Seen in Singapore: Paintings made from National Bookstore tote bags

If you were born before 1996, you must remember the original logo of the country’s oldest bookstore: candy red stripes behind a cursive script that spelled out National Bookstore.

That logo of your childhood memories was retired in 1996 in favor of a plain red background and a more modern font – designed by a Singapore company – but resurfaced briefly in  2017 when the bookstore issued limited-edition canvas tote bags to mark its 75th anniversary.

Those tote bags are now the subject of a 34-piece artwork called Ghost Painting (Cracked Category): National Bookstore by Bacolod-based artist Kristoffer Ardeña.

The paintings take pride of place at S.E.A Focus, an art fair organized by the Singapore Tyler Print Institute that opened last night and will run until January 30. Other Filipino artists whose works are featured are Gerardo Tan, Cian Dayrit, Pow Martinez, Alvin Zafra, Jet Pascua and Gregory Halili.

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Born and raised in Dumaguete, Ardeña moved to Germany when he was 18, and then to Luxembourg, where he apprenticed under several European artists. He eventually relocated to San Francisco to study, with a full scholarship, at the Academy of Art.

There was no National Bookstore in Dumaguete when Ardeña was growing up and the first time he entered one was when he was 15 years old.

“I was in Manila for a few days before participating in a national drawing competition in Naga, Camarines Sur,” he recalls. “The logo is not only iconic; it is beautiful, don’t you think?”

We had a quick chat with the artist about his work:

How did you come up with the idea of using the tote bags as canvas?

My initial idea was to use the plastic bags that had the red stripes. I didn’t know they didn’t have it anymore. I thought I’d scan it and print on tarpaulin and paint on it.

I started asking around but I couldn’t even find a vintage plastic bag. It wasn’t practical. It wasn’t until my friend Remus here in Bacolod suggested I buy their tote bag instead.

So I bought 16 canvas tote bags with the traditional NBS stripe logo on it. I deconstructed it and used both sides of the bag for this painting series.

What was your process like?

First, I painted over the red printed NBS logo. I wanted to play with an optical illusion using common colors you’d see here in the Philippines.

I used Thalo green – it’s a tinting medium that has been used for decades in the Philippines to paint houses and that I usually use in my painting-in-public spaces – and then this deep ultramarine blue for the stripes.

The circle in the middle, depending on how the red is paired with, creates the optical illusion.

This process took a very long time because they are all painted by hand and each stripe is 0.5 cm. Each of the 34 canvases is then cracked to reveal parts of the original printed logo, which you can see, in fragments.

The penultimate process is sealing each painting.

Lastly, the lateral sides of each painting is comprised of fabric that have been sewn into the painting, which enables it to be stretched on wood. It’s a very common household fabric called Chinese cotton which is used to make pillows and that iconic duster that we all know from our titas and lolas.

Should the artwork always be hung as a group?

It is not necessary for all 34 pieces to be hung together. It is also not necessary to follow a given sequence. This gives the collector the freedom to hang as many groupings and assemble them in different configurations according to the given wall space.

So what are you trying to tell us with your painting?

I might go down a rabbit hole with this because I can get pretty wordy. I also don’t demand the viewer to necessarily see it from my perspective anyway.

Instead, I would love to revert this question to the public. I want to avoid being discursive. Besides, this allows the painting to be participatory – which is something I really encourage.

Nowadays, we are so used to looking at artworks in museums and galleries that are conceptually cryptic, and it’s not necessary. I hope someone feels great seeing them, or smiles or looks at the circular pattern with meaningless void.