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Jeepney: The Undisputable King of the Road

The two-dimensional artwork encapsulates the workhorse of Philippine


transportation—Jeepney. This is indeed something very familiar to anyone’s eye as
the flamboyant vehicle has always been one of the cheapest ways to go to places for
various purposes. The craft gives prominence to the archetypal elements found in the
country’s version of this driving machine. In line with this, the proponent highlights the
prime subject’s edge against the other modes of transit or even the same kind
developed in Western nations.
When I look at the artwork, it reminds me about so many things—both positive
and negative. For instance, its long size refreshes my memory of how they consume
a big space on the road that causes endless noise and traffic. Moreover, this traces
back to the moments that I felt cramped like in a can of sardines. I am surprised of
how I was able to survive riding it from Cubao to Katipunan for the past five months.
Contrarily, the countless colors employed, from my perspective, represents the
creativity, innovativeness, and ingenuity of the Filipino people. I am always quite
fascinated with the diverse Filipino symbolisms displayed on the sides of the jeepney.
Examples are about the Katipuneros, Bayanihan, and Santo Nino.
Let us go down to its elements. A touch of Impressionism (a type of
representational art) is observed through its visible bold brushstrokes and the
changing qualities of the color used for the whole. In addition, I like how the proponent
used aluminum foil to substitute the gold and silver colors of the accessories like the
wheel disks, headlights, and the rearview mirror. The utilization of this technique for
the metallic and shimmering parts at least alleviated the extreme paleness of the color
scheme. In line with color, each shade here may be predicted as the integration of
bold and white colors, which is somehow aligned to typical palette in presenting
Filipino cultures and styles. When we get a feel of its texture, it can be perceived as
we literally painting and decorating our very own jitney bus, provided that it was
dominantly made by oil and enamel. With regards to scale and proportion, every
element that forms the object is a little bit stretched vertically, which made sense for
me only after looking at the size available to perform the art. The canvas dimensions
also implied less space to be allocated for each element, which very visible from the
output of the object.
The artwork was made in 1981, which still reaches the peak of the Marcos
regime. I heard multiple stories before from my grandfather about jeepneys in the said
era. According to him, massive jeepney strikes were common back then in Manila as
the continuous price hike of oil stoked anger among the transport operators and drivers.
The struggling moments of our fellow countrymen truly motivated the art maker to
reveal the tremendous power of the impoverished ones working in the transport by
their stand towards equal treatment and recognition. Also, it can really tell the artist
striking opposition on the economic and political implementation in the Philippine
setting during those times. This work maybe one of the influences for the creators in
the contemporary world to emphasize our familiarity on ordinary objects or even
outdoor sceneries.
Overall, I find the work good and balanced---no more, no less, just right. I think
a recommendation for the artwork would be capturing a background from the reality.
This may increase the conviviality of the jeepney at some point. Furthermore, much
movement can be envisioned as the audience gaze through the work. From the
critique that I made for this craftmanship, I realized that even the simplest things that
we tend to neglect can have the strongest implications when we look them through an
art perspective. We delve deeper into its essence when we capture every detail
available in the design.

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