The Many Faces Of Darel Javier

When a ’90s kid looks at art-ist Darel Javier’s paintings, they will be reminded of a certain Disney movie and the times they would cut out colorful letters from glossy magazines and paste them onto paper, forming different words.

- Pinggot Zulueta

What seems to be pop art is a reflection of Javier, the feelings he was experiencing at the time he was making the pieces.

These self-portraits are a chronicle of the emotions that this pandemic has stirred in him. “Most of my new art is a self-portrait during this pandemic, something that will remind us of what we’ve been through in this life,” says Javier.“I want my art to be comforting and calming. I want it to be playful, but a little bit disturbing.”

Javier created symbolic meanings in his portraits, like in Resist or Obey where, wearing a face mask, he is surrounded by various terrors. In Don’t Blink, we see a tired worker, hair disheveled, with no time to rest. In most of his works, there is a rat that seems to scuttle from one painting to the next.“My artwork is an expression of what I feel inside of me. I have a lot of inspirations behind my art, like the people who believe in me and my talent,” he says.