Artist, Designer, Advocate, Historian, and Educator: I am John Paul “Lakan” Olivares, and this is my blog on my artworks, as well as some articles that deal with art and culture. My work is inspired by a life time trying to understand humanity and spirituality. I started very young child researching on different cultures, both living and past, pouring on any books that I could get my hands on.
In starting my professional career as an artist, my acrylic paintings reflected my drive to understand the essence of the Filipino people, which was inspired by my work in anthropology. I had traveled all around the country, living with different local cultures, including the traditional ethnoliguistic groups; such as the Ifugao of the northern Cordilleras, Bagobo of Davao, Dumagat of Montalban and Infanta, the Alangan and Buhid Mangyan of Mount Iglit, and the Tausug of Sulu. My work has led to a deeper understanding of the Filipino people, and was adopted by two of these ethnic groups.
My earlier style use many symbols and stories of the different ethnic cultures of the Philippines, and the imagery was inspired by the habi (weaving) of those culture, as a metaphor of the interconnections of people, despite specific cultural differences.
In 2002, I took a long break from art making, to focus on raising our daughter and my new job as a university teacher. When I finally came back to create art, I could no longer work on my old style, as it was too time consuming. So I decided to use a style that I was experimenting on long before, using metallic gel pens. This time, I was expressing my own spiritual explorations and discoveries, which also reflected by lifelong research and immersions into religion, spirituality, mythologies, sacred geometry, occult practices, and traditional cultures. These works were done on a black surface, reflecting how I saw spiritual patterns in the darkness of daily life.
Most of these works are also posted in my Deviant Art page.
I also have a blog on Philippine art and history, called Lakbay ng Lakan, which was inspired by my travels to Europe and America. There I saw that in any public artwork, one can easily search for the the history of the artwork and the biography of the artist who created in; whereas in the Philippines, it is very difficult. So I started walking the streets of many of the major Philippine cities, documenting the different heritage sites and public artworks, and doing research. I would go as far as interviewing the artists, or the relatives and friends of artists who have passed away. My research has also help many private and public institutions identify the artists behind their collections, as well as the history of the artwork.
While documenting the heritage sites and public art for my blog, I also do street photography, which can be see in my Instagram page.
So, I welcome you to enjoy my explorations in art.
Thank you
PS
Here is the link to my FAQs.
Lakandiwa 