A TRUE artist is someone who looks around him and sees beyond the everyday objects and the routines he does. A true artist sees the art in all of these and transforms them into a masterpiece that greatly reflects the world and his subjects through his own perspective.
Last Friday, February 22, 2019, we met the Filipino-Chinese architect and fine artist Bonhui Uy in his first-ever solo art exhibit in Davao City at Tan Yan Kee Auditiorium, Davao Chong Hua School along Sta. Ana Avenue.
We were fortunate enough to have a chat with the 77-year-old Hawaii-based artist whose fondness of watermelons reflected in his artworks.
“I thought watermelon is so beautiful – the red, the black seeds, and the white frame, and the green skin. It seemed like somebody designed it already so I keep using them because I just love the whole composition of it,” said Uy.
Most of his works were made of recycled materials such as old newspapers and magazines, cardboard, shoeboxes, caps, corks, and sheet-metals but done with so much precision and attention to details that they do not look like anything taken from recycled stuff anymore.
Uy started doing drawing, fine arts, and painting as early as 1974 as he was working as a designer for a firm. Instead of throwing away stuff, he thought of making something out of them especially shoeboxes and other sturdier boxes found at home. Aside from practicing his architecture degree full-time, Uy decided that he should do something for fun as well. He said he felt the need for his own space to create his own stuff.
“But I didn’t just stop architecture and did fine arts. I do them slowly as leisure – drawing, painting – to balance between the stressful work in design and a more relaxing on the things that I like to draw,” Uy said.
“I use the things that are close to me like day-to-day things that we see like cars, airplanes, and animals. And also objects like fruits, like if you enjoy watermelon which I do. As for animals, I simplify them. As you [can] see, [I have] some dogs, cats, but I only capture their character not to make it too realistic,” he added.
His exploration of fine arts while working as a designer led him to create thousands of 2D and 3D pieces of work. From 1978 to 1993, he was able to publish four books containing his architectural drawings and personal artwork. His first solo exhibit was in Taipei Fine Art Musuem in 1993.
In partnership with Xue Xue Foundation, he again had a solo exhibit at the White Gallery in Taipei in 2015. His partnership with the foundation led him to publishing a children’s book “Peek-A-Boo! Says Who?” together with his son Bernard Uy who is a graphics designer.
His first solo exhibit here in the Philippines was just January of this year in Chiang Kai Shek College where he graduated high school from.
When one sees his artworks, they would appreciate the colors, the shapes, and the patterns of each work. They would appreciate the playfulness and the fun element that Uy put in all his works. Some of his visitors for his Davao exhibit were grade school and high school students who very much appreciated his artworks. There were also art students who came whom he entertained and showed his notebook containing his early drafts.
But not all Uy’s artworks were for fun and games, he also did a series of artwork made from cut pieces of magazines, newspapers, and art papers. He was inspired by the slum communities in the Philippines, the shooting incidents in America, and the eruption of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.
“Whenever I think it moves me, I would try to do something to reflect my feeling. I hope they will be moved as I am but that isn’t my purpose. I just want to express myself but I don’t try to advertise them broadly but if they discover it, I will be very happy,” he said when asked about his artworks with socially-relevant inspirations.
After having taken up architectural engineering in Cheng Kung University in Taiwan before proceeding to Master Studies in Tropical Architecture in Pratt Institute, New York in 1967, Uy did not stop learning and continued to explore other branches of visual arts. The things he learned over the years he shared in a small workshop while his exhibit here in Davao City was ongoing. They had art teachers and elementary and high school students who participated.
“I am surprised that there are so many teachers and students that really want to see my artworks and do something similar to what I have done so I did a few workshops to share with them and they did a good job,” he shared.
“I always tell them, don’t just use somebody’s picture that’s already done; create your own. Create your own things similar or even grossly different [from your inspiration] but it’s your own creation. So I emphasize that,” he added.
Uy’s solo exhibit, which ended yesterday, February 23, was visited by around 2,000 people during the entire two-week duration.