A landscapist’s landscapist

Monday, December 20, 2010

A NUMBER of Cebuano visual artists have training in architecture. And because of their rigid background in the field, they tend to be more precise in rendering pictorial imagery.

Landscape painter Benji Goyha is one of them. He consciously works on a painting using the principles of perspective, composition, balance, symmetry and color theory.

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All these elements help the artist create a more perfect picture. But despite the constant rules he follows in painting, Goyha still manages to produce painterly brushstrokes. His works, appearing like impressionist paintings, are made with bold and broad brushworks.

Before he started to paint in earnest, Goyha was employed as an artist in one of Cebu’s leading department stores for almost a decade. He soon came in contact with local artists and his association with his artist-friends found him joining art exhibits and going to out of town excursions to do outdoor or on-the-spot painting.

When doing studio work, Goyha usually uses a photograph taken personally by him as a visual aid. He paints almost exclusively using oil and watercolor paints. Though most of his works are idyllic landscapes, many of which are scenes from his hometown in Samboan, he doesn’t restrict himself to this method of art expression.

Goyha is also an expert in silkscreen printing. He owns and manages the industrial printing firm Print Ideas. Painting has given him more freedom that satisfies his artistic expression.

Aside from office work that keeps him preoccupied all day, the time he sets aside for painting is a much needed break from his daily routine.