Kapalaran

In Kapalaran, Jonathan Dangue turns his gaze toward the ancient cycle of the Chinese zodiac, reimagining its twelve animals not as static signs but as beings charged with spirit and movement. Each creature bears its familiar temperament: the pig breaks into a wide grin, the horse gathers its strength with forelegs raised and mane unfurled, the rooster caught in the instant of crowing, summoning the day. These presences are not merely sculptural forms but vessels of character, animated by their symbolic roles across centuries of belief and tradition.

Dangue shapes his animals as assemblages of found objects, infused with attributes of fortune and prosperity. Among these are yuanbao—the boat-shaped ingots of wealth—and the pierced brass coins of Chinese lore, talismans once strung together to ward off misfortune. By embedding such emblems into his creatures, the artist situates them within a continuum of material and spiritual aspiration.

In striking counterpoint to these animated forms are the artist’s own hands, cast in resin, amber-hued and luminous. Placed downward with fingertips touching the surface, they serve as both pedestal and anchor. They hold aloft the zodiac animals, yet also draw them back to the earth, reminding us that whatever celestial order the heavens might decree, the grounding of existence remains in human touch.

Binding these figures is a coil of wire that spirals around hand and animal alike, as if tracing an unseen current of energy. It is at once tether and conduit, suggesting the luminous cord of destiny that threads through our lives.

Dangue’s Kapalaran meditates on this tension: between forces believed to govern from above and the agency we carry within our grasp. The sculptures insist that while fate may be written in the stars, destiny is equally shaped by the weight and gesture of our own hands.