Anyone who gets to see the creations of Iyan de Jesus would not easily dismiss this twenty-something young artist who unabashedly admits that she was self-taught. Instead of being turned off by the cold unemotional appeal one would expect from an artist whose work is influenced by Steampunk – that sci-fi sub-genre where elements of technology and aesthetics combine to evoke the 19th-century industrial era where the steam powered machinery reigned supreme – one is drawn to the sylph-like cyborgs with their curiously soft and human expressions.
A former architecture student, Iyan learned the basics of painting through sheer persistence, going through a series of trials and errors when she took a break from the world, cloistering herself inside her room and drawing nonstop for almost two years (2009 and 2010) before she felt confident enough to emerge from her cocoon.
“I tried different types of mediums, from watercolors to pencils to oils, and then by early 2010 I managed to discover my own style. That’s also when I felt this sort of self-satisfaction and I knew I had to take [painting] seriously from there on.”
Back then, though, she had no idea how to showcase her work. “I had no connections whatsoever in the local art scene so I told myself I’ll just keep doing my thing until they find me. I was actually scared they wouldn’t. Luckily they did in 2012,” she laughs. Indeed, 2012 proved to be her breakout year when she took part in a series of Group Art shows (“Volition and Stability,” “Iconopop,” “PMS”) at the Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery and the Collective in Makati.
Her focus on details plus the geometric compositions, clean lines and smooth surfaces are evidence of the training she had in architecture, “a great advantage when it comes to developing my style,” she avers, adding that she really appreciates it when people try to focus on the details she painstakingly puts in her paintings because “that’s where the stories are written. I also want them to feel like they are part of the world I created,” she reveals – a world suffused with techno-fantasy in a kaleidoscope of colors where each element has a meaning, and no object or detail is placed by accident or at random.
“My most recent artworks were mostly inspired by stories – some I made up while others were inspired by the books I read or stuff I experience. I often focus mainly on things or thoughts that I am fascinated about, and then I let that moment of fascination linger until I’m ready to put it on canvas,” she discloses.
“I’m a hard worker; I take pride in all my struggles and all the hard work I put in my art. I’m a bit of a workaholic actually so I guess one of my most satisfying moments is when I’m looking at my paintings, and I tell myself that I’m a person who risked her own health to finish all of it. I really wanted to write stories, but words aren’t my thing so I’m really glad [that] at least I know how to paint,” Iyan shares.
But then again, what’s that saying about a picture that paints a thousand words?
