Artist Oscar A. Floirendo, better known as plain “Oca” to his friends, is taking out his rage on Philippine elections out on the medium he knows best, through his art.
The armchair alludes to how we need to educate ourselves, and really try to know who these candidates are.
“I’m not that articulate with words, being a visual artist,” Oca said in an online interview. “I like to make stuff, handcrafted artistic toys, sell them if I can.”
A Fine Arts graduate of the University of the Philippines at Diliman, Quezon City, Oca has created in many artistic media, a hallmark of which has been his social commentary.
“It’s a way to express my thoughts on things that I want to ponder on, things in life that I want to comment on,” he adds. “In this case, the artwork/ game board is my own way to express what I see in the current coming election carnival.”
Taking a generous helping of his artistic license with words, Oca has created a new board game he calls Punyetang Halalan using wood recycled from school armchairs.
“The armchair alludes to how we need to educate ourselves, and really try to know who these candidates are,” he explains. “Not to base our vote on the candidates’ popularity, (maka-masa kuno), famous dead relatives etc. but really know their true integrity and capability.”
The object of the game is to include all the “marbles” representing the candidates and try to make your chosen “candidate marble” get to the finish line (hole) first.
The object of the game is to include all the “marbles” representing the number of candidates as you play and try to make your chosen “candidate marble” get to the finish line (hole) first. The marbles all start at the carnival and end at the Malacañang palace.
Oca plans to market the board game under the “RuRyOs” brand, an acronym that spells out the first two letters of the names of his family. “I plan to make more of these upon orders”.
The first marbles to get from the carnival (bottom) to Malacañang palace (top) wins the game.
“Just like the board game, it’s ultimately in our hands to make our chosen marble win, it’s really us who will put this particular person to lead us,” explains the artist. “We are crazy if we keep on putting someone who will only (and already) fatten their own pockets. We are crazy to selectively forget and forgive the past of these people. We are crazy to the point of insanity, letting someone win, and then complaining why we are in this s… hole that we are in.”
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