Basti Artadi on His Art: 'My Main Thing Is Always Vibrant Colors and the Little Magic Nuances'
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Outside of the sweaty moshpit scenes that define his career, Basti Artadi derives pleasure from a special place away from the big stage. He can often be found twiddling away with a paintbrush in his studio these days. It's a (bit) quieter and less violent than the spaces he's been accustomed to in some ways. In other ways, however, it's the same lush creative pursuit he's enjoyed all his life.
"I really don’t have a set thing I do, it’s really whatever is moving me at that time," he says of his art. The Wolfgang frontman's works are part of Galeria Paloma's Art Fair Philippines 2024 exhibition, Un|Tethered. It's a showcase meant to expound on the concept of creative crossovers, so to speak. Artists were asked to reimagine their pieces in new media forms. Artadi joins a roster that includes the likes of Ernest Concepcion, Carla Gamalinda, Carlos, and National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab, among others.
Much like Cayabyab, Artadi offers a musical dynamic to the group. Funny enough, this isn't the first time these two musicians have crossed paths in the art world. See, Cayabyab tells me in a separate interview that he had actually bought a painting from the rocker sometime in 2021. "It was a likeness of me playing the piano in a bar," the composer recalls.
"I think paintings—well, art in general—should elicit some reaction from the person experiencing it."
Inside the artist's studio.
Coincidentally, the National Artist's first-ever exhibition last year, Tunay na Ligaya, was comprised of portraits of Mr. C in different settings (the Cayabyab variations, ha!). And yes, it includes one of him with a piano sitting in the background. Layers of self-referentiality here.
Artadi himself began with portraits, too. Early on, it was those of Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, and other heroes of modern pop culture that piqued his curiosity. His artistic sensibilities have always been there. He was said to have had quite the imagination as a child, soon developing a quiet passion for drawing. This, in turn, would lead him (somehow) to a degree in production design in college.
"My main thing is always vibrant colors and the little 'magic' nuances that happen when strokes and paint lines mix and collide."
Of course, life had other plans. When Wolfgang ascended to the ranks of one of Original Pilipino Music's great acts, Artadi would comb through and relish the prestige of the band's peak. The band was named Artist of the Year and Best Live Performer at the 1996 NU107 Rock Awards, the same year its album Semenelin was named Album of the Year. Likewise, Artadi won Vocalist of the Year while Wolf Gemora was named Drummer of the Year.
In the aftermath of the band's hiatus, the rock star found his way again in front of the canvas. He began experimenting with watercolor and oil around the mid-2000s or so, and never looked back. He was left with more room to explore his visual language then. The rock star even hosted his first solo exhibit Kalat at A Space Gallery, Makati in 2015.
Ghoulish, indeed.
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He went viral after a video of him performing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca circulated online. He had been one of the youngest participants in the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition, which would gather applicants from more than 70 countries.
During the pandemic, Artadi also started the Instagram account @bastipaints for more people to see his paintings. From there, his art migrated to Black Hearts Gallery, an online studio where people go to see and buy some of his past works, including merchandise. Lately, Artadi says he has been working on more Darkness Fell shirts with art done by him and artist Ramona Dela Cruz-Gaston, a frequent collaborator.
He often works with fellow artists and does commissions when requested, as well. "So far we’ve put out a couple of sculptures (such as "The Bad Ass Buddha" and done several runs of his Skeletile series), as well as a few commissioned paintings and some that were purchased off the site itself."
Artadi's stylized depictions of figures, landscapes, and scenes enjoy a certain expressive subjectivity, often rendered in haunting metaphorical images and contrasting colors. The more you think about Artadi's hard rock music background, the more you learn to appreciate his textural applications. The same dynamism that came from the band's precision group interplay is reflected in his compositions.
"My main thing is always vibrant colors and the little 'magic' nuances that happen when strokes and paint lines mix and collide. I always look at the big picture of the painting because that is what most people see," he explains. "But my main focus—and trip—is the tiny strokes and the little paint splashes that go somewhat unintended."
Bad Add Buddhas. He's a sculptor, too.
Somewhere in the middle of all these unintended consequences, Artadi even found himself acting in theater. In 2022, he starred alongside Xander Soriano in Fermata. The premise, lifted from the words of Ysabel Yuzon, is as follows: A revered musical icon dies. His son, Ben, an award-winning composer, is invited to pay tribute to his father through a personal profile. The rocker read for the role of Lex, Ben's childhood star and his father's former music student.
"Stage acting is completely different since you are usually working with someone else's vision, the director, the writer, the producer, and you are there to make that idea come to life," he says. "So you are more confined to what they want, you can give little interpretations and add little bits you think will suit the piece here and there but in the end, it's their needs you are working to satisfy not your own."
Conversely, art presents no confines in a sense. "I think paintings—well, art in general—should elicit some reaction from the person experiencing it and hopefully people get enjoyment from my pieces." An artist is an artist, no matter the medium or the stage, after all.
The good, the bad, and Basti Artadi. Or something like that.
"Plagiarize" by Basti Artadi will be surfacing at Art Fair Philippines.
Certainly, the pleasure in these things is more on the creative process side of things. Artadi says there are a lot of similarities between producing music and art. "It starts with an idea or an inspiration you want or need to convey or express. Once you have that, you just build on it using whatever medium until you're happy," he says of his preparation. "When you step back and take it all in as a whole and the work tells you it's finished, you stop! If I muck around even just a little bit after, I ruin something!"
At the upcoming Art Fair Philippines 2024, Artadi will be showing a few of his mixed media paintings (including "Plagiarize," pictured above) with digital, animated, augmented reality components that he created and executed himself. "Being an artist and expressing myself artistically will forever be in me and will forever be something that I do." With this new cycle, he hopes more people see another dimension to one of the Philippines' great rock and rollers.
"I have shared my words and music with many people, a generation even, for the past 30 years," Artadi notes, "but hopefully this new opportunity gives me the chance to introduce myself to a few more people and, God willing, have them climb on board for the rest of the ride."
The Un|Tethered full catalogue will be on view at galeriapaloma.com upon the official opening of Art Fair Philippines on February 16, 2024.
