Painting in the Philippines, Toronto's hustle culture, and keeping art accessible
An interview with Chris Perez
Photo credit: Chris Perez
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See this art on the city's map here.
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The above image of Leaside Children's House, a Montessori school, doesn't look like your typical school. Chris Perez painted the entire building by himself using only a ladder to get up and down. The bricks are completely covered in bright floral patterns with a blue and black galaxy-like background. View more of Chris's work on his website.
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Asha Swann 00:00
On this episode of Toronto's Artery, I spoke with Chris Perez, a Filipino-Canadian artist who spoke candidly about how he sees public art impacting the Philippines. We also talked about how one project, which wasn't so much a mural as it was covering an entire house with bold colours and designs, and how we can keep art accessible.
Asha Swann 00:20
Obviously, you're a Canadian-based Filipino artist. So how would you say being Filipino influences what you create?
Chris Perez 00:26
Being Filipino influences me by talking about my narrative giving my story behind being Canadian. Born in Scarborough, I was born to a Filipino family—a lot of Filipinos do come from Scarborough, from my experience. Also, being the first generation Canadian is also another way to talk about our history and how we've developed as Canadians and being Filipino. It's kind of almost like a privilege, because a lot of people do know about Filipinos, and so they understand the culture a little bit, either through food or interactions, I think it also gives it a very good, strong standpoint on how to speak to our roots just because we have a wider vision, or peripheral of how people see us. So one of the things that I tried to bring out in my own work as well.
Asha Swann 01:09
Have you had any projects so far that really stood out as being like your favourite project to work on, whether it's murals, or paintings or commissions or anything like that?
Chris Perez 01:18
Most recently, is donating my time and painting into the local barangay, which are like the communities in the Philippines. So bringing artwork to the neighbourhoods that maybe they don't have accessible means to acces art, like fine art, like paintings and stuff like that. I think having more of a public art domain for those who are either not interested or don't find it in their day to day, a little bit more fun. So I think, you know, painting for the kids and opening them up to, like, ecosystems where they're allowed to see people who match their skin type or match their culture, express themselves is a good opportunity for me to actually get out there and dedicate time to or that, more so than to like, commercial commissions and, you know, clients and stuff like that. I think having more of a community-based public art approach is something that was more beneficial to me—more to the spirit than it is to the pocket, right?
Asha Swann 02:06
Yeah, definitely. Have you been able to see the impact of, or, I guess a better way to phrase that would be, what sort of impact have you seen in your community in the Philippines of being able to see public art everywhere? Like, how do you find that that's impacted the community?
Chris Perez 02:20
The young kids, in the neighbourhood, are just grateful to have something for them. Knowing that, you know, Philippines still a developing country, a lot of people don't live on like a wage, they kind of live to the means of what they could do. So you have kids who are pulled out of school to work. I think they just more appreciate them having something than nothing, right? So I think having the power to bring something like that, especially as artists, when we have a contributing nature to, like, the environment around us as makers and creators, I think it's also important to like, know that not everyone can do that. And so having that power to contribute and to share is something that is well appreciated by the community for sure.
Asha Swann 02:58
Have you been able to go back to the Philippines a lot since growing up in Toronto, like have you been able to visit regularly to visit extended family or to do art?
Chris Perez 03:06
Last time I went was 18 years ago. So just to show you how long it's been. Last time I was was a teenager, in 2005 during the tsunami, it didn't affect the Philippines. But that was like the biggest timestamp for that year. I was supposed to go during 2020. But I obviously didn't have because of COVID. My goal is to try and make it back for Christmas, or like we'd call it Pasko. It's pretty extraordinary to be there in the New Year and Christmas, but being there in the last month has really opened my eyes because the first time has been there as an adult and as a capable adult with my own career and I guess creative outlook on life. After this month, I'm going to try to get there more often.
Asha Swann 03:41
How do you find your perception of the Philippines has changed since visiting now versus 18 years ago?
Chris Perez 03:48
You know, everything's different everywhere you go if it's been more than, like, a decade. So when I was there, I didn't realize how big the skate scene has got, the graffiti scene has got, the mural art scene has got. So in my eyes, it's opening up its ways to those things because those are very individualistic. The Philippines is very more of a group mentality, right? So here the West or you know, America and North America, we have this kind of individualistic timeframe for each other, right? So we have the pursuit of the self. Over there, it's like everything is shared.
Asha Swann 04:19
Do you find that a lot of the aspects of Filipino community is reflected through the street art scene and the graffiti scene?
Chris Perez 04:26
It's hard to say because every culture has that kind of thing. Public art or street art or graffiti is the voice of one, not of the all—but it is kind of the unspoken words that are intensified because of the spirituality of it. And in that sense, I mean, sometimes people are suppressed by their further ideas. So I think there's a lot of people who want to say what they want to say on the walls more than to their person, because Philippines is notoriously known to be very corrupt to the political system and through the federal kind of like, laws. So having those kinds of voices is a good way to indicate that people do still think the same way, but you know, you are maybe powerless to say it. I think every culture has that too, I think because no one could tell them what to do. So it's up to the individual. And it's kind of like the Banksy effect, where those kind of ideas come forward through imagery.
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Manila, Philippines
Photo source: Carmela Asistio via Unsplash
This image shows a person biking adjacent to street art on a wall just outside of Intramuros, Manila. This piece was created by WeeWillDoodle, a Filipino arts collective in 2018 as a part of the Manila Biennale arts exposition.
Asha Swann 05:15
Yeah, for sure. Were you able to do much art when you were visiting the Philippines?
