Ioannis Sicuya

 Ioannis Sicuya: The undeniable urge to create

By Hannah Jo Uy

For Ioannis Sicuya, art serves the fundamental purpose of satisfying his undeniable urge to create. An urge, primal in nature, that burns within his soul. “I like the idea that I have the capacity to create something out of anything,” Sicuya shared, “and it matters little to me whether I'm doing an artwork for an exhibition or a cabinet for our house.”

Initially considered an assemblage artist, Sicuya said that early on he gravitated towards the works of Joseph Cornell and was heavily inspired by the weirdly wonderful books of Nick Bantoc. “Locally, I admire the works of Alwin Reamillo, Norberto Roldan and Sicuya’s evolution as an artist, however, is not only confined to his medium. It is revealed in his artistic approach as well. While lauded for his technical skill and expertise, gained from his rigorous studies in art school, Sicuya’s training in theory, while imbuing his work with a strong sense of sophistication and finesse, led works that were deeply intellectual. “I developed a mindset that an artist has to know his artwork front and back even before he begins the actual process of creating it,” he said. “This approach has lead me to overthinking my initial concepts and causing a sort of creative paralysis for fear that my work would not be "logical" from a conceptual standpoint. It took me a while before I realized that, one, this isn’t necessarily true for every art practice, and two, it does not fit my natural tendencies as far as my creative process is concerned.”

It was during this time that Sicuya aimed to strike the balance between planned, and unplanned aspects of his work, reveling in the process. “Once I know the imagery that I would like to execute, I start production even if the concept is not 100% whole in my head,” he said. “I partly let the work tell me where to go next. It even became somewhat of a signal for me that I made a wrong turn somewhere when I am stressing out and overthinking during the conceptualization stage.”

This process paved the way for Sicuya’s latest exhibition, “Encroaching Behavior”, recently showcased at Eskinita Gallery. Featuring several pieces that are awe-inspiring for their meticulous details, the collection reflects Sicuya’s long-standing fascination for the natural world, particularly the variety of textures and forms it possesses, which he has been substantially incorporating into his works.

Molded by his very hands from epoxy, Sicuya admitted to favouring the medium, as of late and being drawn to its peculiar properties. “I like the fact that there are certain manipulation processes that can only be used at certain times during its curing period,” he said, adding that being so accessible, as it is more readily available in large hardware stores compared to polymer resin, and being more odour-friendly, is an added bonus.

As far as his process goes, Sicuya said that he is currently more concerned with the imagery and the forms that he wants to create than the message or the narrative that he has to relay. “In this process the concerns or the themes of an exhibition I’m working on are in flux up until I have produced a substantial body of work that points to a more concrete direction which the exhibition can lead up to.”

With regard to his latest collection, Sicuya drew parallels between the termites that infected his home, with the similarly destructive nature of human beings and our impact on the environment. The seed of the idea was cultivated following his contemplations and observations on industrialization—a subject of particular interest following reports that agrarian lands surrounding the artist’s home were slowly being converted into a residential subdivision.

“I arrived at this conclusion simply because of my observation of the consequences of the actions of both species,” Sicuya said, “and for me, destructive does not directly equate to a negative attribute. Nature, and in fact the entire universe, undergoes entropy that is neutral of any moral classification. However, I am also of the position that as a sentient species, we humans can choose not to be destructive, not only for the sake of the planet but, to put it bluntly, for our own self-preservation.”