Sleepwalking
by RV Basco
In the early weeks of 2019, my sister, battling cancer, was placed on palliative care. She breathed her last on March 3, 2019. Then, in October, another sister suffered a major stroke. Within days, I found myself at the airport signing documents to retrieve her remains. As if this wasn't enough, my brother-in-law followed a month later.
Over the next several months, I felt like I was sleepwalking, caught somewhere between the state of dreams and conscious awareness. The trauma and accompanying surge of emotions changed my belief system, and found expression in my art.
Losing someone you love is painful; losing two is tragic. Some can cope while others drown in sorrow. Others find comfort in religion. I found spirituality. It gave me courage to accept life’s struggles and taught me that adversity can lead to a higher level of functioning.
This show is about my journey and self-discovery. From religion to spirituality. From sadness and despair to acceptance and moving forward amidst uncertainty. From adversity to resilience. When I learned to accept and let go, I found peace and slowly began to understand the purpose of life’s challenges.
“The homecoming”
Acrylic on canvas, 36x24 inches
Nothing fosters empathy and unity like witnessing the passing of people you love.
Just before Christmas and without a plan, I started painting a boy on a rocking horse floating out the window. I kept adding things that did not make sense. It was only when I stepped back that I saw what was happening.
Subconsciously I was paying tribute.
“Awakening”
Acrylic on canvas, 36x24 inches
Over the past year, even as I continued with my art-related commitments, scenes of my two sisters - one gasping for breath, the other in postmortem condition – constantly flashed in my mind, looping like a broken tape recorder.
I also learned of a family of Muslims elsewhere in the world who was experiencing the exact same thing. A mother of five was mourning the deaths of her two daughters. She had buried them one after the other.
My religion tells me that unlike my sisters, those two innocents would have no chance of redemption because they did not receive the sacrament of penance. I realized that I could not accept such an outcome. I simply could not believe that the journey to our Creator requires exclusivity.
A more inclusive sprituality began to awake in me. From then on, this realization began to inform my work, manifesting as religious symbols, women in baroque fashion, fishes with human heads, and angels dressed in Hijabs.
“October”
Acrylic on canvas, 36x24 inches
For a long time, even after my first sister's passing, I could not cry. I remember relatives telling me that my art was or would be inspired by the loss of my sisters. I found this difficult to accept, believing that there was something wrong in gaining something from such a traumatic loss.
For reasons I have yet to comprehend, the tears only came in October when my second sister suddenly followed. My eyes felt like a dam that had swelled and burst. The tears brought relief and continued realization. I came to understand that things do happen for a reason. My art cannot help but be influenced by my experiences. When I learned to accept and let go, I found peace and slowly began to understand the purpose of life’s challenges.
I now accept that experiences, no matter how pleasant or painful they may seem, are there to help us achieve our life’s purpose.
“Limbo of the infants”
Acrylic on canvas, 36x24 inches
April 2020. The difficulties of 2020 outweighed those of 2019. The virus does not choose and does not discriminate. All we can do is to try to stay safe and stay connected. Most of us now stay at home and away from each other. And yet, I find myself keeping more in touch with friends and families.
Still, there are many things we cannot control. We are like abandoned hatchlings. We try to stay alive, but our fates are really not fully up to us.
“Sails and signs”
Acrylic on canvas, 36x24 inches
June 2020. People have come out of their homes only to find themselves going back in.
To touch and embrace in its purest form are now seen as taboo.
We are told what we can do and cannot do.
“The warning”
Acrylic on canvas, 36x24 inches
Is this pandemic a lesson or a warning? We have to do better - if not for us, then for our children.
If we can lock down our economies in the face of Covid-19, then there is no reason why we can't make similar sacrifices and hard choices to deal with the generational challenge of climate change.
It is easy to see the problem, and yet the problem persists, precisely because we aren't prepared to make and follow through on the difficult decisions. I myself am guilty. There are many things damaging to our planet that I cannot let go of.
We all process differently. We are all different persons, and yet we are all the same. We all have our trials and tribulations. As if life were not hard enough, we are now collectively sharing the disconcerting experience of a pandemic.
For now, this series ends here. I am now able to look back on all that has happened, and ironically appreciate it for what it brought - some time to reflect, some time to change. The change may not be enough, but I am now able to move forward and hope that all is not yet too late.
About the Artist
RV Basco (b. 1970) is a self-taught Visual Artist. His passion for drawing came late in high school when a friend introduced several underground comics from the 70’s. He was highly influenced by French artists Moebius, Bilal, Philippe Druillet and British illustrator Ian Miller. He took up Industrial Design at the University of Santo Tomas College of Architecture and Fine Arts.
After college, he managed his own company, designing and manufacturing furniture. But the love for art never left and through the years, when time allowed, RV would actively seek opportunities to learn to paint. It is a passion that has now fully taken hold, as RV made the deliberate decision to transition from business to become the full-time artist that he is today.
“Sleepwalking”, consisting of new works that emerged out of tragic loss and profound realization, is RV’s 8th solo show, and is yet another step in his continuing growth and development as an artist.