Pilipinas Street Plan
(PSP) is one of the most active communities of street artists in the
Philippines. I met up with a member and coordinator of the group, Aljoe “Jood”
Noda Clarino in a donut shop in Cubao on one Sunday morning, before he was
going to a kindergarten to lead a mural workshop with kids. (Interviewed on
September 29, 2013, in Quezon City, Interviewer: Mayumi Hirano)
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I find it quite unique that street artists in the
Philippines form groups and collective create graffiti. As far as I understand,
Pilipinas Street Plan (PSP) is the oldest of the kind. How did it start?
It was initiated by Boy
Agimat (Mark Salvatus), DEF (Mark Baretto) and Okto (Augie Fontanilla) in 2006.
DEF had an online account where in he posted his photo documentations of his
paste-ups and sticker bombs. The funny thing was Mark B. was a former classmate
of Mark S., so they new each other, but they had no idea that they were both
into street art until they saw each other using their street names online at a
social networking site called Fotolog. Okto met Boy Agimat through exchanging
of stickers, which are icons used by street artists to stick in any surface
like lamp post, street signs etc… They didn’t know each other, but again they were
familiar with their street names and their icons from online.
The three had the same
interest in putting stickers in the streets and making images and tags in
public places especially Manila. They saw the potential of street art as a kind
of empowerment and a vehicle for communication. The three also came from advertising
and graphic design backgrounds. When they had their first sticker
swap-gathering in one of the shops in Pasig, they called the initiative “Manila
Street Plan.” Ungga (Jovenz Mayor) helped in organizing this event, and they
ran an open call through the Internet, and actually it was surprising that many
people showed up to the event and artists from different provinces also sent
their stickers. From this experience, they learned that there were also other artists
doing the same practice- street art, in places like La Union, Laguna and Cebu.
So they decided to call the community as Pilipinas Street plan (PSP) not to
limit the artists active in Manila- PSP acts as a platform in presenting street
art to a broader audience. Boy Agimat was my classmate in MFA in UST together
with Ungga, so this is how I got involved in the community, and now I am active
in coordinating in most of PSP’s projects.
How many members do you currently have in PSP? Are
the original members still active in the collective?
I would say there are about
20 to 25 active and inactive members. There are some original members, who are
still active. Of course when they started PSP, they had a lot of time working
on different projects. As a college student or fresh graduate, they wanted to
try out different things, experiment and meet other people with the same interest. As the time passed by, their priorities changed.
Some changed their careers, and some people went abroad for work and family. For
example, Ungga used to be very active with PSP, but he migrated in Sweden with
his family. He is still doing some mural in Stockholm though. Boy Agimat
founded 98B
COLLABoratory and doing his own projects, Auggie started THE Clothing, and DEF
is now based in Dubai. The more active ones who do independent and
collaborative projects with PSP are Egg, Exld, Whoop, Nemo etc. PSP is very
open and very loose community. We don’t recruit, but they can come and join us
if they are interested.
How does PSP work as a collective?
Our projects are very
spontaneous. Before meeting up with other members, you often don't know what to
paint. It depends on the surface, so we don't know the result right away.
Sometimes you already have an image that you want to realize by collaborating
with others. That’s also good, but most of the time we say “bahala na! Whatever
goes!”
Aside from doing projects
in the streets, we organize exhibitions for different art spaces- from artist-run
spaces like Cubicle Gallery, Store for All Seasons in the early days to the
walls of Cultural Center of the Philippines to Lopez Museum and schools and
other institutions. We also held talks and workshops like toy customization
with Epjey Pacheco, Wesley Valenzuela and Whoop. It is also in a way trying to
educate the people on what we do because street art is always associated with
vandalism. The project at CCP was 2 years ago. It was part of Anniversary of
Jose Rizal, so we were asked to make a mural of the national hero. We worked
with symbols and elements that represented Jose Rizal but in a street and
youthful way. The entire wall was done in 3 days. We assigned each artist
specific areas to work on so that we can just concentrate on certain areas. For
this we had the whole image already planned because it was in CCP.
We sometimes do illegal
stuff too. We used to do it more often when we were younger. Some PSP artists
want to get that spirit again. It’s just like when they get bored in nighttime;
they bike out to the city and look for a spot. That’s what I used to do before.
Anyway, with any projects, we work with the principles of street art – push
yourself go beyond the norms.
