The Question of Fusion - An Article about an Artist & Kyokushin Practitioner

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The Question of Fusion
Friday, February 16, 2007

Paradoxes and passions in a mixed-race heritage

IT is hardly that young artist Von Eric Ng pushes the issue of cultural identity, though from his works, it seems easily the conclusion drawn. Of course, in a place and time in local art where the question of cultural influence—or, more specifically, the Filipino-ness often associated with pastoral art—is challenged for its “exoticizing” local art and is questioned for how it is defined in local art history, the idea of young artists’ returning to roots, however sincere, inevitably raises eyebrows and draws mixed reactions.


With artists of mixed cultures—in Von’s case, Filipino-Chinese—such inclinations seem even more probable, hinged on the much less addressed issues of mixed cultural identities in local art. Against the canvas of Philippine culture, which, ironically, is itself already a hodgepodge of various traditions and influences, such works seem to reflect more pronouncedly both the cultural delineation and distinguishing fusion of influences and sensibilities. In Von’s case, his rich, vibrant abstracts, fused with abstracted calligraphy and strong textures, are visceral translations of his own mixed culture and identity—identifiable by a very distinctive aesthetic that is neither Eastern nor Western, but rather a constant balancing act between both.

Born in 1976, Von belongs to a generation of Chinese-Filipinos often characterized by a distillation of culture, neither connected to the past nor established in an identity of their own. Although inclined to artistic expression at a young age, Von’s serious explorations in art did not come as easily or as early as most. He moved away from the Philippines with his mother in 1984, spending time both in the United States and Canada. Returning to the country in 1995, he took up Architecture then Industrial Design at the University of Sto.Tomas. Later, he moved to a business school, where he met young artists Carlo Saavedra and Gino Teoseco, who recognized in him an innate ability for painting and encouraged him to pursue his art.

"I started with figurative works, Edvard Munch type of things, in 2001 and 2002, although I felt it wasn’t really me," Von recalls. "Then when I worked part time doing graphics design, I lost sight of painting for awhile—until around 2004, I started getting into abstracts and landscapes and I started painting again." While always having had an interest in Oriental culture and history, which he drew from books and movies with ancient pottery, weapons and armor, as well as his training in martial arts, the fusion of calligraphy into his abstract work only came, quite ironically, after he saw the epic movie Hero, which used calligraphy as powerful imagery and storytelling device.

"At first, the works I did looked almost like a Feng Shui piece, because you could read the words off the bat," Von says. "I’ve since made it more subtle, nothing too straightforward that it might limit the painting." Appreciating the level of obscurity of the calligraphy, Von notes that it is nothing too Chinese, adding also that while he is inspired by calligraphy and even Chinese paintings, his paintings don’t blatantly reflect that, nor is he pressured to create works that are necessarily Chinese in their aesthetics.

Von’s newer pieces, however, actually have less and less calligraphy and conspicuous textures than his previous works, and instead articulate more landscapes and colors—which, incidentally, are strong elements for Von in painting. "I think landscapes are powerful," Von explains. "And colors are very important to me, even the way they work into each other and exist together in one painting."

Regardless of his aesthetic direction, however, a constant in Von’s works is his creative process involving the concept of Zen in relation to his training in martial arts, specifically Kyokushin Karate, which he credits for his transformed view on life and the sense of freedom and state of mind he achieves to create his paintings. "Sometimes I meditate, and I see colors and landscapes that I translate into my paintings," he explains. "Meditation is when my mind stops wandering, stops from all man-made worrying, and is very quiet. I see these things when I encourage my mind to be worry-free and focused and reflective." In training in Kyokushin Karate, he explains, it involves surpassing physical limits and pushing the mind, ultimately, to a point of contentment beyond physical tiredness. "That is the point when you’re really tired and something else takes over to push yourself beyond tiredness. It’s when I’m that tired, and my mind is in this dreamlike state, that I actually see the bulk of my works," Von notes. "When I’m rested, sometimes my mind’s too busy, I end up thinking of too much. It’s really when I’m religious in training that I produce the kind of paintings I really like."

In his current body of works, Von’s pieces most visibly convey dualities of emotion, culture and ultimately composition in its play of structure and spontaneity, boundaries and space, and forms and formlessness. In each of his works, there is consistently the fierceness of his bold, expressionistic brushwork and the wilder impressions of calligraphy against both calm and chaos—inspiring further irony in the former and heavily punctuating the latter.

What ultimately and essentially comes first, however, are strong concentrations of emotions—emotions he draws on to create his pieces and emotions he hopes it inspires in his viewers. In each of his works, paradoxes and passions are gathered into amorphous forms and compositions that capture joy, fear, calm, anger, and other such elusive measures of the human spirit.


Von Ng’s works are currently in his showroom in San Juan. For inquiries, contact 0917-3277334 or email at drlong888@gmail.com.