Artist Sean Go on how Religion, Toys, and Food Brands influence Artistic Creativity

Everyone can make art. But to succeed critically and commercially, there needs to be substance in an artists’ work. Often, art history places importance on works that are in dialogue with artworks of the past in interpreting canonical scenes in a novel way yet disrupt famous iconography in ways that can be blasphemous or reverent.

Sean Go, a contemporary artist who investigates Christian mythology, among a plethora of themes, believes that Judaic texts and the Bible offer an entire universe of hierarchies, structures, and characters to play with and interpret. Doing so follows the artistic lineage of masters like Da Vinci, Botticelli, and Raphael. Go is fascinated with the visual appearances and powers of angels, who often fall from grace even though they are holy creatures. Redemption through grace is a compelling theme that Go often instills in his work.

For Go, topics like family trauma are best addressed through levity and symbolic representation through toys. By using Playmobil and Little Tikes to illustrate family bonds, family toxicity, and trauma cycles, serious messages can be communicated in a subtle yet powerful way. Toys are potent symbols of idealism and optimism, with undertones of positivity and potential for change. Similar to Jeff Koons’ works like “Play Doh,” and “Hulk Triple Elvis,” Go’s use of pastel colors invokes a sense of yearning for imagination.

Go’s work often includes large logos of food brands similar to those explored by pop artist Andy Warhol. Works like “Maggitron” depict an Optimus Prime endorsing Maggi, a seasoning brand that is excellent with chicken and other meats, a staple in the household of any Filipino family. Go’s use of Pure Foods Corned Ube cake juxtaposed with a clone arc trooper, suggests that troopers and cakes both function in a uniform-like factory chain manner, an apt metaphor for the capitalist-industrialist regime that we find ourselves in today. By inserting capitalist critiques in art in a novel way, Sean Go is one of the most exciting artists in Southeast Asia today.