Airbrush painting fascinates

LOS Laguna, Philippines¡ªWith only 12 units left, Caloy Gernale had to drop out of college as he could no longer pay for his tuition. Both his parents were factory workers raising four children and he needed to skip school for a year to work in a fast-food restaurant.

His experience, he says, was his inspiration in his art that mostly depicted social ills, however unconventional his technique may be as he uses airbrush on metal canvas.

Gernale¡¯s exposure to the arts started when his father briefly worked as a freelance animator. As a boy, he was also a regular participant in poster-making contests in school.

¡°I loved graffiti art,¡± Gernale says, recalling the times he would end up at the school principal¡¯s office because he drew images on the walls and ran down the corridors with pentel pens in both hands marking a long stretch of line on the wall.

His interest led him to taking up fine arts at the Philippine Women¡¯s University in Manila. Here, he met fellow art enthusiasts.

¡°We frequented art exhibits so we could have free snacks. Sometimes, we did not even know who the artist was so much so that we were congratulating someone and would later find out he was not the show¡¯s featured artist,¡± he says.

In 2002, Gernale was invited to join group shows or art exhibits by the late curator Bobi Valenzuela in Quezon City and later in Parañaque.

¡°He would critique our works. He taught us that art is (a form) of communication. That it should speak for itself even if the artist is not around to explain the painting to the viewer,¡± Gernale says.


His first works, which were oil on canvas, were inspired by what he would read in the newspapers or hear from television news.

One of them was titled ¡°Sniper¡±¡ªa colloquial for illegal street vendors. The painting depicted the police arresting vendors in Baclaran.

As years passed, however, his artist-friends had shifted their careers to advertising or industrial design or had worked aboard.

This, however, did not stop Gernale from pursuing his love for the art. In 2006, he mounted his first solo show, which did not turn out so well.

¡°I thought I had to be different from other artists. Most of us then were doing oil on canvas and I just felt I was limiting myself,¡± he recalls.

He turned his attention to his other fascination which was graphics on motorcycles and cars, and tried using airbrush on fabric canvas.

Discipline

¡°It really taught me discipline. With airbrush, you have to finish the work within a certain period because it would dry up easily. Unlike with acrylic paint, you could leave it even for over a year and simply repaint the canvas. It is also not so easy to commit mistakes and redo it with airbrush,¡± he says.

Gernale, however, still had misgivings and was far from satisfied as his goal was to challenge the norms.

A year later, he tried using metal instead of fabric canvas for his paintings.

¡°I looked it (airbrush painting on metal) up in the Internet and read books. Airbrush painting was not very known in the Philippines. If there were some, those were for car hoods or on T-shirts but not really as ¡®paintings,¡¯¡± he says.

He recalls an instance when he went to car paint shops to get techniques in painting on metal surfaces. ¡°Perhaps they knew at the beginning that I was only there to ask around. They asked me what my car was but I really did not have one. The first thing that came to my mind was a box-type Lancer. They said things like, ¡®we don¡¯t do models like that anymore¡¯ and drove me away,¡± he says.

Gernale says airbrush painting on metal costs more than oil painting on fabric canvas mainly because of the materials it required.

A 4 x 8-feet galvanized iron sheet costs P2,000, exclusive of the expenses for paint, rust-proof chemicals and solvent needed for Airbrush painting.

In 2007, Gernale had a solo show of airbrush paintings on canvas in Manila. The exhibit, entitled ¡°Personalize It,¡± featured his paintings of Jesus Christ on a jeepney and subtle depictions of protests against the increasing oil prices.

He says he got the concept from his experiences and observations while commuting on jeepneys.

In his next shows, his other works showed President Macapagal-Arroyo wearing protective gear which, he says, depicted her immunity from suits.

Another painting featured an image of wrestling icon with details showing mining products being exported to other countries.

Political art

Gernale admits that not all art collectors are ready for the type of political art and the medium he used for his paintings.

¡°Here in the Philippines, what is still marketable, especially among those who have just started collecting, are (paintings of) nude women or those with ¡®cute¡¯ light hues,¡± he says.

But he says he is surviving, with more shows lined up. ¡°I only need to sell my works so I could support myself and be able to fund my next projects,¡± he says.

¡°As Bobi (Valenzuela) once told us, if you were to paint flowers during these hard times, you must really have a big brain problem.¡±