PSP also functions as an online platform.
We run an open platform where
people can post photos of graffiti and street art, which creates a big network.
When street artists want to come to Manila, they research online and find our
contact through the Internet. They come; we meet and make a project together,
which is usually a mural. We have a big connection outside Manila because of
the blog. We have connections with UBEC in CEBU, and actually they are the ones
who are handling our website. It’s amazing how supportive they are. The blog is
the online archive of what’s happening in the street art scene in the
Philippines since 2006, you can see the development there. The blog is a big
help in archiving those images because maybe 90% of the works on the streets
are gone.
Through the online platform, you guys have established
an international network of street artists. Do foreign artists come to Manila
to make graffiti? Where are they mostly from?
It’s really worldwide. They
come from France, Spain, Sweden, US and also Russia. Working illegally here can
really get you into trouble. You can try to sweet talk or bribe the police. But
I also know few individuals who got in trouble with authorities but not of a
big deal then. Authorities just think that people doing graffiti are gangsters.
Do you see your individual art practice related to
the collective practice?
In the street, different
people see your work. You cannot expect who is your audience. There can be
positive and negative responses. What’s really interesting is to know that
people, like tricycle drivers or passersby are not really interested in the
arts. You might get a positive response from them, like “wow, it's colorful and
big”. They will give you comments like that. I would get a suggestion for a
mural we were working, “You should paint a Sponge Bob.” Some bystanders can
give us a suggestion too. Some even say “can you paint us?” You get funny
experiences in the streets like that. Working with PSP is fun and you experience a lot of things.
In terms of working on my
own practice I see the relation with PSP especially on my technique. I use
spray paint and stencils when painting on a canvas. I use quick dry materials,
like acrylic. It’s basically the same technique but the size is different. If I
compare working in the street and galleries, of course there is more freedom in
the streets than in a gallery, because galleries have their own directions and
sometimes you have to pattern your work according to them- you need to
compromise. Working in the street gives you more freedom and challenge because
you are working with the public to negotiate.
I think street art is normally associated with the
concepts of anonymous and solitary, but I find the idea of street art here
different. Why do you think Filipino street artists often organize themselves
and work collectively?
For us, I guess being
engaged in street art is not for the fame. It’s a tough game. You really have
to be strong physically and emotionally, keep a good sense of balance, and it’s
important to have friends and network to support each other.
For me, working as a group
also has a certain sense of achievement. If you work alone with a big wall,
it's not that fun. If you work with group, you can spend time together and talk
about art and other things. Sometimes we have to go through challenges working
with the group especially when you are planning for a project, because it’s
very likely that some will not agree to what you suggest. Sometimes we feel bad
but its part of the process. We can’t avoid it. It’s rather a basic thing, but
the challenging part of working with a team is to gather the group to meet and
discuss projects, ideas and future plans.
Do you expect the members of PSP to stay with the
collective for a long time?
PSP members can work with
other groups or form another crew or collective, and you can still represent
PSP. I think even after original members leave, younger members will still
continue as long as they appreciate street art.
As I mentioned earlier,
working as a group is a form of empowerment. If you are alone, nobody might
care about what you are doing. PSP has been influencing street artists to form
their own community, and right now we have numerous collectives and crews doing
their own initiatives in different localities. Before the street community was
quite small, everyone knows everyone. Most of us would hang out at Cubao-X, but
now the community has grown big. Some young street artists say they were
influenced by PSP to get into street art and we are honored by that. They are
doing it in different ways, in their own unique techniques.
PSP just wants to go out,
share our works to the general public and promote each other’s artwork. Each of
us of course has opinion about the government and politics, but as a
collective, we try to make art and use the street as a vehicle to share ideas.
We want to make a mural that stops passersby to look at it. We want to paint
colors in the grey cityscape of Manila and probably change their views about
the city and life in general.
X
Aljoe “Jood” Noda Clarino dabbles in graffiti and stencil art to propose personal
reflection against the backdrop of urban setting. Jood, a graduate of
University of Santo Tomas major in painting, is one of the early members of
Pilipinas Street Plan (PSP). He helped curate and set up some shows for the
group. He is also an art educator in the School of Design and Arts, College of
St. Benilde and Ateneo de Manila Grade School.
Website links:
Pilipinas Street Plan: http://pilipinastreetplan.blogspot.com/
© Aljoe Noda Clarino and the author