Creative Spotlight: Jappy Agoncillo Brings Strokes of Culture and Manila Dynamism Worldwide
This Filipino American History Month, EnVi is diving into the creative mind of Jappy Agoncillo — the artist responsible for larger-than-life murals breathing color into the streets of Metro Manila and beyond.
Jappy has gone on one adventure after another, from galleries in the Philippines to walls in major U.S. cities. He also has a line of notable collaborations with major clients including PlayStation, Marvel, and Warner Bros.
This summer, EnVi visited Jappy’s two-day HOWLIN’ exhibition at the All Street Gallery. An array of graffiti-inspired paintings, prints, and custom skateboards lined the walls of the pop-up, with playful references to comics and anime sprinkled in between. Just around the corner, on the 2nd Avenue F train subway wall, is a mural of Dante — an original character who appears in many of Jappy’s works. Since then, he has had a jam-packed two months: the Superwow Gallery’s Athletic Aesthetics exhibition in Queensland, a collaboration with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, and the Toy Story 30th Anniversary exhibition in Melbourne.
However, Jappy’s global reputation didn’t form overnight. It began with three things: skateboards, stickers, and a lonely birthday at Jollibee.
Just a Kid From Manila
“Before you can get to where you want to be, you gotta shovel a lot of sh*t,” Jappy said. “You gotta go through some of the hardest years of your life.”
From self-doubt to creative burnout, the Manila-born illustrator is no stranger to the struggles of an independent artist. However, Jappy’s origin point wasn’t a studio, or even his room; it was among the skaters in his community.
“Skateboarding was my entry point to the art world. The idea of trying and trying until you get back up and succeed was a very skateboarding thing to do. If you don’t land a trick, you try it 100 more times until you land it,” he said.
Modern skateboard art dates back to the 1960s as an extension of California surf culture. As an iconic symbol of city life, many classic skateboard designs draw heavily from graffiti and street art: intricate lettering, high-contrast colors, and dynamic graphics. Combined with the surging punk rock movement of the mid-1970s, that sense of rebellion and “do it yourself” attitude had a formative influence on Jappy. In high school, he’d sneak his board into Catholic school, then run off and see his friends in the local skating scene.
“We weren’t very good, but that’s what skateboarding is: a community,” he said. “That was important to me.”
The graphics shown on skateboard art were among his earliest creative influences. Before picking up a spray paint can, Jappy would design stickers and leave them around the sprawling streets of Manila.
“Stickers were my bread and butter. The way they stick stuff on telephone poles and trash cans [in New York City], I used to do that in Manila, but I never got the courage to really spray paint something,” he said.
However, that sense of freedom was stifled when Jappy began art school.
“I hated it. They transformed this love I had for art and creating into numbers. It was as if the value of my life was art, and it burned me out,” he said.
Jappy then transferred to De La Salle University, where he was recruited to paint a mural in the school’s cafeteria. From there, everything began falling into place. He posted the first mural on Instagram, which gained traction among La Salle students whose families ran their own businesses. Before he realized it, one job led to the next. Small restaurant murals became commissions at shopping malls, which then turned into major brand partnerships.
“When brands like SM started hiring me, my parents stopped questioning my career choice,” he laughed.
Now, many of Jappy’s original works reference pop culture, superheroes, and a character named Dante — Jappy’s companion throughout his creative journey. Dante is a mischievous demon dog named after Italian poet Dante Alighieri, famously known for Inferno. More than that, he is an iteration of Jappy’s journey to New York: “I have to go through hell to get to heaven, and that’s why I named him Dante.”
“The wolf has been my character ever since I started my career,” he continued. “I’ve always been kind of the shy, introverted kid. I grew up in Manila, didn’t have a lot of friends… I decided, if I can’t do this art thing with a lot of friends, I’ll do it alone. And I’m gonna make it.”
Courtesy of fellow muralist Paolo Tolentino who helped run the HOWLIN’ pop-up, Jappy begrudgingly shared a story from elementary school.
“I had a birthday party at Jollibee. I invited everyone in my first grade class to come. I even wrote down their names on little Jollibee invites — every single one of them. I got up in the front of the class, and I was like, ‘Hey, pass this out. Here you go. This is your invite,’” Jappy said. “Not a single person came.”
Despite the lone wolf inspiration behind his art, the response has been anything but lonely. On the first night of his HOWLIN’ exhibition, the opening party overflowed with guests and spilled onto the block outside. For those inside, it was impossible not to notice the wall adorned with woodblock paintings, each of which was uniquely designed by one of Jappy’s friends in the art community.
