Jappy Agoncillo and the hells we choose
For Jappy Agoncillo, entering law school after finishing legal management at De La Salle University (DLSU) would have been a wise career choice. It wouldn’t have been easy by any standard, but still, the road a law professional takes is straightforward and well-defined.
As for the journey of an artist? Filled with doubt, uncertainty, and frustration. Still, if he had to, he would gladly do it all over again.
After all, anything worth doing will never be easy. From our careers to our passions, we don’t study or practice, thinking it’d be a walk in the park. Instead, we willingly put ourselves through the wringer because we believe it’d be all worth it.
In that vein, Agoncillo’s latest show, “Inferno,” created in commemoration of his 10th year in the industry, is inspired by the great work of Italian poet Dante Alighieri. The show centers on two original characters, Dante and Juan, as they traverse hell—not the various circles and levels we associate with the “Divine Comedy,” but instead, the different hells Agoncillo went through in his 10-year career.
Looking at his own proverbial journey from inferno to paradise, Agoncillo doesn’t look at his hells with either fondness or dismay. Instead, he comes to a quiet understanding that these hells shaped him to be the artist and individual he is today—and no amount of paradise would’ve likely done the same.
“Inferno” and the hells we choose
One of the pieces for the “Inferno” collection, “Plaything,” chronicles Agoncillo’s early experiences as an artist-for-hire.
On his Instagram, he shares that he used to paint murals for anyone and anything without putting much thought into it. “Like an old toy, mangled and twisted for fun, and inevitably tossed aside when no longer entertaining enough, but I kept crawling back, as being played with, however poorly, was still better than nothing at all,” he adds.
Over time, he shares that this experience eventually taught him to take charge of his individuality and artistry. But the point stands, this was one hell on a long road to paradise. “The idea of hell or the idea of ‘Inferno’ is not necessarily about suffering. Rather, it’s about the hells that we choose for ourselves—the struggles that people put themselves through in order to achieve something that they want to achieve,” shares Agoncillo.
In “Inferno,” Agoncillo points out how Dante exhibits the characteristics of a cartoon, while Juan is serious-looking and much more fleshed out as a character. “It speaks to how I want to be taken seriously, but I also don’t want to take myself too seriously.”
“They’re the two characters that keep me grounded in my journey. And I thought about that story—that imagery of the two characters—when I moved to New York three years ago,” adds Agoncillo. “In some way, it was to tell myself that while I’m there to reinvent myself, [that] I shouldn’t forget to follow my dreams as furiously and as passionately as I can—but also not to take myself too seriously.”
Paradise at the end of it all
Since painting his first mural in DLSU’s Bloemen Hall, taking the leap of faith has led Agoncillo down a career most can only dream of. “I’m just excited to have survived 10 years in an industry where, when I first started out, people thought I wasn’t going to last very long in,” says Agoncillo.
And if he could speak to the version of himself from 10 years ago, Agoncillo, says he’d tell him that everything is going to be okay.
“But at the same time, I think it’s weird to encourage him, because it was the lack of encouragement that made him so feisty,” he adds with a laugh.
