Critical Hit
SOLO EXHIBITION BY
DIKO
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“What does not kill me makes me stronger” is an aphorism first stated by Friedrich Nietzsche in 1881 that portrays an image of resilience and strength. Exploring the sentence gives justification to what it says, with variables, and external forces that randomly act upon an individual’s choices. In a world with human advancements and developments, survival is still one’s priority.
Self-preservation is regarded as a basic instinct in humans; to protect oneself from harm. On the other hand, the act of experiencing equips people with pieces of knowledge needed to survive. In this process, we tend to get hurt and wounds are consequential. They eventually heal up and turn into a scab. The scab eventually turns into a scar, a mark that will remain forever.
Emotional scars are way beyond superficial physical pain, it affects the inner self, our soul. This creates a scab in the form of a mask that we wear to conform to society, and to the people. Most often to the point wherein we doubt ourselves about the truth. The truth that we kept within the depths of our shadows; the unconscious self.
“Critical hit” materializes Diko’s experiences over the past few years. The exhibition took its foundations from the artist’s personal process of healing. By acknowledging his inner struggles and years of challenges he reflected this process into works. Started off as a daily challenge to retrace his art practice, and the process became a therapy of some sort. In the works, evident are creases and oversprays made through the process of crumpling-spray painting-ironing out, leaving permanent marks all over the initial drawings. The crumpling and the oversprays embody being hit critically while ironing the work out represents his will to piece together whatever is left of himself and look at everything critically.
Generosity is a basic human trait, whether it is through materiality, acts, affection, or in the form of time, we as humans tend to give. But most often we fail to regard ourselves in the process, to the point where we fail to notice that we even sacrifice parts of ourselves to others, we would not know up until we were left fragmented from a critical hit.
