Forever In Debt

Marvin Quizon has been essaying death on canvas since he first won in a national art competition in 2017 and became a fulltime artist. With sheer brushstroke prowess, inducing an old photograph-feel, Quizon unapologetically explores that gruesome defining mood employed with a certain sentimentality in exploring his visuals of mortality. Forever in Debt is Quizon’s fifth solo exhibition, this time, however, he ushers hope with a feeling of gratitude to the present day happenings in his life. For Quizon, to be thankful is to imbibe all the positive energies in the universe-as part of the continuing dual cycle of life and death. Broken Flowers refers to the different kinds of being damaged between the two characters in the picture. A powerful reprisal of his main piece during his first solo show, this time both subjects are seated while still their souls are locked in a tight embrace.

For the living girl, her brokenness is reflected inside as she is alive while the flowers she is holding are dead. There is bitterness in her suffering--as it is a mark of someone who is longing for love. Meanwhile the skeleton boy is dead yet he is holding fresh flowers. There is hope after the learned lesson of longing, as well as, wisdom from the experience leading to what Quizon calls Ascension-where the lovers are finally joined together. In Caress of the Vines and Flowers, the girl eventually exudes thankfulness that flora embrace her being to oblivion. How Quizon does his imagery in seamless bravura is commendable. One enthralls at the morphing as a beautiful spontaneous scene. The emphatic skull has been a constant imagery in Quizon’s ongoing oeuvre. Previously staring at the viewer, it refers to his interpretation to the beauty of impermanence. As current positive juices seeps in, this time in Carpe Diem it has evolved with sunflower eyes looking to a promising tomorrow. Quizon takes a swipe at himself using his own figurative interpretation based on one’s temporal resemblance.

In Solitary Creature Quizon reprises his winning painting in a national art competition. Inspired by the song Tao by Sampaguita, Quizon directly pertains to how like birds we all will perish in these trying and difficult times. In Buried in the Blossoms of Hope, the bird becomes free from its old bad ways. The presence of flowers with white symbolizing purity, there is rebirth for a new chapter in its life. Although there is still pain as the presence of the bleeding wound, one becomes learned from living through it. Quizon draws the bird similar to man as he wants us to fly like this winged creature. In Hope Grows, a flower emanated from the wound making all possibilities as long as we exist in goodness.

From Paper to Canvas, From Death to Life Quizon is old school as he starts everything through endless sketches and studies. In saturated colors, Quizon aims for the stained effect similar to period films. A rustic feels he attempts to give you an almost ethereal effect of old photos have.

An obvious influence for Quizon is his love for sentimental music particularly punk. That do-it-yourself attitude where he resolves whatever life throws at him to just brush up where he fell and rise up. Applying to his art, Quizon paints it loud and in tempered strokes, resolves that life is short that we go with the flow and find our purpose even though we may not understand what is happening around us. Forever in Debt proves that Quizon is capable of seeing the bright side of things. Life has no practice run or preview of it—this is it. That as long as he is breathing and yes, able to create with paint, he will fly amidst the foreboding melancholy. And so can we.