The Tenth Circle: Street Artist Jappy Agoncillo Enters the Gallery

Hello Jappy! Welcome to Kanto and congratulations again on your new show at Space Encounters Gallery, INFERNO! Let’s start with a milestone look: after a decade of making your mark on public walls, what is the “gateway drug” piece in this show for someone who is seeing your gallery work for the first time?

Jappy Agoncillo: I think that would be a piece called THE WARRIOR; it’s definitely one of my favorites from the show, and perfectly encapsulates the direction I’m moving in, both stylistically and with the storytelling element that I want to bring to my gallery work. It moves my work forward toward a more contemporary style while always making room for my illustrative and street art sensibilities to come through.

Okay, so you’ve described Dante Alighieri’s Inferno as feeling “metal as hell” when you first read it. In this show, we see your signature neon magentas and blues rather than the traditional hues we associate with “Hell.” How does Alighieri’s 14th-century epic look filtered through your 21st-century “skaterat” lens?

Jappy Agoncillo: While not a literal depiction of the book, the show is very inspired by its themes. Much of the show’s core concept is centered on this idea of Hope, and that hope is what will get us through our personal hells. I wanted to depict this hell as much more of an adventure to be journeyed through, almost with a slightly delusional optimism that, against all odds, things will work out. Dante’s version of Hell includes the phrase “Abandon All Hope, Ye who enter here,” while my version opens with the phrase “Abandon All Hope…?”, subverting the expectation that hope is lost in my version of Hell.

Your anthropomorphic dog character Juan (or at least variants of him) appears to be a constant in your work, now making an appearance with partner character Dante in INFERNO. In a show dedicated to themes of struggle and identity, is this character evolving alongside you, or does he serve as a stable anchor while you navigate the “hell” of the creative industry?

Jappy Agoncillo: My character is constantly evolving, and I never want to feel like there’s going to be a standard version of him. I do believe it reflects the fact that people change in real time, so I never want to stick to one version of him. In all honesty, I change them up almost every year – coinciding with the different seasons my life seems to be in. The only true anchoring idea of my character is that he serves as a foil to myself, something that keeps me grounded, and allows me to poke fun at myself from time to time and not take myself too seriously as I try to go through my art journey.

One can say that in muralism, the “struggle” is often physical, given the scale, the weather, and the pressure of the public gaze. When you condense that energy onto a skateboard deck or a flame-shaped cutout, does the work feel different to you? How have you translated the “grit” of the street for the more controlled environment of a gallery?

Jappy Agoncillo: My experience with murals has created a very dense, unshakeable work ethic in me that I’m insanely grateful for. While not as physically demanding, I still treat my studio work with just as much routine and structure as I would tackle a mural project, as if I were my own very demanding client. I can comfortably start working as early as 6 am, and end way into the night, stopping only for food or 3-4 coffees. I plan out how my pieces will go even before paint touches a canvas, what layers get painted first, what to do while waiting for other layers to dry, as if it were a whole operation, while still maintaining a sense of play and improvisation that the creative freedom of studio work allows me.

You are an artist straddling east and west, splitting time between Manila and New York City. Living and working in the Big Apple acts as a unique filter for any creator. How has being based in this frenetic global hub changed the way you approach your subjects or the value you place on your own talent?

Jappy Agoncillo: I can say that New York can be as nurturing as it is cutthroat. While the first few years pushed my limits in every aspect, they also gave me more freedom to explore and bet on myself and my personal creations like never before. More than creatively, I’ve grown a lot from my time in NYC, and I find myself dreaming bigger and believing in myself more. It’s such an oversaturated market, and to stand out, you really gotta put yourself out there, and I feel like the city rewards people who try.

As your work moves from free public walls to private gallery pieces, there’s an inevitable shift in how your art is “consumed.” How do you navigate the valuation of your work today? Do you feel the “street” tag is something the market is specifically looking to buy into at this stage in your career?

Jappy Agoncillo: I do believe that all the work I’ve done will forever be a part of my story, for better or for worse. The work I create is informed by all my experiences, and I think the street artist side of me is part of the narrative of my work. I try not to play into market trends as much as I try to create work that feels true to me, so whether my being a street artist affects the valuation of my work is not something I take into account.

@jappyagoncillo