This year’s Horizons, the official art and design folio of the students of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, returns with the theme “Apophenia” which showcases worlds reimagined and places beyond meaning. The top three best works of the latest installment provides an introspective of the artists’ creations of their crafts.

Check out the exclusive interviews featuring the artists that allowed them to create imaginative worlds with the power of art.

TOP 1: “Nostalgia” by Johnsen Dominique Pangantihon, ID 11 (AB-MMA)

A navigation through nostalgic tendencies whilst looking back and beyond, “Nostalgia” is a testament to moving forward and constantly growing, as shared by Johnsen Dominique Pangantihon, ID 121 Multimedia Arts (MMA) student, in an interview with The Benildean.

“Celestial. Urban. Melancholic,” were the three words Pangantihon used to describe this art piece. They planned to create something personal and, at the same time, meaningful to others. “I had decided that I wanted to create an illustration that reflected how I process and overcome my self doubt towards my own skills and my personal growth.”

According to Pangantihon, “Nostalgia” features a very moody and solemn color palette with a touch of hope on the side. It was their idea to use the shape of clouds to emulate a face, which was a memory from when they used to cloud gaze as a child. “The face in the clouds and the person looking towards it is supposed to represent me,” they added.

Taking about four days to complete, Pangantihon wanted to put a lot of thought and meaning into “Nostalgia.” They would step back for a bit and hit pause whilst analyzing every element of the art piece. Moreover, they were still quite new to drawing and rendering a detailed art piece such as this. 

Pangantihon believes that taking a moment to look back in life, to see how much has changed and improved, becomes a reminder of your own personal strength and resilience. “The main message that I wanted to convey in my artwork is that when life starts to drown you with stress and you start doubting yourself and your own competencies, it’s important to sit still for a minute and reflect on your own journey that led you to where you are today.”

Although they further state that dwelling on the past can also be your worst enemy, we should still move forward and carry on. Creating “Nostalgia” has been a very different experience from how they usually draw personal art. 

When Pangantihon first began this art piece, they wanted to apply what they’ve learned in the AB-MMA program during their freshman year. While the piece strikingly talks about looking back to reminisce, they found many ways of applying the one-point perspective on the urban landscape, Gestalt’s principle of Figure and Ground on the clouds, the correct proportions of the character’s anatomy, and the use of the Golden Ratio.

“As an artist, I feel like my art style constantly changes and improves as I continue to practice and consume all of this artistic knowledge. Being under the AB-MMA program definitely helped jump start all of this,” they added.

If you’re interested to see more of Pangantihon’s works, visit their Twitter and Instagram.

TOP 2: “The River of Acceptance” by Kristine Joyce Araojo, ID 118 (AB-MMA)

Depicting an imaginative dimension of feeling accepted for who we are, it is human nature to yearn for a life free of others’ expectations and judgment. “The River of Acceptance” is an art piece of self-expression that portrays our own world without living inside what others might say. 

It is vibrant, true, and limitless, according to ID 118 MMA student Kristine Joyce Araojo, who was excited to submit for this year’s installment of Horizons. She was able to challenge herself and experiment through the entire artistic process.

Lo and behold, her excitement led to her finishing “The River of Acceptance” in a day. “I think with this artwork, I was able to portray a point of view that shows a will of being part of a place where we are free to be ourselves, and those around us support it,” she shared.

Compared to her past artworks, she is still in the process of fully discovering her own art style. “The River of Acceptance” is a reflection of her own direction in her artistic journey.

Check more of Kristine’s works on her Instagram page.

TOP 3: “Pink, Blue, Yellow Room” by Ivy Berces, ID 117 (AB-MMA)

Ivy Berces, also known as “Prinsomnia,” ID 117 AB-MMA alumna and former Creative Director  of the Benildean Press Corps, was also eager to submit her work for this year’s Horizons. 

“Life is all so interconnected, after all, that even a sketch of it can’t possibly scratch the surface. For sure, more than anything, I wanted to be myself in these pieces, and not spend so much time overthinking my submissions,” she stated.

Traversing across vivid and mundane moments, Berces worked on “Pink, Blue, and Yellow Room,” a series of three different artworks, for about two to three hours each.

“In the process of composing these pieces and trying to get a vision for each of them, I definitely wanted the scenes to be a bit closed off–like how the inside of a storybook feels like its own little corner or space in the universe. Also, I really wanted them to be vivid, and for the pieces to communicate their feelings through the colors and the sparks.”

“The theme for each room came to be as I went, really–for example, Pink room wasn’t really meant to be a romantic sort of piece, but once I decided on what my character was going to be in the piece, I thought of pink in the piece as a shade of intense feeling of romance and ika nga, that ‘butterflies in your stomach’ feeling.”

According to Berces, the power of illustrations changes and creates new perceptions just by existing. With “Pink, Blue, and Yellow Room,” finding her artistic identity in her works is as magical as it can be, and the mundanity of it all provides an introspective of her ability “to enhance a place, story, or feeling with illustrations.” 

Check out more of Ivy’s work on Twitter, Instagram, Patreon, and her personal website!

Enter a world of vivid imaginations and check more of these artists’ works in Horizons: Apophenia, out now!