The feeling the paintings projected was eerily and exquisitely Florentine. Round faces, rubinesque bodies, Botticelli silhouettes abounded in most of the 33 canvases. Rich rich colour, picturesque and quaint details, reminiscent of a bygone era (Renaissance?) evocatively framed every artwork.
Blame the delicious dissonance on the artist, Regina de Leon, and her exhibit whimsically entitled "To love life and see good days".
Fault Regina with capturing the essence and ecstasy of her peculiar and triumphant rebirth, from a colorful past, from an excruciating and near death bout with cancer, to a joyous new chapter of life as an artist of note, a doting grandmother, as a loving spouse and mother, and a healthy, thriving Bonne vivante!
Attribute to her this radiant collection of portraits inspired by scripture, a deep commitment to prayer, and an abiding faith that through all she has been through in her life, only the great God above could have healed, and did heal, her, and gifted her with newfound youth.
Verses line her paintings...angels, madonnas, and serenely spiritual beings proliferate among her subjects...and she admits that as she finishes one painting, she looks upward in praise and prayer to ask, "what is next?" before she starts on the next one.
To the many well heeled guests who attended and patronized her art, much is known about Regina's battle with the demons who and which could have crushed a lesser believer.
To the many well heeled guests, Regina has long been known as a talented painter since her youth. She had studied in Italy, but duty to her parents prevailed on her to study business instead of the art that she loved.
To the many well well heeled guests, that she has returned to the city of her youthful studies in business to now concentrate on the true loves of her life, art and her family, is joyous news indeed.
It is a joy she shares and wears proudly. It shows in her manner of rapid fire speaking and multitasking with a smile. It shows in her dramatic simplicity and humility of demeanor, despite being a daughter of one of Manila's best and well known families. And it shows in her gravelly laugh that seems to come from a hidden reservoir from deep within her petite frame.
She has paintings dedicated to her son, a musician. She has work dedicated to the biblical Sarah, who was renewed with youth by God as woman in her 60's when she was coveted by strangers, and in her 90's when she bore Isaac. She has paintings dedicated to mothers and children, to the King of Kings, to angels, to celestial and divine subjects. In truth, all her work is committed to the God of her fervent conviction. There is a rhythm to her work, to the confluence of color, lines, shapes, and proportion. She claims not technical perfection, believing instead in the divine possibilities of human artistic IMperfection.
I am not an art critic, nor knowledgeable in this discipline. I only see what I see, I know what I like and don't, and I respond only to that which moves me.
Whatever it is, it leaves me with a feeling that something ethereal, something serene has just happened, this very minute...as though an angel just glided past in a whiff of surprise.
To love life and see good days runs till the 28th of February. It would be a pity to miss this slice of the sublime.
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