CalArts (California Institute of the Arts)

Art Alum Dar San Agustin Turns Everyday Objects Into Sculpture

Dar Sanugustine, a 2025 graduate of CalArts’ School of Art, Photo and Media, uses his post‑graduate show to turn the ubiquitous "good morning" towel—an immigrant household item common in the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and China—into cement sculptures. The work interrogates the notion of service, both as a societal expectation and as a personal sacrifice, drawing on his observations of elderly laborers in Singapore whose backs are bent from lifelong toil. The artist’s concept emerged from a residency at Singapore’s Tropical Lab, where he noted the relentless physical labor of older workers and reflected on his own burnout. By encasing the towels in cement, he “fossilizes” the fabric, suggesting how bodies and objects alike become hardened by repetitive service. The towel’s migration across Asian markets and now to the United States underscores the fluidity of cultural objects, while cement—an often‑overlooked layer we walk on daily—serves as a metaphor for the invisible human labor that constructs our environments. Sanugustine emphasizes the material’s symbolism, stating that cement represents the unnoticed work of those who lay foundations, just as the towel represents domestic labor. He credits the expansive CalArts studio space and mentorship from faculty and peers for enabling him to experiment, make messes, and ultimately define himself as an artist—a transformation he admits he never imagined before attending the institute. The project invites viewers to reconsider everyday objects as carriers of cultural history and labor narratives, prompting dialogue about service, migration, and the physical toll of work. For the broader art community, it demonstrates how material experimentation can surface social critique, while for audiences it offers a tangible reminder of the human effort embedded in the mundane.