Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA
IN the beginning, so some versions of humankind’s first parents begin, God created man and woman at the same time. Their names were Adam and Lilith. But they spent their days quarreling over small matters. Among their issues was Adam wanted to be in the dominant position during sex while Lilith asserted that she should have her turn on top, too. So she fled the Garden of Eden with angels chasing after her.
She was replaced with the more compliant Eve. Well, Eve went on to disobey as well, and so on.
Award-winning sculptor Leeroy New revisits and re-interprets Biblical and other archetypal stories in “Garden of Earthly Delights” at Greenbelt 5’s The Gallery, Ayala Center Makati. Set amidst ultra-chic and high-end stores, his pieces, made mainly from the contemporary media of fiberglass, automotive paint, stainless steel and acrylic that give them a newly minted sheen, look like they are mocking the twin spirits of greed and consumerism. They seemingly invoke a line from Ecclesiastes 1:14 about having “seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.”
The shimmering, ultramarine figure of Lilith stands in the middle of the installation. Although condemned and demonized by sacred literature from the Christian Bible to the Jewish Talmud, New renews her by rendering her like a true and free feminine spirit, the kind that won’t submit to an authoritarian male figure.
Scattered on different pedestals are guardian-like chimera pups, supposed to be mythological beasts that are part lion, part goat and part snake. New’s pups are almost cuddly baby hippos in their metallic forms with waves of deep grooves on their bodies.
The artist deftly borrows from various ancient stories and truths (the Bible, the Iliad, even the Filipino aswang in the guise of seraphs), and seeing them all in one place doesn’t create any dissonance. Rather it makes the viewer appreciate the timeless quest of the artistic spirit for the transcendent.
Hanging over the upright sculptures are heads in white. New explained, “The heads are called ‘Martyr,’ a series I started doing back in college. I depicted severed or martyred heads. I saw a sculpture of a severed head of John the Baptist and was quite captivated with the gore so prevalent in Christian iconography. The paper head lamps installed for the exhibit are a collaboration with MasaEco, a company that specializes in handmade paper products.”
Since he left school, severed heads have made a comeback with the popular HBO television series Game of Thrones.
Asked from where his fascination for myths and legends springs from (he has done figures inspired by the balete, by the guides of the soul to the afterlife, by extraterrestrials for which he has grown famous for), he said, “I have been exposed to mythology all my life, be it in the form of the ancient mythologies that we studied in school or the religious myths inexplicably entwined in our daily routine to modern mythologies in varying forms such as superhero animation, graphic novels and sci-fi films.”
Prodded to answer if he believed in ETs, he said, “I’ve never really tried to answer that question. To me, the idea of aliens and spirits or gods and aswangs come from the same archetypal principle.”
New is not even 30 years old, but he has participated in international shows in Japan and Singapore. He won the prestigious Ateneo Art Award a few years after his fine arts studies at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
He has been called by his collectors and admirers as Philippine art’s new darling. But he dismissed such talk, saying, “I honestly don’t feel that that’s the case. It’s more like the challenges have only become greater and numerous. These ‘successes’ are but appearances and minor breathers in between the constantly evolving obstacles to overcome.”
He is also in demand in the fashion, theater and film worlds. He recently won the Philippine Legitimate Stage Artists Group (Philstage) award for Outstanding Costume Design for Tanghalang Pilipino’s production of Ibalong.
At what point do his sometimes hard-edged sculpture and costume design meet?
New said, “The transition to do wearable pieces seemed a natural one since even back at the Philippine High School for the Arts, we were making masks and wearable sculptures. We were encouraged to collaborate a lot with our schoolmates who were performance major so the human element was always a consideration.”
Asked if he could handle a needle and thread, he answered, “I have no history or training in making clothes. I don’t care about trends in fashion. The concern is still creating forms and dealing with materials, utilizing them so the human body becomes an extension of the art medium.”