DIPTYCH: _THE WEDDING RECEPTION AT CANA_ (LEFT PANEL)

DIPTYCH: THE WEDDING RECEPTION AT CANA (LEFT PANEL)

Oil on cradled canvas

4.5’ x 6’

November 16 - December 4, 2019

The first miracle of Jesus, the transformation of water to wine at a wedding reception in Cana, was possibly a midrash not only to mark the beginning of Jesus’ ministry but also a foreshadowing of the later mystery of transubstantiation. Jesus and Mary are depicted as dressed in fine clothing because the Jews were properly attired in attending rituals and celebrations; as such, every Jew, whether rich or poor, owned at least one set of their best clothing. Such clothing was not necessarily expensive. Due to the conquests of Alexander the Great in 336 – 323 BCE and the subsequent entrance of Hellenism in Rome there was much commerce with India, Persia, and Egypt, among other countries. The design on Jesus’ robe deliberately suggests the modern, Catholic priest’s chasuble, which is worn during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which the mystery of transubstantiation occurs.

This is the only miracle of Jesus in which Mary is present. She and the jugs of water are at the center of the painting. Her arms and hands are in repose—it is the men who roll up their sleeves and do the work in response to her word. This episode, then, also reflects a son’s love for and obedience to his mother. The hands of Jesus and the hands of the servant boy are connected to each other by the diagonal line formed by the right arm and the hands of Mary.

The dark storage room on the right alludes to yet another miracle, that of death and resurrection, which occurred inside the tomb of Lazarus, and in which another woman also named Mary  figures. We may infer that this kind of resurrection is a metaphor for conversion from non-Christianity to Christianity, and that the servant boy’s first-hand experience of Jesus’ miracle leads him to follow His teachings.

On a psychological level, the brightly lighted dining hall on the left represents the Conscious; the prep chamber, where the miracle occurs, the Subconscious; and the dark storage room on the right, the Unconscious.

This was the auditory stimulus I used while making this painting. The auditory stimuli I use have nothing to do with the subject matter of my paintings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijDcHT9Zl8U

_Tiger Lilies (Portrait of Genevieve Asenjo)_

Tiger Lilies (Portrait of Genevieve Asenjo)
Oil on cradled canvas
4' x 5'
October 10 - 23, 2019

Installation of Five Physical Senses (Septuple Portrait of Ambeth Ocampo) in Ambeth's bedroom.

I must say, gorgeous bedroom!

In this portrait, I rendered the subject at different ages and at different stages in his life. I chose the colors of the panels in the background--maroon, green, and blue--to correspond with the three academic institutions he worked in.

Most of my paintings have theatrical settings, perhaps because I am a playwright. The clouds above are cut-out props used in classical Greek drama. The inlaid table, the gas lamp, and the antique, Chinese chair are actual items in the subject's possession; so, of course, are all of the clothes he is wearing.

The bitten apple has the whitest white of all--it is not painted on, it is the bare prime of the canvas, which I simply painted around.

Suzanne Duque Salvo, who has a master's degree in Divinity, offers Ambeth her interpretation:

"First, that this painting was installed in your bedroom suggests intimacy, so could be the message and meaning. It is after all a portrait of you, but parsed.

"That the work is called Five Senses prompts one to look for what conveys sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing. Finding them all in the upper half of the frame makes me think of delineation of body and finitude, and the other part (given that the artist, whose profile I peeked into, has hermeneutics as his other calling) would be immortality and soul, confirmed by the presence in the center of the lamp, which isn’t the usual color of light and fire, but green. Biblical green is not just hope, spring (ergo resurrection) but eternal life or immortality.

"Where is ’immortality for you’? Which now brings my attention to the lower half of the painting. Through your writings obviously, as indicated by the you in Filipiniana, holding pen. But that’s not enough. I was taught to hone my ‘religious imagination’ and meaning-making, so I will dare say that the artist painted a sleeping you—in a monk’s habit at that— to remind you of the times, as with many figures in the Bible, when God speaks to those male figures.

"What comes out of you in word or deed is what touches people, when you put, as Parker Palmer says, ‘soul in your role.’ And as if to underscore all this, the lamp in the center, calls to mind Rizal’s story of the mother and offspring moth, and the caution on not going near the flame cause the kid moth will burn. But theologically, it is OK to go near the flame to be enlightened by wisdom and the knowledge of Good and Evil (the figure with the bitten fruit implies the connection/relationship) BUT --- the stance to approach that flame/light is when one might as well be ‘resting on the Lord’, asleep; and also in monks’ language, in meditation, in total surrender."

_Five Physical Senses (Septuple Portrait of Ambeth Ocampo)_

Five Physical Senses (Septuple Portrait of Ambeth Ocampo)
Oil on cradled canvas
5' x 5'
September 11 - 30, 2019

Installation Of Four Paintings At Maryhill School Of Theology (September 9, 2019)

_Saint Lorenzo Ruiz_ and _Saint Pedro Calungsod_ (Diptych)

These two paintings were completed July 25 – August 18, 2019.

