Interview The Kanto team
Images MADE 2025 and Jack De Castro
“We believe that the growth of Filipino artists contributes to building a more vibrant and cohesive nation. Through MADE, we are committed to cultivating boundless spaces for expression, innovation, and lifelong learning so that our artists can continue to shape not just the country’s cultural legacy but also inspire new ways of thinking,” opens Metrobank Foundation president Phillip Dy.
Building on this vision, the Metrobank Art & Design Excellence (MADE) 2025 Awards celebrate a new generation of Filipino artists who dare to explore, innovate, and redefine the boundaries of contemporary art. With the theme “Boundless Art,” this edition not only honors exceptional talent but also reintroduces the Mixed Media category—a nod to the pioneering spirit of the 1984 to 1987 editions.
Led by Toym Leon Imao, a multi-awarded artist and former MADE awardee, the distinguished jury reunited fellow former MADE awardees and contemporary art masters Leeroy New and Raffy Napay. The panel also included contemporary art market luminaries Frederick Flores and Geraldine Araneta, sculptor Reginald Yuson, and renowned curator Tessa Maria Guazon.
The winning pieces will be showcased in the exhibition titled Vast Horizons, the 41st edition of MADE’s tribute to the limitless potential of art. Running from September 19 to October 18 at The M’s North and South Galleries in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, the exhibit invites the public to see the program’s forward-looking evolution in the local art landscape.
Kanto conducted a series of interviews with this year’s seven awardees, inviting them to reflect on their creative journeys, personal philosophies, and the stories behind their winning works. Our first interview is with MADE 2025 Grand Awardee for Painting, Jack De Castro.
Nice to meet you, Jack! Your process involves sanding through ‘darkness’ to reveal images beneath. How did you arrive at this approach, and what does this action of unravelling let you express that painting directly on the canvas does not?
Jack De Castro: Hi, Kanto! I came across this approach after completing my art residency in Linangan last March. It appealed to me as it leans more toward intuition compared to my previous approach, allowing me to feel every mark that comes out of scraping or scratching the canvas. It’s as if whatever emotion I am feeling gets imprinted or left on every piece.
To me, scraping off the canvas is a metaphor for removing what’s heavy (a lot like the darkness) in your life. I feel like this allows you to abandon the “burden,” as compared to using paint or adding more “weight.”
With every scrape also comes a revelation that only I or any artist who practices this method can know and reveal, because all of us have our unique stories.
The scenes you reveal range from milestones to small, everyday moments. How do you decide which memories or images carry enough weight to become part of the work?
Memories from childhood up to this day, dreams, as well as aspirations, were the subjects of each box in the artwork. These things fuel me to keep going, so I pondered on how they made me feel. I then realized that my feelings are not isolated; they are shared, because they can also tell the stories of other people.
You’ve said this painting reflects your “truest self.” What shifted in your practice that allowed you to bring that self forward in this piece?
With this piece, I felt more free. No rules, just art. My only goal was to channel all my thoughts and emotions into the canvas, relying only on intuition. You’ll never know what your inner self or your mind will urge you to narrate; sometimes, you’d be surprised at what memory pops out of your head. It’s like digging into the deepest parts of yourself, discovering how you arrived at this version of yourself, and who you truly are inside.
How did your participation in MADE influence how you now see “Finding the Light Within”?
Before starting on my entry for MADE, I looked back primarily on the struggles I faced and why I did not give up. This was where I drew strength to get up and create my art, reminding me that there are so many reasons why I keep pushing through. It’s an encapsulation of everything that got me here.
In your journey with MADE so far, did you discover new ways people connected with the images of light and memory in your work?
People have approached me and said they relate to it on a personal level or to specific experiences. The process of scraping onto the canvas is sometimes seen as a way to search for light amidst the dark. Consequently, the joys and dreams serve as motivations and sources of strength when one passes by some of life’s darkest moments. •
