About Saturn and Layered Time

They say that there is no such thing as simple; but at the same time, we also know that what’s simple is true.

Toots Magsino didn’t think she’d be an artist, much like how most people now don’t know what they want to be, even in adulthood. But she had something innate to an artist: intuition.

Let’s start from the very beginning — a very good place to start. Coming from a rather big family — with four sisters and five brothers, life at home was far from boring. Initially pursuing a more “regular” career path from her college days at the Ateneo, she took a painting class at the Ayala Museum in 1995, and with the unwavering support of her parents, her art trajectory opened up.

Soon she found herself enrolling at the Art Students League of New York, in a double four-year program in Painting and Printmaking. Perhaps the highlight of this era was in 2007 when out of hundreds of artists, her work “Unveil” was chosen as one of the covers of the Carnegie Hall Playbill, specifically the June issue. Being an artist in a foreign country meant having a plethora of experiences that over the years built up her unique artistic oeuvre, and at the same time brought out a lot of who she was as a person. Unexpectedly, the training in painting and printmaking that she received set the stage for a medium that has become the core of her practice: collage.

New York allowed her to be a prolific artist, with exhibitions there and across the globe. Most would think this was the place to be — the end-all and be-all — but for Toots, there were more valuable lessons in life. At this point, just when she achieved another milestone – successfully qualifying for an Artist Visa – she went back to the Philippines. Staying for about a decade in the US, she came back in 2010, and in 2011 she began volunteering with the CAREWELL (Cancer Wellness Research Foundation) Community – teaching art, specifically collage, to cancer patients, survivors, and their families. Making art was just the beginning of things, for it is in sharing art that Toots finds happiness.

That same year, she had her most recent solo exhibition, at the Ayala Museum ArtistSpace in Makati. “Between Episodes” alluded to a cinematic view of the simple joys in everyday life, but it also was a cathartic moment for the artist. The title was a soft nod to episodes of serious depression that she had grappled with, but found the strength and courage to overcome. Some things are hard — almost impossible to say out loud. But for Toots, when words are not enough, art takes over.

Despite having an exhibition in Manila upon her homecoming, artmaking wasn’t exactly the path that she traversed in the years that came after. Instead, it was her innate desire to share that took over. Aside from classes with cancer patients and survivors, she also held workshops with such a diverse range: kids to adults, and even working professionals. At this point, she took a step back from the persona as an artist that was cultivated during her stay in New York. From this respite, she was able to reconnect with her medium, and forge new bonds with materials. No deadlines, no peer pressure, no art world expectations – she savoured the freedom until it all came together seamlessly.

“Everything is fine — until it’s not,” she muses. Toots herself is a cancer survivor — a miracle that makes her advocacies even more meaningful. All those experiences added up are distilled in one of her artmaking mantras: you can only talk about what you know of. All this time, the desire to have an exhibition was furthest from her mind. So why now? It’s simply the right time.

“It’s About Time,” Toots Magsino’s first solo exhibition with Mugna Gallery differs from many exhibitions in strange ways. It is a mix of what could be called her favorite things, which range from paintings made in her early career, up to recent works that employ the growth she has seen over time.

A set of fifty-six collages make up her “Porthole” series. The round shapes offer snippets, a limited view, into where she stands now in her artmaking, stronger and wiser. Intimate and unassuming, each has a story, a life moment. Slowly built up over time, it represents a person fifty-six years of age — but it is not yet done. Just as her own life is a work in progress, so is this porthole series. Looking forward to more iterations in the series, Toots muses “One day my art will outlive me. But not just yet… because the best is yet to come.”

Then there are two installation works. One consists of twenty-eight dresses, representing the number of days of radiation therapy she had undergone not so long ago. Tangible reminders of the days when courage overcame fear and uncertainty, when she showed up instead of looking away — one can think of them as mementos from a journey. This was a journey where she wasn’t alone, though. The dresses are also a tribute to her parents — who both faced illness with remarkable tenacity, even though they have since gone ahead. The fact that she is, after seven years, alive and well; Toots takes the opportunity to make good use of the fresh pages added to the book of life. Second chances are not common, and this is a gift that she does not waste. Although soft-looking and at times whimsical, each of the portholes reminds us of the fragility of life, that our time on this earth is never certain. Making the most of this time, marking time, she gently reminds that “each day is a gift to be cherished…”

Another installation is of collages on bottles, filled with light. They surround an early painting she made, transforming the space into a devotional shrine akin to candlelit prayers. “In the Light of His Presence” is a heartfelt tribute to the one who has been with Toots through every twist and turn in her life. Her guiding force, the one true source: Jesus Christ is the light that has kept the path illuminated. The bottles, when lit, transform the space into a candle house where each of our prayers — whether we say it out loud or whisper from the depths of our hearts, is offered up to God, who unconditionally provides eternal love and light.

In between there are collages of different sizes and ideas: “I do my art for myself, but I need to be able to say something.” She uses her own hand-pulled prints as the base of collage works. What makes each piece different is what makes them connected, all flowing from the artist’s consciousness.

This exhibition has been a long time coming but it is definitely worth the wait. Thirty years of life and art meant humble beginnings to enriching experiences through learning and exhibiting, and finding oneself once again at a humble beginning. Following her artistic intuition, Toots allowed her own art practice to take a back seat as she took the courageous step of devoting her will and energy to being a teacher of art.

More than a retrospective, it is an artist’s life exactly the way it is meant to be experienced as: art. Most would describe it as unconventional, but all the ups and downs, twists and turns, were necessary in forming and transforming what Toots saw in herself as an artist, into the artist in herself that she knew, accepted, and loved.

There is a concept referred to as “Saturn’s Return” — where the planet is seen as a marker of maturity, of coming into responsibility. It is also the symbol of time. Approximately every thirty years, Saturn returns to the position it was when you were born (or when something in your life began), and marks a new era with each revolution. For Toots, this return comes with a sense of gratitude in returning to where it all began but also acknowledging what it took to get there.

It has been thirty years since she began that journey as an artist. Simply put, she is an artist, no doubt. Underneath it is an entire spectrum of experiences, a life lived several times over, mixing, melding, layering — collaging — to create a portrait of an artist that is Toots Magsino.