A constellation of paintings

Once upon a time a long time ago I attended a Jung Festival at the Ateneo and picked up a few new words. One of them was “constellate” and the “constellation” of events before something big happens. Imagine a scattering of dots, each dot a conversation of a tiny event, not necessarily related to each other. Then the big picture suddenly emerges and you suddenly understand how those little dots created a beautiful picture.

I was accidentally conversing with a painter friend who told me that today to be a successful painter you must have a padrino or a patron, someone who buys your work until he builds your reputation. Then other art collectors buy your work as an investment until you hit the multimillion-peso range. “Really? But I see some of the paintings in that range and I don’t even want to hang them in my home,” I said. “I think people should buy art—paintings or sculptures—that touch their hearts. Patrons create a superbly rich niche market for art, which regular people ignore because they just can’t afford it. Maybe we should create a market for affordable art,” I added flippantly.

Then I was invited to my second cousin’s art exhibit opening at the new Kashmir in Poblacion. Encarnita “Ica” Laurel Loewen, like Gemma Cruz Araneta and me, flowed down from Maria, the sister immediately before Jose Rizal. Maria had two children—Encarnacion, Ica’s grandmother, and Mauricio, Gemma’s and my grandfather. Ica has always loved to draw. She went to school in St. Scholastica and drew through all her classes. Now in her 70s, she has turned to acrylic, looking at the works of Picasso and I don’t know who else and has tons of pretty paintings.

Gemma forced her to organize her work into an exhibit that opened at Kashmir’s events place in Poblacion. It used to be Las Collinas at the corner of Molina and Quintos Streets. The exhibit is charming; taped to the windows are what Gemma calls The Aviary because Ica loves to paint birds, flowers and women. Ica lives in a condo in Makati and takes morning walks in the Ayala gardens listening to birds merrily chirping, looking at the flowers and trees, then goes back to her condo and paints. She paints on watercolor paper or on the back of thick saved calendars. She has hundreds of paintings of all sizes. Once she painted Jose Rizal. She ran out of paper and painted a woman behind Jose Rizal’s painting. “Is this Josephine Bracken?” I asked her. She laughed. I told her, “I think someone should frame this between two pieces of glass and hang it as a divider so people can appreciate both sides.”

She has a wall of her floral paintings, all quite beautiful, and another wall for her women paintings, some of which I like very much. There is only one man—apart from Jose Rizal and the saints—in her paintings. He is white as the paper with very little detail. Maybe she has made a subconscious or unconscious statement on Maria Rizal’s female descendants. We are mostly tremendously independent and appear not to have a great need for men.

Her prices are very reasonable. They start at P2,500 and end at P3,000. But you still have to have the paintings framed. Nevertheless, I think that is reasonable for young people who live in their own condos, who want to post pictures of what they like, who smile warmly when they look at roses in a glass vase, for around P3,000 without a frame. These are people who have active hearts.

I encourage you to go, look, and enjoy this show. It has no airs—just simple capturing of feelings on paper. I think it might start a fad in the art world, one that makes good art affordable and enjoyable for simple people.

I have to thank Gemma for nagging, prodding and pushing our second cousin, Ica, to exhibit her work at the Kashmir events place owned by Leon, Gemma’s son. Ica must be immensely congratulated for finally doing it in spite of months of long resistance. That’s how a constellation works. First Ica paints endlessly; then Leon tells his mom about his events place asking for ideas for the opening; then Gemma puts on Ica’s painting exhibit, while I inadvertently have a conversation with a friend about art patrons, the way they get in the way of making art available to regular people. Finally, this exhibit opens for simple people who just want to have something that makes them smile in their homes. This column connects all those dots and forms a constellation of little stars—Ica’s simple, happy paintings!

 Don’t miss it! It will decidedly make you smile! It will be on view until Dec. 20.