Chris Perez 05:19
Oh yeah, I was able to paint, I got featured on the national news as an international Filipino artist. So they interviewed me while I was doing a community project. So that was interesting, I did not expect myself to be in that situation. But it was, you know, well welcomed. I'm sure, the more I spend more time there and more networking, like I could be able to do a lot more difference. Because I didn't go there with like a professional mindset to like, make art, I just went there with the spirit of just doing so I think that's a little bit more recharging than just taking a professional look and saying, like, how much money I can make? What clients can I get? What walls can I get? Because more just like I'm here, like, what are you up to, want to paint? I think that's a little bit more important than just like the outcome, is the intention.
Asha Swann 05:59
Yeah, for sure. Do you find that the reception to street art is different, like in Scarborough versus in the Philippines, because I know at least in Toronto, you kind of more have to go by the books and get like a permit from the city. Whereas I know some places are not nearly as strict with that.
Chris Perez 06:15
In the Philippines, you can kind of talk your way out of it. The police are kind of, like, unknowing of what street art could be, or what graffiti could be. Obviously in Toronto, they have a way more educated program of knowing what is vandalism, and what is art, but maybe it's the average viewer, they don't, there's always ways to get around that to the public sphere. But I think in the Philippines, it's a mentality thing, because it's always money-based. So it's like, you can't really do it, because you don't have the money to do it. But here in Canada is like you do it no matter like what, so I think those are kind of like the obstacles in the Philippines that they have. Because if you, if you keep people suppressed with money, that becomes an ideology, right? And so when the ideology takes hold, it becomes a way of life. And then once that way of life happened, that doesn't really be—it's not really second thought. It's just like the way it is.
Asha Swann 06:58
Do you ever find that that's become an issue, when you were painting like around Scarborough or around Toronto in general, just like, focus really on like, capital or just like, that individualistic mindset that's quite common in Western culture?
Chris Perez 07:12
I think when society obligates you to be yourself, I think that's when things take off a little bit better. But once you identify problems, like living situations and standards of living, you start to see it in a different gaze—more than a creative sense or more taking a capital sense. And I think, especially with Toronto, being open to very, you know, cultural aspects of street art and graffiti and whatnot, and its landscape, it becomes more animalistic. And people try to get the top instead of expressing oneself. So through being a hustle city, right, and being very known as the hustle city, you kind of lose the aspect of creativity because the creativity is geared toward a monetary sense than a societal sense. So I think, I think practicing a little bit more of do for yourself, no matter if it's free or not, there's a better way of introducing art because it's a little bit more pure, and people will still see that. Things will never last. So the way you express yourself is the time before you and the time for now. So I think that's a little bit more important than trying to make it last.
Asha Swann 08:13
Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I think sometimes it's more important just to be able to get something creative out there rather than focus on like making sure it's like set in stone forever. Because then you know, you never know is the next person could come by and paint over and then do something unique and creative
Chris Perez 08:28
Exactly. Even in situations where you're painting and the building owner sells that and then it's gone the next year, so.
Asha Swann 08:32
I also wanted to ask you a little bit about the mural that you painted for Leaside Children's House, the Montessori School. It isn't just like a one-wall mural. It's the whole building that's been painted and it's all these gorgeous colours. Can you tell me a little bit about what your process was like preparing to do such a huge project?
Chris Perez 08:51
The owner of the building, she owns Montessori school, she wanted to brighten it up. So she saw my work down the street at Estrin Heaps, which is a real estate company, and so she kind of wanted that that vibe with the darker background with all the colours on top. It's kind of a process of just like, figuring out how long the things are going to take, materials. I actually painted the whole thing on a ladder so I never used a lift or anything. So I actually walked up and down the ladder to finish the entire house. So that was one of the first difficulties—I didn't want to get a lift just because of the kids and all that stuff, noise and stuff to the neighbourhood but also as a house painter, like I painted houses for like, decades when I was at OCAD and I do like a physical challenge. I'm like, doing this wall wellness series with the Brain Project talking about mental health and physical health, how they're related. Anyways—materials aside, tools aside, all that stuff, I wasn't prepared for just little stuff, also like physical exertion over time. I think a lot of the flowers that we painted for that project were representations of feelings. During the middle of it she wanted a more colourful, so then we started adding stuff. It's like a juggle of aesthetics, right?
Asha Swann 09:55
How long did it take you like, like from start to finish?
Chris Perez 09:58
A month, for sure.
Asha Swann 09:59
Definitely like a long, a long month to be standing up on ladders for like, going up and down every single day.
Chris Perez 10:05
Yeah, yeah, I could definitely tell you that.
Asha Swann 10:09
Can you ever see yourself taking on another project like of that scale again?
Chris Perez 10:12
Oh, yeah. But maybe with like a teammate, someone who could like, keep me sane.
Asha Swann 10:17
Are there any projects that you think people should know about that you're working on, either in Toronto or Scarborough, or just upcoming in 2023 that you think people should know about? Or check out, any projects in the works like that?
Chris Perez 10:30
A lot of people know about this program called Outside the Box where [you] paint those transformers on the corner of the streets. It's one of the best mural programs I think the city has come up with, just because it's level of entry is very low, so anyone who's starting murals can do it. It's one of the first ways to identify 3D objects and how spaces is used around us. It's also like, beautification. It's also like, a free gallery. It's a great opportunity for a lot of people to get into. Like if you had no murals experience at all, and you wanted to try it, you could possibly get it—if you've had painting experience, not necessarily a large mural experience, but I think that's the program that everyone should look into. It pays very well if anyone wants to get into it. I think it's a really good program and it's very accessible. That is the way we're gonna introduce more information is through accessibility, right?
Asha Swann 11:21
This has been an episode of Toronto's Artery, a podcast about art in the heart of the city. For more episodes, and to see a map of the art we discussed in today's episode, head to torontosartery.com
Thanks for listening!