_The Pauline Letters_

 

The Pauline Letters
Oil on cradled canvas
6' x 4.5'

October 18 - November 16, 2021

There was no escaping a painting of Paul of Tarsus for Maryhill School of Theology. At least six units, including the New Testament, are included in the school’s curriculum. 

 

I have always visualized Paul as a Stars Wars Jedi sage like Obi-Wan Kenobi. The background was based on Silas’ and Paul’s actual prison cell in the Carcere Mamertino in Rome.  The sword is based on the official sword of Saint Paul as can be seen on his statue in the Vatican. Although we were taught in school that scholars are uncertain as to whether six of the 13 epistles can be attributed to Paul, I included all 13. For his halo I used the Tibetan lotus mandala, the lotus being a symbol of deep spirituality. In this painting the four gateways in the mandala represent not only the four cardinal directions but the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as well. The mandala is a reminder that Paul was inclusive of Asians, as Peter was exclusive of them.

 

The auditory stimulus I used while making this painting was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVX80UpMPDI. Do listen to it while viewing the painting. 

_Portrait of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard (after John Singer Sargent's _Portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw_)_

Portrait of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard (after John Singer Sargent's Portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw)

Oil on canvas

82" x 46"

April 24 -30, October 18, and November 17, 2021

_Tai Toh Kung, God of Healing_

Tai Toh Kung, God of Healing

Acrylic on canvas
2004

Collection of Ryan Valera and Peachie Deoquino Valera
Photo by Peachie Deoquino Valera

_Batman _ (2004)

Batman
Oil pastels on canvas
2004

Collection of Mico Marasigan
Photo by Mico Marasigan

This still life was part of my exhibit at mag:net gallery on Pasong Tamo, also in 2004. It features a clutter of items in my old bedroom: a Batman doll a co-worker's husband bought for me in Hong Kong; a Michael Keaton Batman mug that a student from De La Salle University gave me; a dip pen; a Bat Signal sticker; a brown, leather journal my sister Lourdes sent me from Sydney; a black, leather journal also sent by my eldest sister Lourdes from Sydney; my Bat Signal tie; a white, aromatherapy lamp and a giant Batman War comic book purchased from National Book Store Superbranch; a cloissone ashtray that I bought in Hong Kong en route home from training in DC; a gold fountain pen; reading glasses in a gold case; money bills; a drinking glass; a mobile phone (yes, once upon a time I used mobiles!); an empty carton of cigarettes; an antique, sterling silver key holder; a leather cigarette case and a lighter in a silver case I bought in San Diego, California; a yellow, long-sleeved shirt; a foot roller; an antique tin; and a porcelain box, among other things.

This painting is small in comparison with my other works. I consider its triumph to be a triumph of detail, a difficult thing to achieve with oil pastels on canvas.

However, as I always tell others, "I never wanted to be Batman, but I always wanted to be Bruce Wayne."

_Young Bacchus_

Young Bacchus

Oil on canvas

1993

I learned to paint in oil from ages ten through 12 (fifth through seventh grades) at Ateneo Grade School's Arts Club under the guidance of Araceli Limcaco-Dans. From high school onward I made forays into graphite, charcoal, watercolor, chalk pastels, oil pastels, and acrylic, in that order.

In 1993 I decided to go back to oil painting for good, and this was the very first painting I made that year, a truly early work, of my younger son Chito as Young Bacchus.

In 1998 I gave this painting to Bambi Gamban, a student at De La Salle University and a member of the Spirit Questors, for safekeeping, and for the longest time it hung in her mother's lanai. I reclaimed it only a few years ago, giving Bambi my painting titled Batman in exchange. Both Young Bacchus and Batman were returned to me, however, and Batman ended up being given as a gift to Mico Marasigan.

This painting hangs in our studio foyer. I am glad to have it back.

Note that my definitive signature had not yet been developed at the time.

Exercise In Oil: Copy of Diego de Velazquez's _The Old Gladiator_

An exercise in oil, a copy of Diego de Velazquez's The Old Gladiator, a.k.a. Mars made under the tutelage of Fernando B. Sena at Saturday Art Gallery, Ali Mall, in 2000.

Most of my classmates were indigent. The cheapest student brands were used. Watercolor was done on odd sheets such as manila paper and newspapers. For the exercise in oil we were instructed to use Canola cooking oil instead of linseed oil and lacquer thinner instead of turpentine.

It's been 21 years but this painting has held up very well.

June 10, 2021: Installation Of Four Paintings At Maryhill School Of Theology

_Adoration of the Magi_

 

 Adoration of the Magi

Oil on cradled canvas

4.5' x 6'

February 9 - March 17, 2021

This painting is a reverse take on the Wise Men's visit to the Christ Child during the Nativity. Guided by their inner star, they arrive at the entombment of Christ after his body is deposed from the cross. Instead of gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they offer a gold bowl of clean water, an alabaster jar of spices and perfume, and a thurible with lit incense.

