The mural after DAY 4
People might be wondering why and how I thought of using other people's shadows to include in my mural by tracing them on the canvas surface. Well, here is how the whole idea started:
One evening way back in 1988, as we in the big group of artists in Iloilo were busy preparing for the local arts festival there (Hublag) and wherein the large wall installation piece of my brother Nelson was the centerpiece of the whole exhibition, I was taking a rest in one corner of that spacious Philippine National Bank (PNB) lobby. I noticed that I was not alone as my shadow sits right next to me and it was distinctly emphasized on the wall because of the strong industrial floodlight positioned facing the wall a few meters away from me.
Instantly an idea struck my mind and I took one of the empty wooden crate boxes, a brush and cans of paint, and started tracing my shadows as I moved from one somewhat dramatic position to another. The whole technique created a series of overlapping silhouettes which I painted in different colors. I finished the new artwork a few hours later.
As we started the arts festival the next morning, a local rich art collector got so interested in that new painting I did.
People might be wondering why and how I thought of using other people's shadows to include in my mural by tracing them on the canvas surface. Well, here is how the whole idea started:
One evening way back in 1988, as we in the big group of artists in Iloilo were busy preparing for the local arts festival there (Hublag) and wherein the large wall installation piece of my brother Nelson was the centerpiece of the whole exhibition, I was taking a rest in one corner of that spacious Philippine National Bank (PNB) lobby. I noticed that I was not alone as my shadow sits right next to me and it was distinctly emphasized on the wall because of the strong industrial floodlight positioned facing the wall a few meters away from me.
Instantly an idea struck my mind and I took one of the empty wooden crate boxes, a brush and cans of paint, and started tracing my shadows as I moved from one somewhat dramatic position to another. The whole technique created a series of overlapping silhouettes which I painted in different colors. I finished the new artwork a few hours later.
As we started the arts festival the next morning, a local rich art collector got so interested in that new painting I did.
It is interesting how my mind travels while I continue to maintain this thing called patience just to meticulously work on this large complicated painting until it is completed and done. My mind is preoccupied with making an imaginary list of the things that I want to include in the picture. To aid me in this process I just thought of what people buy or collect or throw each day since they were young. I also tried to recall things I used or came across with all these years.
I also thought of how a virgin piece of land, with its natural beauty, starts to be raped by tourists and the commercial establishments that go with them and therefore gradually deteriorates into another polluted stinky place with all the uncollected rubbish becoming eyesores to a developed place while the problem of waste disposal becomes so serious.
Just imagine how much money were spent on these things and to make a list of these means volumes upon volumes of these lists which will only end when one dies. But while some people only bother to make a list of earthly things to do before they die, isn't it a lot wiser to think of what more important things to have in the after-life?
I also thought of how a virgin piece of land, with its natural beauty, starts to be raped by tourists and the commercial establishments that go with them and therefore gradually deteriorates into another polluted stinky place with all the uncollected rubbish becoming eyesores to a developed place while the problem of waste disposal becomes so serious.
Just imagine how much money were spent on these things and to make a list of these means volumes upon volumes of these lists which will only end when one dies. But while some people only bother to make a list of earthly things to do before they die, isn't it a lot wiser to think of what more important things to have in the after-life?
Truly, we cannot carry our wealth and all these heavy baggage of material things offering temporal joy and comfort to heaven. The necessity and importance of those riches we need to store in our Almighty God the Father's Kingdom that Lord Jesus Christ promised blurs the idea of fighting for material things that we have accumulated all these years, especially those gained through questionable means, while the epidemic called corruption infects those who are aiming for power.
I experienced poverty myself and aimed to have wealth too. But there is this fear in me to get rich especially because what I experienced here in Hong Kong where one has to force himself to transfer to more cheaper flats meant to do again and again the routine of packing and unpacking one's belongings until such time that there's no more choice but to throw some of these because there are no more space to store them.
I experienced poverty myself and aimed to have wealth too. But there is this fear in me to get rich especially because what I experienced here in Hong Kong where one has to force himself to transfer to more cheaper flats meant to do again and again the routine of packing and unpacking one's belongings until such time that there's no more choice but to throw some of these because there are no more space to store them.
