Title: If It Makes You Feel Righteous & Better
Size: 36in x 30 in
Medium: Oil on canvas
Model:Jon(me),Oliver,Jay,Karen,Jeff & Iks
Concept shot at Art Movement Studio
Collection of Mr.Leonard

In this contemporary surrealist masterpiece, Jon Jaylo painfully depicts the condition of life itself as a whimsical theatre, in where he has chosen to illustrate with carnivalesque elements such as a vivid red curtains, glowing green neon signs, and green glazed stage floors. With the tradition of Jaylo’s usual play of idea contrasts, he chose to execute this painting’s aesthetic presentation with attractive hues and entertaining carnival icons. However, beneath his rendered illusion of fanciful circus iconographies, Jaylo reveals that beneath every famous magic trick, is a sad, albeit fake fact. Reality has always been too good to be true. Behind the audience’s false applause and longing to be inside the limelight, some of them envies the magician itself, and wants to be in place of the trick masters, position in stage. This explains, the snakelike hands emerging from the shadows on Jaylo’s painting. They are evidently furious, and ready to cast the daggers towards the performer. The performer, however, is bidding goodbye and preparing to depart from the arena of envy by descending through a squared trap door. If studied closely, the performer’s fingers ambiguously symbolizes goodbye, and perhaps simultaneously, it could also denote a hand sign of peace, which means that the performer does not want to arouse further conflict against such hateful minds. Perhaps it could be a case of professional jealousy, or just a mere context of the infamous Filipino ‘crab’ mentality. “Success could be twisted sometimes” Jon explains “because once you are inside the spotlight, you are always a target for criticisms, people would tend to find mistakes on the smallest things that you do, or if not plainly wait for mistakes to happen” Target, indeed is a perfect word, because the bull’s eye on the performer’s head was not placed in the center of the viewer’s vision for no reason at all. Indeed, it is the center concept of the painting, the fruit of envy, more locally known or used as “backstabbing”. As we can see in the painting, at first, what might sound like an applause from the performer’s back could later denote that it’s actually the sound of clapping daggers aching to find it’s way through his back. From clamor, to carved blades. Why do they do such? Simply, to get to the top. At oftentimes a feeble mind would think that the only way up is pulling someone down to step on. More simply, destroying someone in order to take place in his position. Or perhaps, maybe in another picture, this painting could be an image of people comndemning another person to stay clean. The performer retreats from the fight not for the same reason, but because of maturity and wisdom. Not because it’s the practical decision to choose, but because it’s the right thing to do. Because when daggers became as sharp as words, the best reason sometimes, is just to stay quiet, and say not a word at all. After all, people with fake smiles,idle minds & hateful eyes are constants in this world, forever existing, to find some quiet life to turn into a miserable circus of sorts.

"A knife wound heals; a wound caused by words does not." - Turkish Proverb