Collection: Fleeting————Constant by DJ Amago

During the two years of the pandemic, my screen time increased twofold, spending most of my time on the internet. As I scroll endlessly through Instagram, I come across illustrations of bodies touching, yearning to be touched, to be held, in my isolation amplified by the pandemic, I felt the same need. These artworks I came across are by  DJ Amago.  His works, often a bedroom fantasy drawn in watercolor and colored pencil, are arresting yet so tender. I saw dicks, flashes of pink, butts, hands, a few of my favorite things, if I may objectify. It’s liberating to see these images, of bodies rounded and fluff, of a boy escaping the norms of a conservative life. 

When I asked him about this show, his keywords are intimacy, ongoing struggle, carnal, a gay person exploring life, liberating, satisfying, and longing. Fleeting, constantly, a queer boy tries to find his pleasures, by trying to break free from a construct that is not made for him. We, queer people, are born with prejudice, almost like impostor’s syndrome is our best friend. Growing up is a constant process to come out, to confront, to fight, and to break free for our authentic selves—a hard battle for someone so soft, so fragile—finding respite from our tours of duty in intimacy. 

In DJ’s works, the bedsheets are comforting, like lapping sea waves touching like silk. I try to dig deeper into his works, but it is not necessary, for these images tell it all: that intimacy is a beautiful thing we share, that all we want is to be touched, to be held. 

- D.Tumala

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DJ Amago (b. 1994 San Pedro, Laguna, Philippines) is a self-taught artist whose work navigates the dynamics of freedom, intimacy, struggle, pleasure, and vulnerability through the erotic charge of the queer sexual experience. His practice—now spanning 6 years—has been a platform not only to express and explore his identity but also to question various forms of oppression by culture and society. DJ’s works have been exhibited online at WB Gallery in Michigan and in a group show in Altform Gallery in California both in the USA. Fleeting—Constant is his first solo show in the Philippines.