire new identities as pieces of a whole new composition.
The creative process, adds Alcazaren, was mainly random after he knew which object could be glued and painted on, and at the same time, which were lightweight enough to hold the composition together. To Alcazaren, it was like solving a puzzle, filling all available space with different forms, shape and texture within his reach. The glossy white enamel finish puts some order and uniformity to an otherwise playful process.
Alcazaren also enjoys the spontaneity in which he can create something new out of something old, and loves being surprised at how the finished products turn out. Variety is his artistic lifeblood: Alcazaren has been able to move from one art form to another with ease. It keeps his drawings, paintings, sculpture, and found object installations all the more interesting to watch. He is even planning to go back to exploring animation again sometimes soon.
A CCP Thirteen Artists Award recipient in 2000, Alcazaren took up landscape architecture at the UP College of Architecture.
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