Dan Matutina is a force to be reckoned with. He’s become known, not just in the Philippines, but around the world, for his designs and illustrations using simple lines, shapes and textures. He’s the founder of Plus63.net, a design blog focused on Filipino designs, and also Plus63.com, a showcase of the sights and sounds of the Philippines. He’s the creative head and co-founder of Idea!s, a social enterprise design & communications agency that helps bring great design to nonprofits and NGOs. If that’s not enough, he’s also a lecturer at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts.

He’s worked with Popular Mechanics, Wired (Italy), CondeNast, The Few Gallery, AllDayBuffet, BBDO, DDB, Rogue Magazine, McDonald’s, the Coca-Cola Foundation, SEAir, FormFiftyFive and more. We’re lucky to have gotten the chance to interview him today, and even luckier to have him on our advisory board.

Our own Daiox Del Fierro asked him some questions (after the jump).

How did you come up with the name Twisted Fork?

It comes from the bent (twisted) fork bracelet I always wear.

How did you get interested in design and decide that was a career path you wanted to follow?

Hmmm… I’ve been doodling since I was a kid; I’ve always wanted to draw stuff, but I didn’t know you could make a career out of it. In high school, I was more into science than art. I had no plans in taking Fine Arts until the last day of my college application submission. I didn’t even know that there was such a course. It was all thanks to a local entertainment magazine that I found out about Fine Arts.

An illustration for Rogue Magazine’s “Why You Deserve a Universal Refund” article.

What do you think of the state of design in the Philippines?

The current state of design here is vibrant. A lot of design studios are opening, new talents are coming out, there are design events and conferences. The design and creative community here in the Philippines has a friendly and competitive atmosphere. It’s really inspiring.

Are there any changes you’d like to see?

I want to see more designers/illustrators/creatives involved in social causes.

Your works are simultaneously childlike and dark. What’s the inspiration behind them?

I never really intended them to be dark or childlike, I just want to illustrate cute, quirky characters and tell stories. In my illustrations, I try to mix simple lines, shapes and textures to tell an idea or story. For my illustrations, I get a lot of inspiration from Filipino folklore, handicrafts and festivals. The Filipino aesthetic is maximalist by nature, so I try to balance it out by getting inspiration from minimalist designers. I use a lot of textures to make my illustrations look organic albeit the use of basic, industrial-looking shapes. I try to mix contradictions in my illustrations, and it seems to work. Haha.

This piece is based on one of our local deities called The Bakunawa. It’s a serpent/dragon that eats up the moon at night time. Our ancestors believed that the Bakunawa is the cause of eclipses. To scare the Bakunawa into spitting out the moon back into the skies, ancient Filipinos would make noises with pans and pots.

Your work is primarily digital. What techniques do you employ to make your pieces stand out?

Most of my recent works are digital, yeah, but I add a lot of raw and handmade elements, like paint splatters, paper textures, and others. I try to experiment with color, line, and shape to make my works stand out more.

Some of your work is political and highly opinionated. Has that ever cost you a job, or caused any other problems for you?

I’m usually opinionated when it comes to political and social issues—to my knowledge, it’s never cost me a job or caused me any problems.

What’s a day in the life of Dan Matutina like?

I usually wake up early. Before going to the studio, I’ll drop by a coffee shop to get coffee, hang out a bit, read news, blogs, and mangas. Afterwards, I walk to the studio and start working on stuff. The whole day is spent doing work, surfing the net, playing games, doing sketches and chatting with people online. When I need to think of ideas, I go out of the office with my idea book and work in a nice quiet place. Every Tuesday and Thursday I lecture at UP College of Fine Arts.

An editorial made for High Profile magazine. The article was about the recent elections, and the peaceful and democratic handing of power. The Philippine flag was used as an island in celebration, with the sun and stars representing fireworks. It also doubles as a flare, aiming to ask other countries to take notice.

Aside from friends in the graphic art scene, what artists do you look up to for inspiration?

Bruno Munari, Yoshitomo Nara and H.R. Ocampo.

What’s the concept behind Idea!s Creatives?

At Idea!s, we try to make a difference through design. Idea!s is a social enterprise, specializing in social design and communications, offering our services in order to enhance the impact and outreach of social development organizations. We want to communicate to the world the great stuff cause-driven organizations are doing, and encourage society to get involved in the actions, both big and small.

Dan created this pattern for Leeroy New’s collaboration with Kermit Tesoro at Philippine Fashion Week.

I love Plus63.com—a big fan of some of the music there. Do you have any other projects coming up this year?

I have quite a number of projects (both work and personal) in line for the year. There’s an animation I’m working on, a social design event, web projects, exhibits, some experimental prints among others. I love keeping myself busy. Haha.

How often do you travel? I recently watched Stefan Sagmeister talking about the power of time off, in which he espouses the value of taking a year-long sabbatical every seven years. Does traveling help your creative process?

I travel from time to time; it’s a good opportunity to reboot yourself. In a recent vacation, I was able to experiment with my illustration style. I think I need another long vacation to work on a few stuff. Haha. I really enjoyed Basel, Switzerland. The works I saw in the contemporary galleries and shops were really inspiring. When I was there, I never saw any badly designed signs. I also had fun in Paris. It’s a beautiful city. Lots of cafes and bookshops; lots of things to buy, too.

