The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art exhibition catalogue (APT2)

Charlie Co comes from a very conservative family whose sense of traditional Chinese values was very strong. Charlie Co always wanted to become a simple painter, but his late father would hear none of it. Determined to pursue his dream, Charlie Co enrolled at a local school of fine arts in Bacolod, but eventually dropped out. He preferred to hone his skills in drawing away from the prying eyes of his family. In 1981 he met struggling artists Nunelucio Alvarado, Norberto Roldan, Bobby Solmayor and Jojo Regollos, a politicised group who chose to distance themselves from the conservative Art Association of Bacolod (AAS). They co-founded Pamilya Pintura to seek new means of expression using available methods and materials, and to focus on the more important challenge of committed artmaking. This was at the height of the worsening social, economic and political conditions plaguing the entire country. Charlie Co's association with Pamilya Pintura brought a different twist to his dream of becoming a painter. It exposed him to sociopolitical issues. For the first time, Charlie Co was involved in creating murals and paintings depicting the plight of families in Negros who had been driven to destitution. In 1985, prior to the EDSA Revolution, Black Artists in Asia (BAA) was organised through the initiative of leading artists from Pamilya Pintura to contribute to the development and advancement of Filipino visual art. One of the group's visions was to integrate the different islands in the Visayas into one regional contemporary art movement. After joining a number of group exhibitions in various cities in the Visayas, Charlie Co had his first solo exhibition of terracotta sculptures in Manila in 1986. The artist's terracotta sculptures are a successful realisation of his sociopolitical concerns.The raw and rough-hewn qualities of Charlie Co's sculptures express the various states of persecution his people, particularly the sacadas (migrant farm workers), suffered at the hands of the wealthy landlords and the military. In 1990 Charlie Co was awarded the Thirteen Artists Award by the Cultural Centre of The Philippines. This award recognises outstanding contributions to the visual arts by emerging young artists. A few months later the artist's father died. In the end, the old man was convinced of his son's dedication to his art. From 1993 to 1995 Charlie Co held three solo exhibitions which departed from his old concerns and dwelt on a more personal and emotional aspect of his life. Steel life, exhibited in 1993, deals with the betrayal of trust, unrequited love and the pain of separation. Imagine, shown in 1994, is about coming to terms with himself and his recovery from a traumatic experience. Coloured dreams, exhibited in 1995, is about the remembrance of things past, which to Charlie Co is an essential pre-condition for true happiness. These exhibitions eventually secured for Charlie a niche in The Philippines contemporary art world. Charlie Co's works have represented The Philippines in many international exhibitions, including 'Asian Modernism' in Tokyo, Japan in 1995. Charlie Co is one of the very few artists outside of Metro Manila who is consistent in depicting his Visayan roots, experiences and images. The artist refuses to be influenced by the eclectic styles of Manila artists. His style, described by critics as a combination of fantasy and surrealism, allows him to create a myriad of personal and seem– ingly nondescript images that seduce the audience, encouraging them to explore his canvasses. In Maynila 1994, Charlie Co expresses his concern over the transformation of our cities into enclaves of young urban professionals (yuppies) whose ambition pits them against each other in a rat race. A man is shown leaping in a landscape; another man, shown in profile, looks in the opposite direction at a decaying city. Ambitious yuppies are depicted as flying objects, soaring in one direction through the gloomy skies of the city. While the artist was attending an exhibition in Japan in 1995, The Philippines was devastated by one of the worst typhoons in recent memory. He returned to find Bacolod in a calamitous state. Rivers overflowed and countless houses and lives were swept into the sea. Lives and works in Bacolod City,The Philippines Fragile earth 1995 Oil on canvas 150x168cm Collection:The artist The artist recorded this experience in his painting Fragile earth. A big, round yellow object, surrounded by rings of fire, a cyclone-like depiction of the typhoon and men in combat, occupy the centre of the painting. Upon closer scrutiny, one discovers a pair of hands and a man's head. It is a man hugging the world, which is nestled in a landscape of ruin and devastation. To Charlie Co, it is still humanity which can save our world. In The last rites, Charlie manifests his grief over the death of two loved ones-his father and a young cousin who perished in a car accident. The young man on the left has a blank stare and clasps a small painting and a set of paintbrushes with his left hand. On the right, between a forlorn-looking Charlie Co and a weeping woman, is the coffin of his cousin. A bishop, holding a censer, performs the last rites for the dead. Included in the canvas are the artist's symbols of death-white roses, a decapitated snake, two groups of pallbearers, a waiting funeral hearse, the chapel designed by his cousin, three men floating into the heavens and shooting stars falling from the sky.The cycle of life and death is complete. BobiValenzuela,Curator/Art Consultant,Manila, The Philippines A RT I s T s : sou T H AND so UT H- EA s T ASI A I 83