The artist has always had his eye on the contradictory nature of Filipino identity—its manifold crises brought about by the country’s long and complicated colonial history. Markers of identity collide and consolidate in his uniquely hybridized figures (a subject, for instance, has two overlapping faces), constellated by a juxtaposition of forms and symbols indicative of notions of consumption, progress, and homogeneity. In order to capture the conflicted state of the Filipino psyche, Habulan combines different figurative styles and approaches—from hyperrealism to pop surrealism to the “ready-made” images of silkscreen printing, as exemplified by The Welcome Band, which explores the altering effects of colonialism. What the viewer gains is an insight into how the so-called national identity is never fixed and settled, constantly prone and open as it is to influence and contestation.
