IN TU: REI CHAN

There are a lot of excuses to be unproductive, not to create art.

Growing up next-door to a family of artists convinced Rei Chan as a young boy that art and being an artist was confined to those who are rich. He often played in the yard near where he could observe his artist neighbors. One would be painting in front of an easel. Another would be developing photographs, hanging pictures fresh from the darkroom to be air-dried. Another would be playing a musical instrument. It seemed impossible for him to be in any of those positions, and if he persisted, he felt as if he would only be frustrated. His path was set to getting on finishing school, landing on a job, and having money. Being an artist was not considered an option in education, a job, and especially for money.

“But when you see what you want, what you are, if you see what you want to be, you go for it,” Rei Chan says. “And it doesn’t leave you until you come to terms with it.”

Rei Chan has tried many other things. Although the need to create hammers on him, never leaving until, as he says, he comes to terms to with. “Yung pumupukpok sa isip mo mula pagkabata, ilabas mo,” he counsels himself.

Blocks and hindrances in virtually everything we do crop up anywhere, anytime. Instead of letting these stop or delay Rei Chan in his creative process, he includes them. Instead of putting effort in getting rid of these, he incorporates them. His latest works gather the blocks and distractions in his creative process and builds upon them, with them.

His children, four of them ranging from ages five to twelve, sometimes join him painting. “One of them even tells me what looks beautiful and what does not, as if he’s an art critic,” he says, clearly amused. When it comes to inspiration, when he needs some, his children give him enough.

Artists create.

He says, “You need triggers to be able to create. I think that’s what life’s troubles and hardships can be used for. In the end, you do need distractions and destruction.”

He has proven every now and then that distraction and destruction cover the first base of creating a piece of art.

“You draw strength from desperation,” Rei Chan affirms.

Any excuse to be unproductive can be the very motivation to create.