Saint Lorenzo Ruiz

Oil on cradled canvas

6.5’ x 4’

July 25 – August 18, 2019

Saint Pedro Calungsod

Oil on cradled canvas

6.5’ x 4’

July 25 – August 18, 2019

  

The two Filipino saints are depicted in the same field, with rice ready for harvesting and coconut trees in the background. This diptych was designed to hang outside the President’s and the Dean’s offices in the lobby, across Christ Calming the Storm. While Christ Calming the Storm was painted from a high angle, i.e. from the point of view of the wind, Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and Saint Pedro Calungsod were both painted from a low angle to create a visual shift as viewers pass through the lobby. Theological meaning may be perceived not only in the rice field but also in the coconut trees, the coconut tree being one of the Philippine trees of life, alongside the bamboo (Saint John the Baptist Triptych) and the banana (Saint Joseph the Worker).

Above and behind everything in the diptych, a metaphorical tsunami, representing powerful forces of oppression, rises in preparation for extinguishing all forms of life beneath it. The diptych, however, is about the salvation of the soul against all odds, including death.

I went through a very brief Dimash Kudaibergen phase in July and August. The auditory stimulus I used while painting this diptych was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-BYMBJFH_U. The auditory stimuli I use have nothing to do with the subject matter of my paintings.

_Saint Joseph the Worker_

Saint Joseph the Worker Oil on cradled canvas 4.5’ x 6’ July 6 – 17, 2019

Joseph and the boy Jesus are working through high noon. Joseph attempts to lift the plank of wood from Jesus’ shoulder, but Jesus embraces it. This painting was designed to hang inside the Dean’s office: Joseph is symbolic of the Dean who guides his students. Theological meaning may also be perceived in the banana trees, the banana tree being one of the Philippine trees of life, alongside the bamboo and the coconut.

The composition in this work was derived from ancient Egyptian wall paintings. As such, the figures of Joseph and Jesus may be considered allusions to Pharaoh and the boy Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel, and to Pharaoh and the boy Moses.

This painting was executed in earth and flesh tones, and used six kinds of yellow: ochre, raw sienna, chrome, cadmium, jaune, and Naples.

The following was the auditory stimulus I used while working on this painting. The auditory stimuli I use for my paintings, however, have nothing to do with the paintings' subject matter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKe3fmUA67w

_Divine Grace/The Immaculate Conception_

Divine Grace/The Immaculate Conception
6' x 4.5'
Oil on cradled canvas
June 18 - 26, 2018

This is painting # 9 for Maryhill School of Theology.

In a Wikipedia entry, "Mary (Arabic: مريم‎, romanized: Maryam), the mother of Jesus (Isa), holds a singularly exalted place in Islam as the only woman named in the Quran, which refers to her seventy times and explicitly identifies her as the greatest of all women, stating, with reference to the angelic salutation during the annunciation, 'O Mary, God has chosen you, and purified you; He has chosen you above all the women of creation.'...

"According to the Quran, divine grace surrounded Mary from birth, and, as a young woman, she received a message from God through the archangel Gabriel that God had chosen her, purified her, and had preferred her above all 'the women of the worlds.' This event, according to the same narrative, was followed by the annunciation of a child who was to be miraculously conceived by her through the intervention of the divine spirit while she was still virgin, whose name would be Jesus and who would be the 'anointed one,' the Promised Messiah. As such, orthodox Islamic belief 'has upheld the tenet of the virgin birth of Jesus'... 

This painting depicts Mary as a Mindanao maiden (the Luzon Mary is at the entrance to the library while the Visayas Mary is inside the main section of the library), and was designed to hang at the top of the staircase leading to the library's second floor.

The auditory stimulus used during the execution of this painting is on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAAlDoAtV7Y. The auditory stimuli I use for paintings have nothing to do with the paintings' subject matter.

Installation of _Orange Pen: Portrait of Glenn Sevilla Mas) in Glenn's Condo Unit, June 16, 2019

_Orange Pen (Portrait of Glenn Sevilla Mas)_

I intended to paint playwright Glenn Sevilla Mas's portrait against a black background, but I changed my mind after visiting his condo unit and seeing the wall where it would hang. The guest room it will be in is small and looks out onto a balcony that commands a view of the neighborhood and brings the sunshine in, as in an Edward Hopper painting.

Orange Pen (Portrait of Glenn Sevilla Mas)
Oil on cradled canvas
4' x 4'
April 14 - May 17, 2019

Installation of Seven Paintings from _Nightwalker_ at Maryhill School of Theology for the Festival of Catholic Social Teaching in the Philippines

Installation Of Four Paintings At Maryhill School Of Theology (Friday, April 5, 2019)

Library foyer. The photo on the right is of founding Father Theophile Verbist, CICM.

Circulation Desk

Sitting area

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