Darwin Guevarra
With roots from the urban municipality of Taytay in the province of Rizal, Philippines, Darwin Guevarra, known as Japat by most is overwhelming with interesting stories to tell, or paint, if you prefer…
To shed light over the ambiguity, Japat's passion revolves around visual arts, sculpture, painting, performing arts and photography, where most of his skills are admiringly self-taught. He is active in various exhibits, locally and internationally and a committed member of Guhit Pinoy, UAE, Group Artists of Taytay and Art Association of the Philippines.
His artistic aspirations surfaced during childhood with sheer dreams of being able to draw cartoons and movie characters, to learning how to paint. Japat became the Mr. Handy Man of Arts in school where he got his hands dirty and productive by doing projects, and bulletin boards for his alma mater.
After finishing High School in 1996 Japat had no plans nor clue what to do next. Until a good friend named Alvin Anchinges introduced him to an award-winning and passionate artist, Godofredo Zapanta. Godo rescued Japat's momentarily puzzled disposition to become his mentor in the world of painting. Together, Japat and Alvin followed their mentor's teachings in the arts.
However, Japat's parents persuaded him to work in a factory instead to have a secured income, but rather he worked as a visual artist, and later on opened his doors to carving which also earned him a living.
Japat participated in art competitions and exhibits that ended in downturns. The heartbreaks prodded him to stop joining and went back to his work as a visual artist, and at times moonlighted as a daily paper cartoonist and a TV-series dubber.
To help his family, Japat put up his own business of figurine-making, t-shirt printing and acted as trek guide to mountaineers. When lucky, he would find himself on out-of-town jobs, doing backdrops for festivals.
His experience in the art scene flourished and eventually led him to handling mall decors, taking care of its design and layout.
One evening when his family couldn't afford to pay the electric bills and resorted to the use of a lantern, Japat saw his silhouette in the dusky room. This incident prompted him to resume painting where he sketched his own shadow using water color – an awakening that made him want to join the Group of Water Color. He passed his portfolio, but was rejected, as the group stated he didn't put his heart in his works. But Japat didn't give up, this refusal made him more relentless until he found his niche in watercolor and was labeled as an Impressionist – later on the group embraced him as their member.
What triggered Japat to get his hands on mixed-media occurred when they had no money to pay for electricity again, he strolled in the dark night and caught sight of the electric meter in which he saw images of people in it. Japat rushed home and sketched the image from his mind. From this evolved his concept on 'System of Humanity', because for him the answer to their electricity problem is the electricity itself; believing that a solution to any crisis is to face it and use it in a pragmatic yet resourceful way. True enough, this artwork on electricity won him his first competition.
Japat pursued his passion and joined competitions after another. From 2000 onwards, he started reaping international awards. In April 2004, he left for Dubai, notwithstanding his mentor's reluctance to let him go, saying that his name is still a hot item in the Philippine art scene.
Nevertheless, Japat pressed his luck on this foreign ground and worked as a visual artist for creative companies, and participated in Dubai's artistic environment. Sadly, he found no room for his style here since the culture is much different from his hometown. Still unrelenting and filled with inspiration from his loving wife Melissa and wonderful kids, Mico and Mac Mac – who are all amazing artists themselves, Japat acquainted himself with the local picture gradually and indefatigably until he penetrated his way in.
On top of participating in group exhibits, and photography competitions, Japat made waves by harvesting awards from prestigious competitions such as:
November 2006 – Art of Can competition (Red Bull) – 2nd Prize – Mixed Media category
April 24, 2008 - Sony World Photography – France
April 24, 2008 - Dubai Ladies Club competition – one major award
Then came this big break, an invitation from Tashkeel to hold his first solo exhibit. His theme, Time of Humanity, is a mixed-media concept that reflects on the struggle of life, particularly his own; it depicts social realism, which happens to most people in every aspect of life.
In this exhibit, Japat expressed himself through "surrealism", acquiring a sense of balance from the myriad parts using superficial substance to the deepest meaning of humanity – he used industrial items and his own sculpture that harmonizes into a whole poignant picture, all inspired from his own chronicles.
With this, Japat shares us his own adage, "Dream to fly, no matter what directions may require. For in my heart, I am willing to give my last gasp of air for love and the arts. And as long as there remains a glint of color available, how wonderful it is to be alive. But even if a speck of light does not exist, the will continues to survive."
For more information visit: http://www.darwinguevarra.com