The pattern on the side of the sarcophagus is that of ripe, rice stalks, signifying new life that follows death. Like _The Glorious Mysteries: The Resurrection_, with which it will be hung side by side, the work bears the leitmotif of a circle, triangles, and squares. Also as in _The Resurrection_, the figure of Christ was proportioned to eight heads, while the figures of the others were proportioned to seven heads. 

The painting is a study in black on black, but I had to lighten it up considerably because it will hang in the narrow stairwell between the ground and second floors of the library of Maryhill School of Theology (MST). 

Perhaps it should be mentioned here that the preference of MST for the enculturation of theology entails not pulling forward the religious events in the past to the present, but, instead, superimposing the present on the religious events in the past. Given such phenomenological perceptions of time, this is MST's contribution to the celebration of 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines.

The pandemic is still on, and I continue to refuse to admit models and outsiders into our house/my studio area. Angelique sat for Mary, and Jazz sat for Christ. The images of the Wise Men were based on stock shots in the public domain.

The auditory stimulus I used while making this painting is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9nJspo7yKo. Do listen to it while viewing the work.

_The Glorious Mysteries: The Resurrection_

The Glorious Mysteries: The Resurrection

Oil on cradled canvas

6' x 4.5'

January 3 - 28, 2021

An angel informs Mary of Magdala that Christ is risen. Mary goes to the risen Christ, who admonishes her not to touch him because he has not yet gone to the Father.

In this painting I used Leonardo Da Vinci's illustration of the architect Vitruvius' perfect proportions of man for the figure of Christ. No human being in this world conforms to those proportions, but I used the illustration to indicate that we resurrect in perfect bodies before ascending to heaven. Until we ascend, perfection cannot be touched by imperfection. I retained Da Vinci's double image to indicate that the enlightened Ego and the grounded Shadow resurrect together as one, complete, spiritual component.

It can be said that this painting is really about Mary of Magdala. Christ's and the angel's eyes are fixed on her. Her identity covered by a cloak, she represents every woman (and every man) who is, in a manner of speaking, being "left behind".

Composition-wise the Shadow Christ's legs connect the figure of Christ to Mary on the left and to the angel on the right. Mary and the angel, on the other hand, are connected to each other by Christ's discarded shroud, which the angel has only begun folding on top of the niches. This triad of relationships forms an (invisible) isosceles triangle below the circle and the square. There are, of course, four more invisible isosceles triangles: those formed by visualizing straight lines crossing from the corners of the square, their common apex being the midpoint, which is the penis of the figure as in Da Vinci's illustration. 

While the central figure is the risen Christ looming larger than life (proportioned to eight heads) in comparison with the figures of Mary and the angel (both proportioned to seven heads), the leitmotif of the painting is everyone's hands. The Shadow Christ's hands are outstretched to remind us of the Crucifixion in the immediate past. The risen Christ's hands are raised like the wings of a phoenix rising from the blazing sun. It is also the same, bright sun that seems to prevent Mary's hand from touching Christ. The angel's hands are clasped beneath the shroud, indicating that he is unable to approach Mary and console her.

I used five kinds of blue in this painting: phthalo, cyan, and turquoise for the sections inside and outside the circle and the square, cerulean for Christ's loincloth and shroud and the angel's wings, and Prussian for the interior of the empty niche.

The pandemic is still on and I continue to refuse to admit outsiders and models into my studio. Jazz sat for the figure of Christ, Angelique, for the figure of Mary. The angel is Joseph Schwarzkopf, a Thai seminarian who completed his theological studies at Maryhill School of Theology. Years ago, before he departed for Thailand, we would meet for lunch at Araneta Center, where we discussed Thai names and words and, believe it or not, kuman thong (of which I have seven), sak yant, and Thai magic. I was already initiated into Haring Bakal in Santander, Cebu, at the time, and I saw many parallelisms between Haring Bakal and Thai sak yant. I once took reference photos of Joseph and promised to make him the angel of the Resurrection someday. Joseph was fully clothed when I took photos of him; we were, after all, inside a restaurant.

Here is the painting, and I have kept my promise to Joseph.

The auditory stimulus I used while making this painting is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4HI1_LTWIk. Do listen to it while viewing the painting.

In another context, this song is also for all the Facebook Friends I unFriended. Forgive me, but my objective is to end up with only 500 or 200 interactive Friends I intend to be with through my old age. Please listen to it while watching the video. In my personal life I've resurrected as a different person and a different artist. I am no longer whom you remember me as, but, since I've unFriended you, that is for me to know and for you to find out.