Iskulturang Tansan

CEBU, Philippines - Who says sculptures are only made of clay and are hand-painted?

Well, in this present era, we are moved to make the ordinary extraordinary and the usual unusual. For University of the Philippines (UP) Fine Arts student Ebenezar Lanzam “Benz” Morrok, seven thousand crowns have defined making ordinary extraordinary.

Student Artist Benz Morrok

In his sculpture which he entitled Biomorphic, Benz utilized the most ordinary object that fascinated him – soft drink crowns otherwise known as tansan. It is a seven-foot three dimensional artwork that is made out of almost seven thousand crowns, rivets and wireframe most commonly known to us as alambre.

According to his mentor and Fine Arts professor Raymund Fernandez, Biomorphic is an industrial product for he used materials that are for industrial purposes. His sculpture is a figurative abstract art form which means it does not have a definite identification.

Towering sculpture made out of almost 7,000 tansans

Benz explained that Biomorphic comes from two root words: “Bio” which means life and “morph” which means to move into a distorted form. “Akong artwork naa’y kinabuhi, murag mga mananap og porma, (My artwork has life, its form is like an animal)” he added.

Since his childhood, he has seen these crowns everywhere, in streets, in the stores and even in his own house. That is why he chose this as his primary material. “Naganahan ko sa iyang pagka ordinary… Naa diay siya’y highest point of beauty. (I liked how it is ordinary… I never thought it had a highest point of having beauty).” It took Benz five months to create this sculpture that’s taller than him.

Prior to creating the sculpture, Benz made several studies which are variations of the final one. Their forms were of existing creatures with a twist only he could explain. These forms were made from terracotta clay, one of the most readily available sculpting material in the market.

When ask what he wanted to convey, there are multiple answers designated for a specific audience. “For the art community, it is a development in progress that when making an artwork we should not be focused on one medium but must look for something that we can transform,” he said. “For the viewers, mura siyag pagtampo sa kalikupan or a call to preserve the environment.”

Benz showcased his sculpture in his first solo exhibit entitled Iskulturang Tansan last March 27, 2012 at the UP Mini Gallery. This is his thesis for his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. It is not an ordinary thesis because he together with another student artist have chosen to write their paper in our native Cebuano Language. Professor Raymund Fernandez commended them for that.

Iskulturang Tansan was attended by his mentors in the academe, family, friends and art enthusiasts in the community. Everyone was in awe of this towering sculpture made out of a multitude of softdrink crowns. As for Kenneth Gallardo, a product design major, his take on Morrok is that he has deep understanding with curves and lines. “The process was intricate and careful. It has uniformity,” he added.

Benz is one of the many student artists who speak special messages with their artworks. But whether or not the message has been delivered to everyone in a uniform manner, one thing is for sure. He has made the ordinary extraordinary.


**Published in the Freeman newspaper on April 15, 2012