He was covered in tattoos, the kind that you see inked on half-naked men in prison. He was also quite old, perhaps as old as my own father who’s turning 79 this year. The tattoos are so faded on his leathery skin that they seemed more like smudges of black grease.
II. THE ARTIST
I received in my mail a few weeks ago a small package from Filipina-American Evelyn Resella. A doting grandmother, she's one of those great people I have met here in cyberspace. What's more interesting is that she is also an painter.
Her works have always reminded me of Grandma Moses who started painting during her senior years (I believe she was already 72). Grandma Moses, an icon in American art, began painting when she had arthritis and shifted from crochet to painting on hard cardboard.
Evelyn's works have this nostalgic feel in them of a life she left behind here in the Philippines and of that she's been living for the past four decades in the U.S. She paints of fiestas, haranas, the Filipino-American life in California, her travels in the Caribbean and in Hawaii and her family. It's a lot of ideas and subjects for a painter to do. But one thing is very noticeable in her paintings, and it is that one gets a sense of a joie du vivre of a life fully lived.
Extensively colorful like a typical Pinoy fiesta, her canvasses explode with a wide-eyed wonderment in her colors and figures. There's a certain feeling of joy to see images painted with fond memories flowing from every corner. She has canvasses where she paints of bucolic sceneries mishmashed with other very Filipino themes - tinikling, planting rice, jeepenys. Like Moses, all her works are drawn from her earlier experiences, during the times when life was simpler and she, unabashedly, wanes nostalgic in her works.
I am glad I have known this artist. She's currently building up her collection to number 65... the age she had her first one-woman show in California. And perhaps someday, she'll be the Filipino-American equivalent of Grandma Moses.
:-)
8 comments:
Hi! I just returned from a refreshing trip. I am still jet lagged but feeling great. It's good to be back home. Your post about me is a wonderful welcome treat. Thanks for thinking of me. I am greateful and proud to have a creative and talented blog-mate like you. It is especially pleasing to be honored with a beautiful post in your blog. I am very impressed. Your adjectives and descriptions are most flattering. Yes, Grandma Moses is "inspirational." I was inspired more by her motivation and
determination than her folk art paintings. Hopefully, I will complete the 65 paintings in the future. THANK YOU and "Maraming Salamat" ulit.
Hey Dan! Thanks for dropping a line!
Moved by your stories especially the ex-con from Munti! I would have adopted him---bleeding heart talaga ako.
Naku and love those artworks of evelyn resella! Parang kay beth parrocha but more! more! :-D
Mabuhay talaga ang Pinoy artiste!
@ Ebb : Walang Anuman. :-)
@ nutart: i wonder what beth parrocha's been up to these days. i like her illustrations a lot.
ay, dan! she's always complaining of deadlines...then the next kuwento will be about deadlines. She had just gone back from Japan on a cultural visit...then she has again written about catching up on a deadline. She's a millionaire by now ;-)!
@ nutart: one other illustrator whose works i haven't seen lately is robert alejandro. now that guy's works is something i also adore. he's the eternal child.
You are a good story teller, palma... i can almost feel what's going on in Lolo's mind. You should write a book! :)
@ nance: ... and i day daydream a lot too. ;-)
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