Imbibing them of their natural karmic colors, coherent strokes and good intentions, the artworks of Marc Salamat revisit his fun-filled childhood as he purposely dedicates his second solo exhibition, State of Flow, to Terence Astro, his three-day old son whom he lost last October while preparing for this. Instead of mourning, Salamat has constantly processed his sheer creativity and to all complimentary things emanating from it as these are witnesses to what Terence Astro may have experienced had he lived long and fully.
With much of modern-day distractions plaguing our fast-paced lives, the 33 year-old Salamat is relieved to look back at his wonder years to survive his daily struggles as a visual artist wrought by bouts of depression and while we are still hurdling in this ongoing covid pandemic. In reminiscing being a 90s kid as his artistic focus, Salamat waxes sentimental this time, shifting inward as evident in Pure Happiness espousing deep joy about what it meant to be a boy charting his own destinies in a small town of Hagonoy, Bulacan.
In State of Flow, Salamat reprises even deeper to his most favored themes and the lost joy of Filipino children’s games. Capturing almost ten years of his early life roaming freely the unadulterated skies at the open fields or in the crowded streets with his friends. Early on, as soon as he would wake up, without fail one would find Salamat busy playing or enjoying solitude such creating music through a leaf as seen in Harmonic Nature. Salamat was responsible even while having fun. He often tagged along farming in the rice fields or spend weeks on a boat with his fisherman-father, he would help out his family by selling suman and bananaque in the neighborhood.
As the wind gushes towards his face, he feels he is on top of the world or even one with the clouds in Filled with Awe as he once trekked at the peak of Mt. Ugo in Benguet. Looking up to the big sky, one is grateful for the gift of redemption as Salamat appreciates the heavens–exaltation to the most high.
Evident too in flight is Alitaptap as one assumes immortality as a glowing cricket. It epitomizes as it surges loose to what these memories may evoke as he thrives to actuate their fateful occurrences on his canvases.
By the time he was painting these scenes, his old self with glee came rushing in. How Salamat missed his friends in Tagu-Taguan seeking to capture the ties that bound them in friendship. A typical work for Salamat is children at play like this. He captures their movement to the point that some of their physical appearances vanish as the whiff of colors appear. Their laughter hid their fears, what did not scare them made them stronger. We are what we were then only to go our own separate ways. We just grew taller, grew bigger and maybe wiser.
Showing Salamat’s softer heart is Precious Possession and how it could translate to the immense feeling of owning a new toy exudes happy smiles. Like parables, the message is simple and meaningful: what children want may not be a good and comfortable life but affection from a parent or being able to play freely.
Salamat does well in blending the child’s innocence in Gulong as he recalls the rudiments of the simple yet fulfilling act he demonstrated in the streets of Hagonoy. In Sipa and Luksong Baka he mixes the power of realism with an artistic sensibility that is not too forceful yet you know that you should be on his side. What distinguishes Salamat is his adept sense of composition, his musicality in his brushstrokes as he sees how his work would be flowing in rendition. Midnight Enchantment is loaded with meaning you never really knew what he was telling, you just know it differently and wonderfully—the beauty of nature at night. Simple strokes bring home his thoughts. Salamat’s brilliance is in the details like letting some of his paint freely drip, usually magenta, green or any color so one can see the contrast. He splats on some of his pieces giving it fresh feel of the paint. Notice how Salamat plays with the details by employing the complex concepts like love, peace, humility, and hope layered in an ethereal manner.
In 2017, Salamat was abruptly devastated as he suffered bouts of depression, it was Ayahuasca that saved him. Using the seven colors of chakras, Salamat’s paintings depicts his deep feeling countering this extreme pangs of loneliness. In 2020, marked by the covid pandemic as he and his wife were experiencing marital bliss they lost their son, Terence Astro, barely surviving only for 3 days in October. In State of Flow, Salamat teaches us what course of positive action to take or how to appropriate we live and what we could learn from our everyday struggle. As Salamat was painting all these he was imagining his son to relive his destiny as a child in a parallel universe where they are all together once again as a family.
Samadhi not only reflects Salamat’s other passion—meditation–but how he uses intense concentration in the kind of determination in the artistry he espouses. Six freshly sculpted toys with varying degrees is evident that his creativity is immense and he is at his utmost prowess.
As children mature at an early age they lose their childhood and being child-like forever. In Kuya, Salamat also pays tribute to his elder brother who once carried him during a flood. He never forgot his good gesture.
With figures predominantly in almost kaleidoscope in hues, with the vein-like reflecting his vulnerability Salamat allows you to escape time or better yet he simulates you in his time. These were the moments Salamat could dream his dreams.
As December ushers the start of amihan, bringing coolness in the breeze, Salamat recalls they would even extend up until the wee hours of the morning come yuletide season. Despite having the freedom from above one opts to be spared from gory and even gruesome setting we may not see but be witnesses to. Although Calm is a self-portrait in restraint and patience, Salamat opts to cover his vision in the presence of inevitable bi-polar negative and positive vibes. There is always the silver lining where the rainbow celebrates the brightness of a new tomorrow.
As an active member of Art Zoo and Hagonoy Art Group, the brilliance of Salamat is how he conceals his intents and purposes to his creative devices appointing his viewer the subliminal connotations to his meanings. Mentored by printmaker Fil Dela Cruz, senior artist Nilo Badajos and Welbart, Salamat favors stillness by incorporating contemplation to subvert the brutality of living. Only Salamat can paint children as softer but fiercer in stance–he paints their soul and that has made the difference.
Salamat has always kept his ear to the ground as to what his purpose and to whom does he make his art for. In State of Flow, he is fulfilled in being considered the last generation who learned to play in the streets. Those were summer spent without ipods, Cartoon Network, Twitter and Facebook but he was pleased as unraveled in these latest works.
With gadgets kids these days are losing their motor skills, or just being in touch with the earth. Even with the recurring theme of combat and violence in media, Salamat’s realism may not be as political as social but they imbibe empathy by examining your senses as he bares his soul to a maximum reality in his son’s loving memory.
