Kiko Escora (Photo by PINGGOT ZULUETA)

If you think the wonders of old Manila can only be seen in the lavish and colonial architecture of its churches, the rustic impression of its buildings, and the iconic landmarks it nestles, among many others—well, you’re quite wrong. Beyond Manila’s proverbial sights and sounds are its people, the eclectic and eccentric dwellers who breathe life to the city and make it even more charming beyond comprehension.

Meet visual artist Kiko Escora—a certified ‘Manila animal.’ He has been a constant fixture in Manila’s nightlife and is continuing to chronicle the varied characters and sensibilities lurking and lapping the place he has called ‘home.’ He has had numerous exhibits throughout Southeast Asia and in the Philippines. Come November, he will be showing his latest works in a group show in Italy.

A visit to his old-school atelier in the heart of Malate is anything but insightful and awe-inspiring. His place, which has been a silent and steady witness to the artist’s impassioned and very physical art-making processes, is a contrasting backdrop to the very modern paintings he is now known for.

And yet, on hindsight, Escora’s studio seems the perfect breathing space for his works. Shelves, which Escora has made himself, on either side of his place are crammed with books and magazines; photographs cut from art and fashion glossies are glued on one part of the wall; a poignant and gothic skull painting is hung on another. Now caked with dust, a sheet of cloth with Emilio Aguinaldo’s profile printed on it doubles as the studio’s curtains. Different kinds of footwear are lined up on his studio’s wooden floorboards; a white furry rug and a leopard print affix an air of decadence and individuality to his flat. Once inside, you can almost feel nostalgia seeping through your pores.

And it seems Escora is one to know about indulgence and wistfulness. His works stir up feelings of such from audiences. However, there is more to Escora’s opuses than the two. Seen in his paintings are narratives felt in the most palpable sense. More than just painting the faces of strangers, friends, past lovers, and his girlfriend, Escora is more focused on arresting on canvas the beautiful awkwardness, the natural nuances, the odd gestures, the otherworldly presence, the libertine spirit, the nonconformist ways, and the intensity of his subjects. There is no doubt that Escora is very adept in doing so, as his pieces come out as intricate and thorough, each of them brimming with a life of its own.

“When I was five, I started drawing toy cars, matchbox cars. After I drew them in perspective, I was not satisfied. I wanted to explore what else I can do with them, so I began adding drivers to my cars. Later, I drew roads, pedestrians, fences, mountains, and skies. I realized that I created a universe of my own, my version in paper, at least,” Escora says of his curious artistic beginnings. “[Being an artist] sort of just happened. In a way, I neither questioned nor thought that I would be one because I just liked what I was doing.”

The probing became helpful in the artist’s technique of drawing and painting his subjects in the most realistic manner possible. “When you’re young, you ask how things work. Before I can draw something, I have to understand first how it functions. If you understand, say, how your body functions, you will know how to make it move on paper. In a way, I learned this by accident and through my constant explorations,” he relates.

But before Escora was able to document the kooky, fashionable, and alternative yet familiar personas dressed to the nines in his immediate scene, the artist used a lot of improvisation in his early works. These were rough sketches in pencil and charcoal depicting the bohemian, the sensual, and the hedonistic. His figures looked deathly thin and his subjects’ features, severe. “I painted from memory back in the day, and composed through my mind. My works were just my observations and they were only connected to me in a sense that I’ve only seen them,” Escora reminisces.

“I got to a point where I wanted something that’s part of me and a part of my real life. And I think portraiture is the nearest to that,” he tells. “I wanted to capture the people around me since they give [viewers] a general idea of what’s happening around me, too. I just also think that human beings are interesting because, well, I am one. Technically, humans are running the world so I’m more fascinated to draw them.”

An exploration and inspection of the human form, Escora’s anthology of portraits done in acrylic take off from his charcoal series of both partially and fully covered faces. Some of the faces are buried in the subject’s hands or are turned away; cheeks and chins are masked by a bandana. Other subjects’ eyes are concealed by a full bang, hooded, or obscured by a sunglass.

But no matter how discreet Escora’s subjects tend to appear, motion and emotion are ever-present in them. This is Escora’s gift. He is able to fashion fluidity and sentiment in his works despite rebelliously exposing little of his subjects’ faces. This is also Escora’s intention. This way, audiences learn more from his subjects through their posture and gesture and not just from the expression of their visages.   

When Escora started painting portraits, he used to ask his subjects to sit for him for a 35- to 45-minute session. This setup proved inconvenient and somewhat difficult for the sitters and so Escora simply decided to photograph them. What makes Escora pick up his camera and start shooting away, say at Fluxxe Whatever Thursday (a weekly party event for the creative set he co-founded), is not a physical feature but “an expression, a vibe, a pose, or a gesture that would give away a subject’s right to style and uncompromising claim in his or her own life.”

Escora explains, “It also depends how they register in the camera at a particular moment. But I don’t necessarily have to photograph someone just because. The artist has to draw from his subjects whatever interesting things they project or they see in them.” And his subjects need not be conventionally beautiful. “Actually, I like subjects who are normal, the average-looking ones, the weird ones because they are more…well, the beautiful people are so aware of their beauty,” he adds.

Escora also says that his impetuses come from the gut. “And I don’t think I’ll be interested in things that are not sensual. Generally, people will be more interested in the sensual than the antiseptic,” he also reveals.

Lately, the artist’s other body of works call to mind solarized, neonized, and polarized photographs rendered in large-scale. Escora’s references came from party pictures of Fluxxe. In this other artistic expression, Escora appears to be a human ‘Photoshop,’ as he incorporates a play on color concentration and manipulates shadow and light in his works.

“For some strange reason I was able to entrench myself in another field. I used to hang out with artists before but it can be a bit parochial. But that depends on what direction you want to take it, but I found it easier to hang out with other ‘creatives’ like musicians, photographers, and fashion designers because I found that I am able to see something different and absorb different energies and perspectives. And I think it’s more interesting in relation to my being a visual artist,” Escora discloses on his affiliation with Manila’s notorious party scene.

At the end of the day, self-confessed ‘Manila animal’ Kiko Escora, an anarchic spirit foremost and artist, proves that Manila’s charisma cannot just be seen and felt in places. His oeuvre stands out as his vision does in a world bound by rules. He is a misfit, if you will, but of the highest kind—a visual subculture in his own right.