Depicting hell through skateboarding culture

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BRONTË H. LACSAMANA

JAPPY AGONCILLO — BRONTË H. LACSAMANA

BRONTË H. LACSAMANA

THE STRUGGLE of following one’s dreams makes the journey seem like hell, but that doesn’t mean it has to be bleak.

For artist and illustrator Jappy Agoncillo, 10 years of being in the creative industry culminated in a solo exhibit that depicts hell in a vibrant manner, influenced greatly by skateboarding culture. In it, his two original characters, Dante and Juan, traverse the inferno, portrayed in paintings, skateboards, ramps, and merch.

Most of all, the deeply personal show posits that hell is something you make peace with to see it through.

“One of my favorite books is Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, so I thought it would be very cool to name a show after that, also because of the story behind it,” Mr. Agoncillo told BusinessWorld.

“The show is about going through hell to get to heaven on the other side. I like the idea of that because I’m a career person, and I’ve based a lot of my decisions on how can I keep moving forward,” he explained. “It’s a journey through hell to find what I’m looking for, and I’m not really sure what that is yet.”

THE BUSINESS OF MURALS
It was in 2016 when Mr. Agoncillo began his career, taking on small commissions and painting commercial murals to make extra income as a college student. In the 10 years since his first mural project, he has amassed a client base that includes the likes of Adidas, Playstation, Nickelodeon, Sharpie, and the New York Giants.

He has participated in gallery shows and created murals in cities like New York, LA, Chicago, Melbourne, Singapore, Toronto, and Mumbai.

In 2023, he moved to New York City through an O1 work visa, and has since been splitting his time between New York and Manila.

“I did start doing art for money, doing murals for malls, food halls, food parks, milk tea shops, burger joints, everything. I treated art like a business. It goes hand-in-hand because I’d make money from a project and invest that into better materials so that I could keep making more art,” Mr. Agoncillo said.

Now, with Inferno, which is his 4th solo exhibit ongoing at Space Encounters Gallery, he views his client as himself.

“It does feel more like a passion project because you’re doing it all for yourself. I’m very used to working with companies, with brands, and clients, but in the art world, they want to see you. You have to think about what you want,” he explained.

STREET ART AND SKATEBOARDING
While the pieces in Inferno feature cartoon wolves and splashes of bright color, the exhibit tackles themes of struggle and identity in the setting of an absurd hell.

Mr. Agoncillo developed everything over the span of four months, but the wolf character representing himself, Dante, has been around for a long time.

“I created him as sort of like a graffiti thing. It was just something to paint on the walls,” he said, “But also, I resonated with the idea of a lone wolf, as edgy as it sounds. I was about 20 years old [then].”

In street art, it’s common to be part of a crew or a collective, but since he was working alone, the character easily represented the artist. Later on, as he matured, the character started to represent “hunger and ambition.”

It was skateboarding that was Mr. Agoncillo’s first love, however.

“It’s a sport you do by yourself. I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, and skateboarding was something no one else was doing, so I tried it. I was about eight to 10 years old. From there, it evolved to the culture of skateboarding, with the art, the music, the lifestyle,” he said.

It became his whole identity for the next decade. Now, when feeling stuck in a project, he watches skate videos or plays video games which give him a sense of nostalgia and jogs both memory and creativity.

The pieces in Inferno include a wide range of skateboarding items, like painted ramps, skateboards, shirts, and Tech Deck fingerboards.

It is Mr. Agoncillo’s way of keeping the culture alive. As for what’s next, he said that his journey remains an ongoing hell, simply because he’s “always moving the goalposts for where heaven is.”

“Inferno, the book, if you’ve read it, is very depressing. But imagine if you’re enjoying the journey. If you’re these two characters, if you knew that at the end of it, you’ll get what you want, you’ll be optimistic and enjoy it,” he explained. “It’s really about following your dreams, and following it to the very end.”

Jappy Agoncillo’s Inferno is on view at Space Encounters Gallery on the 7th floor of the Padilla Building in Ortigas Center, Pasig City, until April 10. — Brontë H. Lacsamana