Trouble (+truth) in Pagaduan’s paradise

Just when you think you (sort of. almost?) finally have it all figured out, everyone’s suddenly just a pawn piece. Even in paradise.

Tad Pagaduan looks at life on Earth as one, big, paradox. There’s an unsettling coexistence of the beliefs about the innate goodness and benevolence of all things—and the fact that natural born killers exist, or are planted “allegedly for the greater harmony”, as Pagaduan puts it. Through 26 pieces of conceptual, mostly monochromatic alphabet “flash cards”, he reminisces the sheer, childlike pfffwoaaaah moment of first discovering the existence of animals, dinosaurs and other living forms we still continue to dig up and learn about that sometimes makes humanity wonder about its true place in the cosmos. No one gets to pretend to sit on top of the food chain forever.

The straightforwardness of the artist’s chosen format lets your eye wander over the mindplay behind each framed image. Some have generous hints of sarcasm, some read like inside jokes, some like traumatic glimmers pulled from the recesses of some dark past. Like a scale model safari maker, he paints a classical eden-like landscape, complete with hubris and some form of paradise that talks more about its participants (willing or not) than the place (don’t they say that bricks don’t make churches, people do)?

The artist’s fascination with his chosen themes—nature and wildlife—give a glimpse into the open-faced brutality, humor, and honesty he finds fascinating in the natural world and its inhabitants, man included (the ultimate ironic beast). Through mismatched image-to-text or image-to-context pairings and abrupt pops of color, things make better sense somehow.

At what and whose cost will it take to tip the scales towards “greater harmony”, though?

(—apparently a tale as old as time.)

-Nikki Ignacio