He wakes up at daybreak to sip his morning elixir – that tincture to lift up his spirits as well as the gods and goddesses he often invokes on paper. And, yes, it’s coffee.
“Coffee!” he exclaimed. “It starts with a cup or two, black no sugar. Then I have to exhaust my mind by playing games or by reading. Only then the real work can start. With coffee, of course,” he added.
Daniel Tinagan, is a well-known artist in Iloilo City, particularly for illustrating Western Visayas mythological characters in the mandala style. His brand BKNWA is such a fixture in Iloilo and a home-grown beloved marque many people know about.
“I try to not schedule drawing or creating so as for it to not feel like a job and avoid burnouts,” he said.
“It draws inspiration from the culture we have swept under the rag for so long, a culture that if we only know how to utilize, can really help us remember how badass our roots are and we have that badass embedded in us.” Daniel Tinagan, BKNWA
He told YOU CREATE ILOILO that BKNWA started when he got frustrated because he couldn’t somehow create something gallery or art show worthy.
“With a pocketful of angst and a little help from my friends, I thought of creating my own gallery, a moving and a living one,” Daniel mused. “Fast forward, skip the failed attempts, a brand was created,” he said.
BKNWA art t-shirts are must-haves Ilonggos would love to add to their closets. “I mean, it’s locally made and awesome. You can’t find anything like this!” a customer remarked.
One can find unique myths and magic with the graphics and patterns from BKNWA. Heck, even people from Manila and Cebu want to grab one. As of writing, we can see the brand growing from just designing t-shirts. We saw a dress, a variety of bags, and a cellphone case on that one.
I asked him, “When did you start to study Western Visayas myths and what is it about that creates this passion to form a big part of your life?”
We couldn’t see his exact features when answering this question. Perhaps he was shrugging or reflective of one of the most common questions he has heard in this lifetime of his.
“I can’t remember when the fascination for magic exactly started but the focus for Western Visayas myths originated when I read something about a serpent-like creature that ate the moon,” he began.
“The creature defied Bathala repeatedly until it got burned,” Daniel continued. “For me, instead of the success story of the stunt, it was more of the layers of effort put in and the audacity to call on the big guys from a far more inferior place that really got me hooked.”
A serpent defying a god? Is this an allegory for a local brand pitting itself against international ones? And trust us, why not?
“I began to read up on the other different characters of the pre-colonial West Visayas and found out that our tales are more hardcore than we give them credit for,” Daniel said. “We have three gods to invoke just for war or combat, we chop heads off from the opposing tribe just for a rite of passage, hell, you really can’t get more hardcore than that.”
With such defiance, how do people think of this modern intake of mythology fitting for the world today?
“The world is already full of numbers and intertwining routines,” Daniel answered straight. “Everybody needs a little magic, a little poetry to even it out.”
I knew Daniel back in college (our Central Echo days), and we’ve seen how his art grew from the shoulders of design giants such as Dan Matutina. Daniel would whoop his hands in the air with glee upon hearing the name of his idol. But, how did he develop the famous BKNWA style because he is known to have a different art style before?
He joked that it was from a vivid “concoction of confusion and rage” that longed to be quenched by a peace that cannot be provided by digital.
“I just got tired of how linear and clockwork I did things while doing graphics for corporations so it started like how most unhealthy things got started, experimentation,” he grinned. “It just stuck to me because of the peace it brings whenever I do patterns and the likes.”
But, what’s your process when creating mythological pieces, I asked.
“For me, the story of the piece is king; once you got the story figured out everything just falls into place,” he pointed out. “The story you made, most of the time, will branch out to other little stories, thus providing you the supply you need to complete the piece with little supplementary details.”
Have you navigated the art scene particularly with the taste of creating mythical creatures? I was curious.
“It is really hard to answer because I really don’t aim to navigate it, the want to have been just left under the tongue, it is there but at the end of the day, I create just to escape,” Daniel said. “It is just that. If what I have created is relatable to or affects other people, it is splendid. If it does not, it is splendid still.”
Ah! I shrugged and waved my hand. But, one could see how BKNWA rattles the community with the love for local stories. In a way, it awakens our core for the love of anything Ilonggo-made because it brings out the culture and flame of our beings.
“It draws inspiration from the culture we have swept under the rag for so long, a culture that if we only know how to utilize, can really help us remember how badass our roots are and we have that badass embedded in us,” Daniel emphasized.
Would our readers agree that it cultivates community engagement and empowerment?
“I think the longing to want to see something not just by the surface draws the community in, or it may have created a community for itself,” he continued. “It boils down to the want for magic to break the monotony of numbers.”
Behind the success of this Ilonggo brand, BKNWA also has its fair share of obstacles hindering it. Daniel laughed at how he is a challenge to himself.
“I have tendencies to slack off producing stuff because I get in too deep with the creating process, I just get lost inside the studio without me realizing it,” Daniel guffawed. He said that part is being worked on though as this lockdown has been a needed break to reflect on things and plan ahead.
For future projects, Daniel plans to publish his book, Tala Returns the Moon, after much success and reviews on a children’s book he made, Insoy, The Timid Bawa, with Glory Moralidad. He also plans on inking more Zodiac Series for the art prints.
You can follow Daniel on Facebook @bknwa and Instagram at @bknwa.ph.
