The Bicycle Series of Rock Drilon was a 10-piece mixed media collection of Rock Drilon exhibited at the former Fitstop Bites and Bikes from January 20 until February 9, 2018.

Iloilo Art Life is revisiting the exhibit as we celebrate World Bicycle Day. It was originally published in the art section of peoplesdomain.net with the title, Bicycle Series is Rock Drilon’s Exhortations on Biking. The show was also featured in the section In the Frame of the Iloilo Metropolitan Times in February 2018.

Bicycle Series is a tribute to biking advocates 

Now celebrated every June 3, World Bicycle Day was declared by the United Nations through a resolution in April 2018 in recognition of the uniqueness, longevity, and versatility of the bicycle as a simple, affordable, reliable, clean, and environmentally sustainable means of transport for two centuries and used by people in different parts of the world.

In retrospect, the Bicycle Series added significance to World Bicycle Day because the exhibit was organized roughly two months before the declaration, and the two events can likewise be considered meaningful for Iloilo City with its expanding infrastructure and the development of programs for sustainable mobility. The efforts for improvement continue today.  

World Bicycle Day also reminded us of Fitstop Bites and Bikes, which was operated by bike and sustainability advocates—the couple Vida and Wilfredo Sy, Jr., who were the first to offer a go-to place for artists-bikers and who introduced folding bikes and bike rental along the bike lane.

Fitstop Bites and Bikes was also an art space with changing exhibitions, a venue for small events, a hangout quarter for Iloilo Folding Bike Riders, and an assembly area for bike tours and night rides.

The Bicycle Series of Rock Drilon was updated as a tribute to World Bicycle Day; to the pioneering work of Fitstop Bites and Bikes; to Ilonggo artists who have contributed to the development of art and biking culture; and to the friendships shaped through biking and art that have brought progress to Iloilo.

Bicycle Series of Rock Drilon revisited

“Melancholy is incompatible with bicycling,” said editor James E. Starrs of The Literary Cyclist: Great Bicycling Scenes in Literature.

These words were summoned from memory after viewing the Bicycle Series, recent works by Ilonggo artist Rock Drilon. The collection has a dynamic and energetic character, yet it also hinted at melancholy, not for the reason that the artist is aging but perhaps because Drilon himself is a habitual biker.

The 10-piece mixed media Bicycle Series enticed the mind of the viewer to engage with the exhibition’s main theme: bicycles and biking, a familiar theme for the artist, who is an active rider doing night rides with members of the Iloilo Folding Bike Riders and who also integrates his art into various advocacy efforts.

Drilon, who successfully built a career in Manila, came back to Iloilo in 2012 to share with the Ilonggo community his art and life. His composition resolved doubts about why he was revered among his peers and questions about how he gathered public respect. Rock Drilon is considered a treasured abstract artist in the country.

Also visit: Mamusa Gallery exudes Iloilo’s contemporary art ambiance

The focus on biking as the main theme for this collection has effectively lured the uninitiated viewer into Drilon’s art. To note, the Bicycle Series is by far the third major exhibit of Drilon in Iloilo that I have attended since his homecoming. Yet the shapes and colors remained familiar, especially among his constant followers, who credited it to his consistency by using lively multi-colors to highlight interloping lines, overlapping shapes, and multi-layer backgrounds.

Unlike the Iloilo Period (2015) and Untitled (2016) collections, however, the Bicycle Series expressed a feeling of motion or mobility. This makes Drilon’s execution on the canvas true to form; bicycles are, after all, equipment for mobility and transportation, if not purely leisure and play.

Motion and mobility invited an instant connection to the collection. It seamlessly activated the viewer’s imagination by disregarding disruption and directing attention to decoding the encrypted message usually carried behind abstract paintings. It is in this aspect that Drilon’s Bicycle Series was most effective.

The collection motivated viewers to dwell deeper and take a detailed look into each and every piece in order to allow them to read messages represented by white, gray, or blue-colored bicycles above continuous and seemingly endless curves and loops like a labyrinth.

The strong saturated colors of blue, red, gold, and black could be mistaken or interpreted to convey the complexities or spontaneity of biking: riding without defined direction, making unintended stops and pauses, riding mindless of time, biking to free the mind from worry, or simply enjoying the merry-go-round with laughter.

One cannot help but also notice the layering of colors in Drilon’s work. Bicycle Series 10, for instance, appeared to have a solid black background with streaks of blue, bringing to the secondary surface the emergence of charcoal gray, highlighting gold loops and bicycle riding subjects in beige and white.

In this piece, the bicycle riders appeared as central subjects, underscoring the necessity of visibility, an element of safety that every biker is mindful of, especially when riding at night or with poor lighting. This is perhaps one of the most effective functions of the layering of colors, which made black appear hidden yet dominate the background to evoke warning signals.

It may also have signified the environmental conditions confronted by bikers during a ride: air pollution, noise, chaotic surroundings, and unforgiving external elements. It implored consideration of unwanted punishment in order for the self to attain cheerfulness and jubilation, similar to the contentment that bikers declare after every ride.

The playful mix of opposing emotions rendered on canvas by using different colors and shapes underlines the use of metaphor to describe spirited or tragic encounters. Bicycle Series 3 exemplifies this play, with two bicycle riders in tandem appearing to be pedaling joyously under the rain or against the wind, as accentuated by the pastel colors and hues of blue. The use of pale red to light orange from the head of the rider flowing down to the waistline and further to the leg may have implied injury.

Most of the pieces evoked intense emotions, stressing unresolved issues through robust use of colors like the one in Bicycle Series 8; noticeable distortion of shapes like Bicycle Series 6; isolated lines of yellow, red, and orange in Bicycle Series 9; and diffusion of forms held by untangled loops.

The diffusion of forms and shapes reflected Drilon’s experiences, struggles, and observations as a biker for years now and how all of these have contributed to shaping the artist’s involvement in many advocacy projects in his attempt to disentangle the barriers and clear the path to realize its full potential.

The artist’s aesthetic sense was evident in every piece, neatly framed with smooth and continuous matting without noticeable disturbing edges from inside and out.

Yet one thing was evident in the Bicycle Series: the ability of Rock Drilon to produce art pieces that can effectively connect with the viewer.

Drilon’s familiarity with bicycles and biking proved advantageous, and the Bicycle Series showed his competence on the medium. It brought prestige to biking and increased the awareness of the viewers about the role of biking and art in our society.