K.ROKU |
THE GALLERY
Time is a funny thing, it always leaves a trace.
Here I created these drawings with in
mind that space will forever
bind us together, forever separated by the rivers of time.
CONTAINS SEXUALLY EXPLICIT IMAGES
Must be 18+ or older to view
Audience discretion advised
BELLO
A Photography Series:
INSTRUMENTAL
Happenstance created a flourish of idealism about masculinity and the male form. The KitaraROKU artist John (Emmanuel) Batica uses kaleidoscope configurations from one single vantage point allowing a variation of different spatial fictional structures to take place in a small cramp room creating multiple moods of themes and settings as the artist conveys secured masculinity further into the next piece.
Ciao Bello.
”I saw beauty and strength in being a man once again.” After Here Fauna, there was much need to rebalance my sense of self. As I was combing through my past, it had became clear that I have always perceived myself as a man, no matter what sexual orientation, straight, gay and/or non-binary. I have always felt right inside my body, and it was time to celebrate what I am again.
UNEXPECTED
TAKES
SHAPE
A play on full form of the male form and vulnerability. This set is predominantly an exercise of the ornate statistical variations of the kaleidoscope configurations. With one vantage point used to capture each shot, the more ornate and far removed do the pieces transform, setting them apart from Instrumental which focused more towards the situated reality of the setting as opposed to a dream like state in which surpasses convincing the viewer of its plausibility as another modern space.
What I first saw was the space around me. It had reminded me of a worn down rustic European bathroom. It was the lighting, the contrast of green and red with the caramel walls, that drew me to wonder and compare it to a room with paint peeling of the walls. It was the kind of romanticism that always attracted me to a mediterranean setting. This becomes the running theme of classical views of the male form but with my racial background. One that I’ve never seen adorn the great walls and churches of Europe let alone the rest of the modern world.
No
UNDOING
001
This set means to create a simplistic view of a man’s presence in the world. Done with only a colour selection of the body and surrounding objects that reflect the essence of mankind is rooted in the form of human existence. No Undoing 001 becomes a stance on men’s no nonsense need to become more than what he is to be, a man. There lies the caveat of this series, that to reclaim masculinity when it was never lost to begin with.
No Undoing 001 was personally a defining moment in which I felt it was important to showcase the place where I had changed this past year; I had to reconnect with my manhood and to become my own person again. Though, a never ending journey, it was necessary for me to dwell within myself and to find my inner strength and courage without another individual’s help. Decisions were made and I made them for myself.
COLOUR
BLIND
Bello’s challenge of using only photography as the medium to legitimize art was turned on its head when making Colour Blind. Are black & white photographs enough to consider it art? Is that something amiss in the world of artistic merit in which a photo in this era must have some sort of picturesque conceptualization for it to be art. The artist John (Emmanuel) captures this set outdoors behind a common backyard in which he uses his sexuality to ward off any ideas about his masculinity. With an intense and aggressive look in his face he uses his body to defend any misconceptions about his manhood; creating a vulnerable yet confrontational machismo moment with the viewer.
The intention behind this set was clear for me, I had been under scrutiny of being gay meanwhile having the energy and aura of a straight boy. It was frustrating for me as I have always viewed myself as a boy no matter what sexual orientation I had. It had never occurred to me that Emmanuel was a completely different side of myself that I didn’t contemplate. As my attempt to do Here Fauna which is unapologetically feminine and tasteful in its execution and style. The true masculine side of my inner being, Emmanuel, ego got bruised by criticisms and so forth this set was inevitable. If in the music industry there are what are known to be “dis” tracks, this is my “dis” art set, with much vulgarity, it means to say “SUCK MY DICK” to all the oppositions; it’s such a boy’s territorial expression.
PURPLE
AFTERNOON
With the use of the colour purple, the artist transforms the surrounding background into a mesmerizing state of purple corporeal fantasy contrast to the subject himself. The colour purple is to represent the future, however, without immersing the subject into the colour palate, he becomes stuck in a repetitive routine that only intensify the repressed and neglected parts of himself.