A close-up detail of The Boy Who Carried the Big Bad Wolf.

Where would you like to visit next?

I’d love to visit Stockholm and Tokyo soon.

You’re on the advisory board of Ferdinand Center for the Creative. Why do you think Ferdinand is an important cause to support?

Teaching kids, who can’t afford quality education, art and design will give them more career options afterwards. Creativity is for everyone, and I’m glad Ferdinand is doing this. Aside from being part of the advisory board, I’m pretty much game to teach at the school when it opens.

Do you have any words of wisdom for the upcoming talents who’d like to choose graphic arts as a career?

Take risks! Take risks with your design and career decisions. Don’t be afraid to share your works with others, collaborate with them. Especially now that everybody can easily be connected through the net, use it to your advantage. Be open to criticism because you can only improve from them. And more importantly, have fun. Yey!

You can download this desktop wallpaper from Kitsune Noir’s Desktop Wallpaper Project.

Right: The Man–Child. Popular cartoons flock the headspace of this eight-year-old boy, yet a beard amasses on his chin. This work displays the contradiction of a child mentally growing in an accelerated mental state that sprung from his exposure to adult activities and innuendos found in paraphernalia he is exposed to.

Dex Fernandez, a fine arts and advertising graduate from the Technology University of the Philippines, quit his job at an advertising firm to become a full-time artist. And the art world is better off for it. His art transports the viewer to another land—a tea-stained technicolor mash-up of the darling and the sinister—where both children and adults play with imaginary creatures, and otherworldly beings haunt us with the ugly truth about what’s right and wrong in the world.

Dex has an art show titled – + * running currently until February 24th, at Pablo Gallery at The Fort in Taguig, and was kind enough to answer some questions from me.

What was home life like growing up?

I grew up in Caloocan City until I was 23, and when I was 24 I left my family house and lived on my own in Cubao. Currently I’m living in Manila, together with some fellow artists.

Tell me about your job before you became a full-time artist.

I used to work as a graphic artist for a large printing company, then I worked overseas as a muralist. When I returned to Manila in late 2007, I decided to forgo the typical day job and become a full-time artist.

What kind of messages do you hope people get from your art?

My subjects, mostly, are stories of people I’ve met, or my everyday life experiences. I try to help my audiences feel and observe what’s happening in their surroundings, both socially and politically.

How does your history in advertising influence your artwork?

I love graphic design, and when I quit my job I never wanted to lose that quality in my own work, so I try to incorporate it in everything I produce, whether they’re paintings, drawings, or poster art.

Who and what are you influenced by?

I love foreign artists. I really love low brow art, art brut-like outsider art, tattoos and poster design.

What is your workspace like?

My bedroom is my studio. I improved the space a bit so I could make my stuff more freely and creatively, but it’s just my bedroom.

We all sometimes hit a creative block where it seems like we’re completely void of ideas. What do you do to overcome that?

I’ll watch movies, browse art books, or search online for inspiration. Sometimes I’ll chat with friends. Meeting new people and chatting with them helps widen my knowledge of the world, so I get a lot of inspiration and ideas from that. I love asking questions.

How do you keep your ideas fresh?

I doodle in my sketchbook non-stop. My sketchbook serves as a bank of ideas I can use in future pieces.

What do you do when you’re not making art?

I love hanging out with friends in Cubao X, drinking and conversing. Sometimes, though, I just stay in my studio, reading books and magazines. Especially when I don’t have much of a budget.

Do you listen to music when you’re creating?

I can’t live without it!

Tell us about your art show currently running at Pablo.

It’s called – + * and the birth of each artwork is a representation of mine, and other people’s beliefs, stands on different social issues, one’s lies, deceptions, empathy, grudges, the highs and lows of faith and politics, little monsters we’ve been keeping inside ourselves, universal mysteries and nakedness, and mush, as it may sound, the love that always enters the picture. From my parents’ visual rendering, to friends’ portrayal of other people’s imaginings, my paints, the stroke of my pen, threads stitched, and paper cutouts intertwined with their lives.

In math, plus and minus signs represent the notions of positive and negative, as well as the operation of addition and subtraction. On my part though, the + sign signify additional perceptions we have over the things surrounding us. We apply the – sign when we tend to judge these things and people, therefore, stealing whatever is left of them. If we interject an * in between, we give birth to new tales, new characters, and new settings to a passé world. Whatever symbol we might stumble upon, be it an asterisk, a minus or plus sign, why not peek deeper into it and discover something new? Because what you don’t know just won’t hurt you.

What would you recommend to an aspiring young artist who wants to see the same kind of success you’ve seen recently?

Just stay humble, and don’t forget to talk to God. Thank him for his kindness… Bad or good, it’s all in His will.

Any plans for the future?

I want to travel west, maybe to Europe. I’d like to buy some vintage posters from the ‘50s or ‘70s. Music or film posters. Pin-up girls.

Dexter Fernandez’s solo art show, – + *, is currently on display through February 24th at Pablo Gallery at The Fort, in Taguig, Philippines. Pablo Gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 12:00 to 8:00 PM.

Location: Pablo Gallery, Unit C-11, 26th Street, South of Market Condominium,
The Fort, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
Tel.: (02) 9863887
Email: fort@pablogalleries.com