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Alwin Reamillo ( Philippines/Australia)
Manila-born and Australia-based Alwin Reamillo was educated at the University of the Philippines, College of Fine Arts, Quezon City. He is an internationally-exhibited multi-media artist who has successfully transcended the straight narrative genre that has dominated the Filipino art scene for much of the last century. Producing conceptually sophisticated work, Reamillo uses visually and plastically arresting form to harness ideas about local social history interwoven with his own personal stories. Sometimes interactive, the artist’s three-dimensional pieces resonate with audiences everywhere.
Personally Speaking..
How would you describe your philosophy in art making?
I like mixing and layering different things: discarded fragments, found objects, multiple processes, tropes, contexts. I would say my work is both experimental and experiential in approach. In recent years, I’ve been experimenting with collaborative projects, often involving participatory processes with students and communities. It often begins with a creative proposition, an idea presented to a particular group or community. Ideas would then be developed through workshops. The social exchanges facilitated during workshops often determine the final outcome of a project.
Who or what had the biggest influence on your artistic career?
My late father was a piano maker. I practically grew up in our piano workshop. That childhood environment had a significant impact in the relational way I work and think. The family workshop also functioned as a creative social space with many hands/people working together in the making of a complex musical instrument. Another major influence also comes from the creative community of the Philippine High School for the Arts, a unique secondary school for young artists nestled on the slopes Mt. Makiling. Exposure to creative group work whilst a student has proven valuable in later years, when I returned there as a young art teacher in the mid-1980s. My early experiments were collaborative projects with students.
What inspires or motivates you in your creative pursuits?
I believe that art opens up new ways of seeing, thinking and engaging with the world. And that it can still be a transformative tool for social change.
What do you love most about creating art?
Art making is often like embarking on a journey to unfamiliar places. One often encounters many hurdles and challenges. But one also finds creative solutions, chance discoveries along the way. At the point of discovery, working would sometime seem like a religious experience. It gives you sustenance, a kind of spiritual high.
What is your favourite quote?
Two quotes actually, sort of a contrapuntal mix.
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye,” from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,
and “Nothing is True, Everything is Permissible,” from Hasan bin Sabbah.
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