IT RUNS IN THE BLOOD: THE FERRARIS GROUP SHOW

This exhibition presents the works of the five FERRARIS siblings, their spouses and their kids.

Interestingly, the labels of each art piece exhibited in the gallery now were written in the penmanship of their mother, Teresita Arroyo Epistola Ferraris. It is a timely tool presented in an age when the art of handwriting is gradually forgotten while the modern day hi-tech gadgets changed the art of writing.

Joel, Nelson, Jocelyn, Noel and Edgar are all self-taught artists from Iloilo City, Philippines. They started doing art since they were young kids by joining art competitions and art exhibitions starting from their province in Iloilo and eventually in Metro Manila and abroad. Although they have no formal training in fine arts because there was no fine arts school in their city at that time they were able to win significant and prestigious national and international arts competitions.

Coincidentally, they were married to equally talented ladies who are also artistically inclined but who worked in a much slower pace than they do.

Sally (Joel’s wife) is a graduate of BS Statistics and is the one close critic of Joel’s work. She started painting flowers in the 80s but recently shifted to a more abstract theme influenced by her job as a computer analyst.

Pamela (Nelson’s wife) took up BS Pharmacy. She became an artist inspired by her husband’s prolific attitude towards art making. Having had the first taste of acceptance in the art world when one of her art piece was auctioned in the early 90s, she became more determined to pursue her newfound profession.

These biological sisters who both studied at the University of the Philippines have a youngest sister Beth who also wanted to take Fine Arts but instead graduated as a Medical Technologist like Jocelyn.

Sukoi (Noel’s wife) is a graduate of BS in Mass Communications and is the niece of Norman Sustiguer, a very close friend of the Ferraris brothers, and who is a very talented artist and painter who once taught at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. She painted a portrait of Noel in 1995.

The kids David, Daniel, Jemimah, Violet, Ronnie, Faith, Joseph, Kulay and Neo are all showing strong signs of inclination towards the arts. At their very young age they have very much interest in drawing the same way that their parents had in the past. And like their parents, these kids have no one to force them to pick-up pencils and papers to draw whatever ideas they have in mind.

The exhibition presents a spectrum determined by age and their works present a variety ranging from the carefree action of an innocent 10-month old baby to the more careful and calculated approach of adults approaching their golden age.

Violet (only 10 months old and the youngest of all) displayed the natural actions of babies her age to throw things. Her artwork was a result of paint splattered over a canvas when her father Nelson gave her cups of paint of different colors.

Jemimah (3 years and 8 months old) began to draw human-like forms in a more naïve way. These were all done in free-flowing strokes and drawings and she gave them names like her papa, mama and brothers. Unaided by her parents and brothers, she just silently draws in one corner of their flat whenever she feels doing it.

Joseph ( 4 years old), draws colored images showing the California forest fires as seen from a young child’s eyes. This is evidence that children are affected by what they see on TV especially the news. Done in bold strokes and strong colors on handmade paper, these small artworks send a strong signal from a very young boy his age..

Neo (4 years old) is more interested in cars and Tom and Jerry. His strong but playful strokes and colors are much bolder compared to that of his older sister Kulay.

Daniel (7 years old) has done drawings showing kids playing with their kites. His depiction of one kid looking upwards towards the sky is surprising. Another and recent artwork, his first watercolor painting, presents nature seen through the eyes of a child.

Faith (9 years old), who has traveled to Boracay Island in the Philippines several times with her family, draws coconut palms and flowers and shows her strong interest in nature.

Ronnie (10 ½ years old) did colorful artworks showing landscapes and a tree house. His love for golf and their family trips to Boracay Island with his sister Faith are good sources of inspiration.

David (10 years and 8 months old) presents drawings done in different periods that show the development on his skills. From images of toy robots and lego characters he has improved a lot even without the tutelage of his parents when he started doing still life drawings of the plants which he has incorporated in one single drawing depicting a farm.

Kulay is 11 years old and the oldest of the Ferraris kids. She displayed a more mature approach to drawing and painting. Her art pieces clearly show a more careful approach especially when she observes first hand how her meticulous father Noel work on background artworks for very popular animation films like Tarzan and Lilo & Stitch. At a very young age she was influenced by the Japanese Anime images but has tried to develop characters which are considered totally her own.

Judging from the above works of the children, it could probably be an interesting show to see if these art pieces done by kids in small scale be enlarged into large-scale artworks when they grow-up into adults in the future.

Now let’s focus on what their parents have done. In this particular exhibition, the five Ferraris siblings presented works old and new.

Joel, who has been showing his new works made in Hong Kong all these years, decided to include one very old work dated 1986 and done in a traditional style in oil on canvas. This is in stark contrast to his new style in mixed media on wood done in 2007. The reason is to present a lingering problem in the Philippines.

Nelson has three very visually strong art pieces with messages ranging from cyber piracy to global warming and pollution and the age-old theme about religion and violence. These are just a mere peek at what he has in his store room.

Jocelyn has one piece done in 1992 showing her meticulous technique of mixed media on handmade paper, a style which was part of a series that was included in a traveling exhibition dubbed “Visayan Islands Visual Arts On A National Circuit Tour” all over the Philippines in 1992. At present she joins group exhibitions in the US.

Noel, who has a very keen and strict eye for details, presents a mixed-media artwork. With the Filipino values as the theme, he uses the Letras Y Figuras approach to present a visual narrative of our rich heritage as a people.

Edgar, who lives and paints in the family’s place of origin in Iloilo City, presented a more relaxing theme in oil and acrylic on canvas about the beauty and lure of the beach and the life close to the sea. A frequent visitor of Boracay Island, he has experienced a more remote yet more internationally exposed life there in that island with white sand beaches so loved by multi-national tourists.

All of the above show an interesting mélange of art by beginners, amateurs and professionals and the accompanying contrast between youth and older age. It draws the line between innocence and a mind full of or bothered by serious concerns and issues affecting a person or the society. Although the older ones have more time to do art while their sunsets are still far away, the dawning of the promising talents of the younger ones may yet show a new breed of artists in the Ferraris family.

Art is a God-given talent used as a tool to aid in one’s better existence. Yet above all these, and given the possible temptations that an artist might face after success or failures in this chosen field , it is the true, strong and real Christian spiritual enlightenment that is the strong foundation to guide artists to be able to become good stewards of this extraordinary blessing. Moreover, as life is a gift in itself, it must be meant to glorify the One who gave it.