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Hometown: Davao Oriental, PH
Label: DACASI International (Indie label)
Management: dsillada@gmail.com
Website: dannysillada.weebly.com
Genre: World
Danny Castillones Sillada took a 180-degree detour from his vocation to the priesthood to embrace his artistic calling in the art world. He is a Filipino multidisciplinary artist, thinker and writer – a surrealist painter, performance artist, philosopher, multilingual poet, essayist, musician, indie filmmaker and photographer with corresponding body of works in each field.
As a musician, he writes, composes, and performs ethnic songs, Hip Hop, and avant-garde ethno-techno music. He also a virtuoso of an ethnic instrument called Kudlong (two-stringed sitar) and blues harmonica. He has already launched two albums “The Battle Within” in 2008, a techno-music with ethnic roots, and “Sang Kanami Daya” (2009), composed of ethnic songs. Other album singles include the hip-hop “Bulag” (2017), a political satire about Philippine politics, and “Dandansoy” (2012), a folk song in blues harmonica. He performs his music, poetry, and live art performances at the alternative venues in Metro Manila.
He is also a critic-writer on arts and culture in one of the leading daily papers in the Philippines. He is a recipient of several citations and awards and, to date, he has already launched 13 one-man shows, both local and abroad, as a surrealist painter.
"Danny Sillada is the embodiment of a Filipino who defies the existing trend. He is a visual artist, recognized for his paintings and installations, a literary writer who is into prose and poetry, a philosopher, whose writings are akin with existentialism, a first-rate performance artist...”
Michael Marlowe Uy & Katrina Kalaw - University of Asia and the Pacific
“Danny Sillada emerges as an artist of expressive potential and autobiographical force. His art represents as a liberating device that explores the depth of tortured subconscious by exploring the relationship between symbolism and experience.”
Reuben Ramas Cañete, UP Professor & Art Critic - Fine Art America
“Danny Sillada is a noted cultural performance artist, bringing with him the inflections and the rhythms of Mindanao, combining poetry, song, images and even hip-hop and martial arts: crossing modern and old, urban and indigenous.”
Robert De Tagle - Asian Journal
"Sillada was a perfect example of art in a public space, part performance and walking innuendo, straight from the wilds of Mindanao…"
Juaniyo Arcellana - More Art in Public Places, The Philippine Star
“An example of hip-hop crossing cultures is best exemplified in the works of Danny Sillada. He makes ethnic songs and has crafted a political satire about Philippine politics called ‘bulag.’”
Martin Lazaro - OMMster Magazine
“Danny Sillada is also known for his performance art and forerunning extraordinary ‘ethno-techno’ music – a rare hybrid of ethnic/tribal beats and digital ambient sounds, particularly mimicking nature.”
Shar Matingka - Illustrado
“Danny Sillada’s collaboration with Caliph8 in an art event in Eastwood a few years ago has to be one of the most memorable performances I’ve ever witnessed. He recited a poem in his native dialect accompanied by a boisterous laughter in the chorus over caliph8′s heavy drum beats. I’m a firm believer that many of the best moments in life are unrecorded like excellent ciphers, this act was one of those.”
Martin Lazaro - OMMster Magazine
“Like the poignant imagery of his art, Danny Sillada's life is as complex as his forms and colors on canvas… The images of his works are inherently sensual, sensitive, and teeming with vibrant colors.”
Youth & Campus Bulletin Section - Manila Bulletin
“Danny Sillada’s works are dominated by images of interiors and imprisonment, escape and enclosures, exits and entrances. There are unambiguous references to a life, driven by spirituality and sexuality.”
Cid Reyes, Art Critic - Today Magazine, Lifestyle Section (republished in Fine Art America)
"Danny Sillada has established himself as a neo-ethnic artist, his masterpieces overflowing with vibrant incoherence...Minds are left bewildered and slightly disturbed yet visually gratified..."
Shar Matingka - Illustrado
““There is, almost always, an air of intangible sadness in the paintings if not in the poetry of Danny Castillones Sillada. The stark loneliness that his paintings evoke is almost done with exactly the same intensity as his written prose.””
Lorna Revilla Montilla, Art Critic - Philippine Daily Inquirer (republished in Fine Art America)