“You can’t make it all about yourself. You gotta include the community in your show,” he said.
HOWLIN’ NYC
On the second and final day of the exhibition, Jappy happily gave EnVi a walkthrough of each section and explained the meaning behind his pieces. Back in August, Jappy held his first solo exhibition in New York City called HOWLIN’, a show that brought a collective of artists and new communities together. He wanted to merge his worlds together.
“With this show I wanted to include lots of different price points and different styles,” Jappy said. “I live in a weird world where I’m not just a street artist, I’m also an illustrator. I’m also steeped in the digital realm. I do animation. Sometimes I do doodles.”
After two months of preparations, the pop up was teeming with success, but he couldn’t have done it alone. Jappy brought in artist friends from all over the world, from LA to Japan, to take part in his woodblock series. As an homage to the life and community he has built in New York, he wanted to share a piece of this with others. The artists who contributed to the wall were all close friends and those who mean a lot to him.
“They’ve done so much for me. So I want to give back to that, but also make them a huge part of what the show is,” he said. In this series, Jappy allowed his friends complete creative freedom to characterize the Dante-shaped board however they wanted.
“It just warmed my heart,” Jappy expressed. “Every time I opened one, I was like, ‘Okay, this is exactly what I expected from you guys, and you guys really delivered.’ So it was really cool.”
When Jappy arrived in New York City almost three years ago, he thought a lot about the type of artist he wanted to be. A new city meant a blank slate for him so he questioned, “Do I want to be a serious artist, or do I want to be just me having fun? And I thought, ‘why not be both?””
Next to the community wall hung street-style spray painted pieces which were simple yet full of charm. His characters Dante and Juan stood out amongst the mischief. Emblematic to Jappy’s inner critic, these characters are two sides of the same coin. Juan, which is Jappy’s first name, always appears to be more serious while Dante pokes fun at him.
“The idea behind that is that you can be ‘big time Mr. Artist’ here in New York City, but don’t ever forget to have fun. Don’t ever forget you’re just a guy drawing stuff,” Jappy expressed. “No matter how big I get, there’s someone making sure that my ego’s in check, and that’s Dante.”
Just a few steps away on the opposite wall, eleven out of twelve square canvases of Dante in motion hang in order. The series is called Can’t Keep Running Away. It symbolizes Dante as a lone wolf running away from something to make it somewhere else. Off to the side was an old TV that had shown the twelve frames in action as an animation the night before. Each frame shows a version of Dante in different modes of transportation inspired by iconic anime, games, and superheroes from Dragon Ball Z and Mario Kart to Batman.
One of the frames, the most personal to Jappy, was called Crab Mentality. He felt he had to include a personal piece in the series that was not exclusive to skateboarding. “I love skateboarding, but it doesn’t hurt me the way crab mentality does,” Jappy shared. “This is just one of the personal ones where he’s trying to escape that mentality of ‘you’re getting successful, let us drag you down because you can’t.’”
Continuing to showcase his versatility in art style, his Andy Warhol-inspired series shows a copy of Dante in six different color styles. Jappy’s notable graffiti art style adds an eccentric flair to the series. Circling back towards the entrance, four black and white pieces of Dante in different styles greeted visitors into Jappy’s world. The most significant pieces of his pop-up were his skateboard pieces. As a tribute to the skating world and an expression of his art style, Jappy repurposed old skateboards, breathing new life into them.
“I wanted to make sure that while I’m using these, they’ve lived a whole life before I painted them […] People have fallen on top of these, they’ve thrown these on the ground, these have hit people’s knees. I thought it was way more interesting to use skateboards that had a whole other life,” Jappy said.
To You, in 2000 Years
Along with creating his own work, Jappy hopes to equip young Filipino artists with the skills to advocate for themselves. Through teaching lessons on negotiations, representing independent creators, and continuing to host artist talks, the ultimate goal is to share his wealth of knowledge.
“[Filipinos] are taught from a very young age to value modesty, to be very agreeable. I want to help the next generation learn to be confident enough to say ‘No, I want more. I need more,’’” he said. “My hope is to come back on a semi-permanent basis, or to start some sort of organization to help the next-generation artists.”
From the vibrant streets of Manila to the hustle and bustle of New York City, who knows where Jappy’s art will land next? To keep up with his work and creative journey, be sure to visit his website and Instagram!
Interested in reading about more Asian creatives working across the globe? Check out EnVi’s recent author spotlight with Ruchira Gupta here!
