Somber Season is upon us

Somber Season is Kiko Capile’s new series of pen-and-ink portraits on watercolor paper created within February to June 2021. In May, the concept was loosely named after toying with the words “summer” and “somber” in reference to the concurrent season, and how the two words capture how this period is both just that: alarmingly hot, but also giving way to the cold and melancholy—both in more ways than one.

Somberness seems to fit right into the profile of pandemic-induced moods, or at least for people who still feel aeons away from any semblance of normalcy. Underneath our respective coping and distraction mechanisms, there remains an underlying ache of longing and mourning over the lives, time, and opportunities we continue to lose to the pandemic—a more muted kind of chaos compared to our initial panic, fear, and confusion at the onset of this ongoing nightmare. In Somber Season, we still see a great deal of that chaos in Capile’s frenetic linework: flesh revealing a writhing mass of tendons and entrails, ethereal patterns, horrific inner worlds, body horror, and disfiguration. But there’s also a more subdued kind of chaos lying underneath seemingly quiet expressions on the character’s faces and poses—much like prolonged internal anguish that tends to be stifled under the surface, but eventually seeping through the cracks anyway.

Before the show’s concept was pinned down in writing, Capile was already working on ideas drawn from his mindset at the time. But it wasn’t until he began working on “Burn Out” in May when the concept of the series made itself more clearly known to him. At that time, the heat index in Metro Manila would begin to average 45 degrees Celsius, and it was almost as if the piece personified the sweltering weather, the artist’s own bouts of burnout and somberness, and the collective heat and tension of the times.

“Nagkataon, pero sumakto yung inspirasyon,” Capile said, describing how “Burn Out” set the tone of the show. “‘Saka alam ko madami yung nakakaramdam ng ganitong feeling during these times. Marami akong nakakausap na ibang artist na for some reason hirap sila gumawa, yung feeling na inaantay mo na lang bumuti sitwasyon bago ka magpaka-productive,” he added, concisely describing what could be most artists’ shared existential dilemma.

The inspiration would yield a total of 16 monochromatic-and/or-blood-red illustrations, with subjects in pensive expressions contrasted by disfigurements drawn with the artist’s trademark meticulous attention to detail—almost like classical anatomical illustrations mapping out the artist’s mood and mindset, as expressed by his imagined alter-egos. The images are both gutting and graceful, cathartic and disquieting, honest and haunting. Capile has always been drawn to dark and macabre themes almost out of instinct, and recognizes how the theme can be relatable without trying to be. “I get a lot of comments from my Instagram followers telling me it’s them—what they see in my art. Somehow siguro nakakatulong to cope kasi they won’t feel alone na sila lang nakakaramdam ng ganon during these times,” he said, and noted that he always found the viewers’ varying interpretations to be more interesting than a singular, imposed meaning. He also shared how his own personal season of somberness is marked by the reluctance to feel celebratory (or much of anything else) these days, despite acknowledging how the pandemic has opened up bright spots for him and his art. Perhaps a lot of joys birthed during the pandemic are tinged with this kind of apprehension, and Capile’s uneasiness shows itself through his art.

For those discovering Capile’s works online amidst the pretty, filtered, and polished algorithms, they may find his works as either a jarring surprise, or a welcome break of honest pain, terror, and brokenness that tends to be hidden in all-too-polished narratives and success stories. Somber Season continues to tap into this side of our psyche by giving us some visual prompts that help us sit through the darkness, and maybe even nudge us to become friends with it.

About the artist

Kiko Capile is an artist based in Gen T. de Leon, Valenzuela City. After 15 years working as a Senior Graphic Designer, he quit his day job in 2019 to focus on his art full-time. He acquired his degree in Advertising Arts in 2002, but was inactive in his craft until he rekindled his interest in pen-and-ink illustrations in 2016. Since uploading his works to Instagram in the same year, he has amassed a cult following both in the local and international art scene.

Somber Season will be on display starting June 12, 2021 at Blanc Gallery, 145 Katipunan Avenue St. Ignatius Village, Quezon City.

Nikki Ignacio