Manix Abrera: Silent Frames

Silent Frames Manix Abrera brings his silent comics to the UP Vargas Museum.

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IMAGES COURTESY OF UP VARGAS MUSEUM. ARTIST’S PHOTO BY TOM ESGUERRA.

sound of silence. ”Ang Pakikinig ng Bingi”, 2014-2015, pen and ink, watercolor, digital. (OPPOSITE PAGE) Manix Abrera signs autographs during the exhibition opening.

story need not be as long as the Iliad to pack a punch.

Thanks to the art of visual narratives, where pictures are given the artist-given right to tell words and the gift of the fourth dimension, the most profound situations can potentially be condensed into a handful of frames. Manix Abrera explores this visual landscape of comics and illustrated stories where both aesthetic and articulation collide.

Commanding an array of satires in print and in pixels, he illustrates familiar worlds and circumstances with enough wit to complement their usually modest lengths.

He is the creator of Kikomachine, a regular strip at The Philippine Daily Inquirer; News

Hardcore, a weekly web comic at GMA News Online; and Travel Hardcore, a monthly comic for Cebu Pacific. He has authored and illustrated a number of publications, with his latest silent comic book 14 marked by an exhibition at the Vargas Museum in UP Diliman.

At the age of 33, Abrera is already a well-established and influential denizen of the world of Filipino comics, a realm familiar to the artist ever since. Simply put, when Abrera learned to draw, he just never stopped. His continued interest in illustration, as well as other art forms like film and photography, led him to pursue a Fine Arts degree at the University of the Philippines, Diliman where he graduated in 2003, majoring in Visual Communi-

cation. He grew up with an affinity for comics like Calvin and Hobbes, Funny Comics, The Adventures of Tintin, and XMen. Abrera was exposed to the art of the visual narrative at a young age. He cites a great deal of influence and encouragement from his father Jess Abrera, Jr., who did editorial cartoons for The Philippine Daily Inquirer, and was a comic creator himself, authoring titles such as A.Lipin and Pinoy Nga!, and was incidentally the creator of the PDI’s carabao mascot Guyito. Now, Abrera is father to a number of his own titles, with a continuously growing fan base.

If you are fond of broadsheet comedy, you may be familiar with one of Abrera’s ongoing award-winning comic www.artplus.ph

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satires Kikomachine (a word play for the Batibot character Kiko Matsing), his daily contribution to The Philippine Daily Inquirer since 2000. It’s a parody of Filipino youth culture featuring characters and circumstances from his environment.

Kikomachine is quilted from personal experience and research—which often entails the observation of strangers on the streets during a commute. If you are familiar with the local rock scene back in the mid 2000s, you will surely remember Abrera’s band of the same name, best known for its ripping guitar riffs, headstrong attitude, and a bassist dressed as Spider-Man. Hints of music culture’s influence on the artist’s stories are actually evident, if one looks closely.

Some of Abrera’s other comics clearly share a similar flavor to Kikomachine. They blend everyday awkwardness, ironies, wit and humor in a way distinctive of the artist’s minimalist style of storytelling.

They are parodies of local culture and current events, often easy and fun to digest

on account of its imitation of life. While Kikomachine resonates best with the college kids and people in their early twenties, the weekly web comic News Hardcore caters to those who can relate to the humor in journalism. Travel Hardcore likewise shares laughs with those who have itchy feet.

Though his short comedies are commendable in themselves, the artist’s humorous side merely scratches the surface of his practice. The deeper, more profound, and arguably more experimental sensibilities of Abrera can be found in his silent comic projects. His first major silent comic was 12, published in 2009 by Visprint. The acclaimed wordless anthology featured twelve short stories by Abrera. Though each story within featured different narratives and characters, they all seemed to share similar undertones of existentialism, with a palette of emotions closer to the spectrum of the sad and the desolate. One of the stories in 12, “I See,” as avid members and spectators of the illustration circuit know, was supposed to have won the 3rd Philip-

pine Graphic Awards (presented by Fully Booked and Neil Gaiman) had the book not been published prior to the awards’ announcement.

The works most significant to an artist are usually what he or she comes up with at solo exhibitions; the rest, such as commissioned works or pieces for group shows or art fairs, are often means to a larger end. In the case of an illustrator and storyteller like Abrera, perhaps his greater opus can be found in the projects he is able to pour more time and soul into, like his silent comics, where the plague of deadlines is not as relentless. It is only fitting then that his latest wordless anthology be marked with a solo exhibition. Six years after the release of 12, he skipped the unlucky number and came up with 14, the subject of his solo exhibition at the Vargas Museum in UP Diliman.

14 comprises of nine individual short stories told in fourteen sections. A greater narrative rules over the individual stories, painting a picture of a homeward bound

fright night.

(BELOW, FROM LEFT) “Sa Ilalim ng Lupa”, 2014-2015, pen and ink, watercolor, digital; “Ang Paglimot”, 2014-2015, pen and ink, watercolor, digital. (OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP) “Kapre”, 2014-2015, pen and ink on paper; “Ulan ng Upos”, 2014-2015, pen and ink, watercolor, digital.

individual who loses his way at the mythical 13th floor. In Abrera’s latest dystopia, he explores the theme of loss—simultaneously tackling notions of its finality, as well as its arduous process.

The exhibition itself was divided into two parts. In the Museum’s inner room, the walls were filled with the pages of the book’s contents. These were the original, hand-drafted illustrations that went into the actual publication before they went under the mouse. Confronted with the actual artwork, we were offered a rare glimpse into Abrera’s craft, comparable to reading a novel in the author’s own handwriting. Selections from the raw pages were then digitally enhanced, vitalized with color, and printed in large format for the other section of the show. These selections, according to the artist, were frames that he felt could stand alone as narratives in themselves, although each was part of a larger short story.

14 Silent Comics opened last August 5, 2015 and ran until August 19 at the 3rd floor South Wing Gallery of the Vargas Museum in UP Diliman.

The artist’s humorous side merely scratches the surface of his practice.

The deeper, more profound, and arguably more experimental sensibilities of Abrera can be found in his silent comic projects.

Manix Abrera’s other works can be found in print and online. New helpings of Kikomachine grace the comic pages of The Philippine Daily Inquirer every day, compiled yearly and amassing 11 books to date. Online resources include his weekly comic at GMA online and his website.

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