Performing an exhibitionist shoot with the front door open, the artist allows you into his life of patiently waiting behind closed doors as a domestic partner awaits for his loved one to return home from day’s work. This set reflects the past 14 years of John’s life being in two long term relationships in which loyalty and monogamy had been pillars of his commitment, attempting to perfect the requirement of a good partner. All the while, undergoing sexual suppression of self discovery from age 17 to 33.
This set really reflects the daily routine of my life for the past 14 years. I had become second to another’s desires and intentions. It was always bending my needs and wants to someone else’s ambitions and requirements. It was my fault though. To have made it possible to be a waiting pet and focus my happiness on another person when self love was the more enduring of the two. Purple Afternoon’s immediate perspective is to come home to a person that cares and loves you which traditionally was a female’s role, but in this case becomes my responsibility and reality for my two long term relationships.
Radiate
Exceptionally
beyond
“Live outside of Death” is the inspiration for this set. With the use of Kaleidoscope configuration, the artist for the last time in this series emphasize the similarities, if not identical properties, of men in relation to each other. The artist uses an outdoor setting to state that men once belonged in the wilderness where the very nature that created the ideas and prolonged psychology of men were born out of. Social Constructions are reexamined as forms of greed, envy, and marginalization becomes apparent when entering social expectations. One that still remains prevalent in human behaviourism as individuals transition from public and private spheres.
Bello as well as Here Fauna became supplemented with Spiritual and Religious text. To my rationality I had begin to linger around the biblical idea of the Garden of Eden and the original sin. It was then that it had come to my attention that the very first thing that the Christian-Judeo God had said to Adam and Eve after they broke his command is “Who told you, you were naked?!” Shame and guilt was not part of God’s plan, they were the products of the original sin and it’s something that has been around for ages, and can be exhibited when we study tribal groups enter into the modern world. Their ideas of living undergo a complete crash course of human progression that took centuries to define social norms. Shame and guilt of the haves and have nots become apparent. Discovery that they have been living in such a sheltered and tiny perception of the world make them ashamed of where they came from and completely abandon their life of simplistic content. I wanted to go back to Eden.
amore
With the use of stacking frames on top of another, this set depicts the many facial expressions that the artist convey; at many times confusing others of his identity. Amore shows that nevertheless the individual exists as one beyond the superficial. Crudely done, this is the first inspiration for the later works of FRAMES whereby compiling still shots results into a new suggested narrative. Here, Amore becomes a study of time consequential to changes in the human psyche. The set is also focused on self assurance as the many figures seek to find a trace of self confidence.
When I first made Amore, I did it as part of a creative take on what else I might be able to do to make art possible. What other forms of art can I make from the materials of content that I have? I first thought of Amore as sort of paper dolls, cut out construction paper, just to place them into an array of fantastical situation. Amore was about self love that masculine men tend to deny themselves, however, the two are linked. Amore is about my obsession with my hair, the only way I ever splurge on myself, is a good haircut. I have as well known that I am nothing without my hair, I’ve shaved my head when I was in grade 9 or 10 and it was no shock at how unattractive I felt.
TESORO
Tesoro easily becomes an examination of pop art and social media as the three pieces are made to be a collage of four images combined, it drives the question once more, is photography alone still a legitimate form of art? And how so? Is the quality the point, or the overall message and what defines good photography? Concepts or technique? A balance of both or a pure subjective field where photography is left to the viewer to decide its merit. Where does the artist’s point of view lie solely independent from external forces of opinion?
It was a rainy cloudy day here in Vancouver. CA when I shot this set. I was sluggish, lethargic, and depressed. I had no energy to be in front of a camera; with which then gave way to a more natural and effortless shoot. It’s always when I try that I end up looking too forced or intense, but when I just let it be and don’t try too hard, I find my candid and genuine self in the photos I end up liking the most. Tesoro was meant to defy against male beauty standards as I display my big stomach that I had carried over from last fall/winter. I underwent the transition from Papa Emmanuel to just plain Emmanuel and it all began with the Bello Series.
Arrivederci Tesoro
