Mark Anthony Copino, more popularly known as “Kidlat,” was born in 1981. He is a contemporary stencil artist living and working in Cebu, Philippines. He graduated from the University of San Carlos with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting.
After leaving art school, the streets became a recreational ground that paved the way for Kidlat’s art to be viewed by the masses. He, along with other street artists, founded Cebu’s most active street art groups at the time: UBEC Crew, The Junks Collective, and later Asylum 38.
His12th solo exhibition is called “Siamese Dreams.” Most works are cyanotypes, an old photographic printing process that produces prints in a distinctive dark greenish-blue. It involves treating a surface with iron compounds that react to UV light and, when washed in water, oxidize to create Prussian blue images.
According to writer Dani Valenzuela in the exhibition notes, “Blue suggests distance — a pigment so wise it wishes to school us on the vitalism of depth: without blue, there is no longing; without stretch, desire. While blue represents a cooler color to most, it is the opposite in fire; the same tinge that saturates a soothing sea is also the hottest flame in the spectrum. The same blue that invites the night is the same blue foreshadowing the goldenness of sunrise.”
Kidlat’s thought-provoking works show off symbolic subjects in minimalist compositions. His current explorations with stencil art as a technique reflects his deep fascination with childhood, innocence lost, and domesticated life.
Kidlat has exhibited solo shows both in local galleries and abroad and has joined international and local art fairs. He is currently represented by The Metro Gallery.
* * *
The Metro Gallery is located at 214-B Ortega Street, San Juan City. For inquiries, message (0917) 8944373.