The Muse Beckons

When art commands, we obey.

Fifteen artists, all in their first year in the College of Fine Arts, present their engagement with the muse in this exhibit entitled “Invitation”. The artists come from various backgrounds (three are second degree students) but united with one objective: to interpret a single poem using what they have so far learned, they explore the boundaries as well as the possibilities of art as perception and interpretation. They set out on this task armed only with the basics: pencils (lots of ‘em) and a fertile imagination.

The poem, “The Invitation” is read on several, varying levels by the artists and the succeeding interpretation and execution are as varied. Manipulating (or exploiting) the basic elements of art is as important as their interpretation of the poem.


In Joseph Morong’s “The Conquering of Melpomene”, the poem is interpreted as the voice of the muse and Melpomene, the Greek muse of tragedy (in some literature, of art) arrives as an Asian woman. She commands, with a dagger as threat, a crouching man as if in complete submission. Melpomene is rendered in light, soft lines to give a feeling of translucence and ephemeral quality. This is in direct contrast to the Greek mask of tragedy that represents the self-less, almost sacrifice filled life of an artist as is evidenced in the poem, “The Invitation”, a life that Melpomene calls upon the artist to take on.



Jocel Yabe’s “Unveil The Silence” gives us a peek of the protagonist to whom the muse talks to. She is coaxed, seduced to share her voice.








Dodge Carpio’s “Honey … Holdap ‘To”, this encounter is likened to a holdupper, the muse springs from the dark like a thief but here there is no victim. The encounter is therefore a reunion as the muse chooses her subjects regardless.


This encounter is further romanticized in Jo Tanierla’s “Sana May Superpowers Ako Para Patigilin Ang Oras” where the artist and the muse are lovers. And the meeting of the muse and her artist is remembered because it is never forgotten. She will remain as lovely for him as when they first met.



The muse’s arrival stirs the soul as in the following works where the artist is urged to look into himself/herself.
It can be tragic as in Jazz Gabriel’s “Obliterated Sanity”. Here, Gabriel expounds on the general feel of the poem as one calling for sacrifice, so much so that one is called upon, even, to give up one’s sanity.


It is at one point, liberating as in the case of Cara Gonzales’ “Rapture of the Soul”. Gonzales tackled the fifth verse of the poem that speaks of freeing oneself in the pursuit of happiness. In “Rapture…” female figure surfaces from the sea, a representation of one’s transgression of inhibitions and limitations. With the effective use of values and lines, the image comes alive and the viewer becomes a witness to this liberation.

It is also this freedom that Dawani de Leon’s “Unfolding”, Irene Baltazar’s “Faces” and Maridann Pedro’s “What Dreams Are Made Of” discuss.

“Unfolding” presents us a vision of escape, of transcending the limitations of being human; the paper vehicles representing one’s dream. De Leon presents us a version of the self as being made of aspirations: the self and its dreams indistinguishable.





“Faces” paints us a woman breaking free from herself, showing as though that one is made of both an exterior and an interior with the ultimate objective of coming into terms with what is inside regardless of what is shown superficially.






“What Dreams …” invites us to go after our dreams as a reward of this freedom. The female central figure dances (almost flies) in consonance with her dreams which represent the impossible.









For Ralph Barrientos, dreams can be found in one’s childhood. As in his work, “Tulad Ng Dati”, the artist pays homage to where dreams start, in our younger years when dreaming is more uninhibited, easier.





Anna Mata urges further to live life passionately. In her work, “Roullette”, Mata paints a life where one lives life “skin to skin with the world” and “settles for nothing less than what is real”.











But sometimes, too, there is a tension reaching for the dream and the reality that bounds us. This is explored in Isaac Sion’s “Vindication,” an image of a young man emerging from the dark, in tenebrist style. Technically, Sion wanted to test the limits of the pencil but quite consequentially eloquently spoke of the limits of one’s being: the struggle between holding on and letting go of the core.


Varying as the versions of freedom may be as illustrated above, it nonetheless becomes evident that the key to one’s freedom is one’s honesty, of one’s acceptance of the self. The poem is clear on this as it urges the reader to distill one’s character (“I want to know”, the poem asks, “if you can sit at the center of the fire with me and not shrink back,”).




It is also this honesty to the self that is presented in Paulo Pascual’s “Yes” and Tanya Umali’s “Truth”. “Yes” urges us to look into ourselves as both bliss and sorrow and to accept both but be a slave to only one which is happiness. “Truth” elaborates on this point and advises that salvation does not come from anywhere else but from within.






Sometimes, the picture of what is inside is not always what suits us as in Joseph Morong’s “Submission” an image of a thorn-crowned man, pained despite the hard, almost sculpture-like façade. It represents the sacrifice of both accepting the self and despite of, the selfless offering of one’s self.






A different truth is presented in PJ Jalandoni’s “Love Invents Us”, that of the truth from without or as perceived, as opposed to Pascual’s and Umali’s. The central figure, which is him, is represented as two individuals, one clear, the other blurred illustrating the discovery (thereby the clearing up of the vision) of an individual.














Clearly, the artists in their work tackled the responses of artists to the muse. And artists obey her because they are powerless.

When she beckons, we respond, with our core and try to measure up to her power.