Up-close and Personal with An Artist: Interview with Artist Armando “Andy” Ramos

Saturday, August 20, 2011

HAVING to attend an extremely painful 7:30 a.m. class, I was not about to pass an invitation to dine with painter Andy Ramos.

The invitation was arranged by colleague and maverick artist Herminigildo “Hermi” Pineda who even had the courtesy to pick me up, not because I am really important or my presence would warrant VIP treatment but because he knew exactly that I go about my appointments extremely slow.

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Having satisfied a nose bleeding consultation session and a make or break debate with a couple of advertising students, I soon found my way into Andy’s car along with Hermi on the back seat. I was almost catatonic and while I was making a good assessment of our host I began to get hold of one of the four books lingering inside my knapsack. The books are immediate escape mechanisms I use when suddenly swamp into traffic or when in a boring coverage or awkward situation.

But fortunately our first meeting was relatively cordial and interesting. While conversing on the usual topics of weather, physical health and all of those necessary questions fit for ‘softening the beach head,” I began to look for the signs of artist in Andy’s visage. Again, my senses failed me; Andy is the usual type, clean looking, decent and well mannered which actually excited me. For if an artist is this conventional, you are surely in for a big surprise.

We reached Andy’s home in a sleepy barrio in Magalang town in the middle of discussions of rural urbanization. His home, to my surprise, is a fusion of the past and present, an encounter of the conservative and the eclectic. Adorned with trabezas (large wooden beams used in old houses) as chairs, with a mixture of collection of antiques, Andy’s works are spread all throughout the house like a mini gallery.

Andy narrates that his love for the visual arts spanned a long way into his life. Having gone into engineering, he nurtured his gift through the steady tutelage of Gil Mallari. He was mentored through painting fruits and still life. Andy is an engineer by profession and goes into painting when his “muse” is at its peak. Andy calls his work as “conventional”; his works mimic day to day life. But a close look on his work one could see the interplay of light and shadow to produce that unique rustic atmosphere, rural yet urbanized. Andy has joined a good number of exhibits and commissioned works, though he argues that he had given away some as souvenirs than actually making a profit.

Andy is a part of the Alaya Chamber of the Arts along with Hermi, they postulate that their group is not confined with the current trends but rather a part and instigator of a movement that is uniquely Kapampangan. Though some art critics raise eyebrows and gloat at the concept “Kapampangan Art” but both artists agree that there is something unique in Kapampangn artists.

“Being Kapampangan is felt not mimicked, so goes the same with art. There is always something in0 Kapampangan art that set us apart from other artists in different regions,” Andy said.

If you would like to have a taste of the past and the present juxtaposed, or an encounter with Kapampangan Art, by paying a visit to Andy’s humble abode and get a glimpse of his works on permanent display.

For comments, suggestions, violent reactions, invite, hate-mails, indignant rebuttals and what-have- you email the author at ianocampofiorayahoo.com. (09173435197)