Kurboi believes art is political and his creations prove it
There are so many local artists that have yet to be explored, and in this day and age, the accessibility to find hidden gems on the internet has its advantages.
Meet Kurt Lucas, an 18-year-old college student behind the Instagram account Kurboi. With over a hundred thousand followers and growing, his artworks may seem familiar to the average content purveyor.
As big as his following is, the young artist is still in the process of trying his hand in different mediums and styles before settling with something that feels “right.” For example, in contrast to his current digitally made artworks, he used graphite to draw back then.
‘I would describe my art as something weirdly familiar and nostalgic,’ Kurboi explains. ‘I really don’t have a consistent style yet, but my inspirations come mostly from pop culture, especially from the ’60s up to the ’80s.’
While every artist has their own creative source, Kurboi takes inspiration from music and films. He also listens to songs that match the theme of the art he’s making. When asked if he makes art in a specific mood, he shared, ‘Usually, my mood is somewhere between happy and angry. Kind of like a rock song.’
He also mentioned a sphere of influence that includes artists such as Toshiaki Mori, Yuming Li, Sean Sevestre, jor.ros, quartz.choi, qingyi33, dodleyz, and a lot more.
As seemingly complex his works may be, his favorite part in the art-making process is surprisingly the most basic: sketching. He explained, ‘It’s the part [that] doesn’t have to be perfect. You just get to experiment with ideas and other stuff. This is also the part where you actualize the vision in your head, which is kinda cool.’
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The play of muted, warm, and colorful hues can be seen in the variety of creations he makes. Kurboi shows his personal artworks including a Studio Ghibli redraw, commission works, pieces for his creative classes, and others that have a touch on the more political side of things.
For the longest time, art has been associated with the political realm, and it leads to a debatable question on whether it should be or not. Given that Kurboi posts pieces relating to social issues, he has his own view regarding that matter.
‘I get this question a lot, and I honestly think that everything in this world is political, especially art. Art is a powerful tool to create change, it exists to inform, convince, and entertain,’ Kurboi explained.
‘Some of my works don’t look political at all, but the mere fact that I’m drawing non-stop as a coping mechanism is already political.’ he elaborated. ‘It’s kind of like I’m forced to create something new out of my everyday life so I could stay sane especially in this pandemic where everything feels like a routine. So yeah, Art is absolutely political.’
Go beyond than just scrolling through Kurboi’s artworks as he shares more details about them below.
Get In Loser, We’re Ending Fascism
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Kurboi admitted that he has never watched Mean Girls, the movie this artwork references. He said, ‘I just saw a screenshot of that scene circulating all over Twitter and thought that maybe it’s a good idea to draw [it]. I actually made that as a host artist for #PHIndependenceArt2020 together with some of my fellow artists.’
‘A lot of people recreated it, and I’m so glad that I got the message across. I just want to encourage young people, especially artists, to speak out against the injustices they see in society, even if it’s in [the] form of a Mean Girls meme,’ he continued.
#MayNananggal Art Challenge
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Having a fascination for local mythological creatures, Kurboi participated in the #MayNananggal challenge, which is the Philippine counterpart of #MerMay. MayNanaggal sees artists create their own rendition of the half-bodied creature with wings.
‘I really hope we get to explore more of our occult and mythological side because I really find [the] pre-colonial Philippines interesting,’ the artist shared.
Fight For Better Days
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At the beginning of 2020, Kurboi didn’t expect Miss ‘Rona to have lasted longer and other news that emerged that time urged him to draw out of frustration. He used this artwork to spread the message that COVID-19 wasn’t the only virus that the country was battling with — there’s fascism and racism as well.
‘I had no clue that it will last this long. It’s kind of sad but also infuriating that my drawing is from a year ago, yet here we are, still in the pandemic with things getting worse. I really hope I get to make a drawing soon about the Philippines being COVID-free,’ he said.
Modern-day Jose Rizal
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The artwork’s concept was initially an ordinary guy who’s a Rizal fan. However, Kurboi changed his mind and added the national hero’s iconic mustache and middle-part hairstyle. He shared, ‘That’s the time when I saw [the] news about protests [on] Journalists being red-tagged.’
‘I just feel like Rizal would be this poetic tote-bag wearing guy [who] likes to hang out at Cubao Expo, but is also a president of [a mass organization] of artists and writers. I just want people to see themselves in Rizal, and hopefully, I inspire them to fight for freedom and justice in any way they can,’ he added.
The Blasphemy of Lilith
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This was an artwork that Kurboi made for a class back when he was in senior high school. They were instructed to create a piece that was controversial. He studied in a Catholic school and wanted to challenge a lot of Christian values, ‘Since Christianity is built on Patriarchy, I wanted to draw the woman who opposed God because she wanted the power of choice.’
‘I drew Lilith, allegedly the first wife of Adam who was banished from the Garden of Eden and eventually became the queen of hell,’ he explained further. ‘I played a lot with feminine imagery to evoke a sense of the woman being divine, that women have the ability to bring a soul into this world, but they also have the ability to take life right out. This [explains] the words “purpose” and “power” being equal.’
Depicting The Philippines As A Lady
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In the artwork’s caption, Kurboi explained that Philippine culture lacks appreciation and celebration. He then looked for inspiration from several tribes in the country and combined it as one in the form of a lady. He said, ‘I made this for my school, but I realized that It’s offensive to mix different cultures and textiles from different tribes.’
‘I wanted something to represent the Philippines as a whole, but I should have done more research about the textiles and patterns. Knowing the context is really important,’ he added.
Katarungan, Kalayaan
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This artwork was posted back in June 2020, a time wherein the Anti-Terror Law was still in the process of being passed. Kurboi’s explainer pointed out that katarungan (justice) and kalayaan (freedom) are a pair that comes hand in hand in a democratic society.
The image above shows a woman embodying the Lady Justice statue. She holds a sword in one hand and scales on the other as she steps on a dog. Along with his other pieces, it’s noticeable that most of them are women-centric artworks. When asked about it, Kurboi explained, ‘It’s actually really simple. I suck at drawing men.’
‘But right now, I draw masculine figures more so I can improve in that area. When I made that artwork, I was going for the visuals of the ’70s. I really enjoyed making that one,’ he added.
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Source: we the pvblic
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