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Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Painter of the masses
By Ritchie Landis Doner Quijano
A lot of painters try very hard not to be mundane but here’s one humble soul who rebelled at the idea that paintings should be far different from the ordinary by painting the often regarded as non-fashionable.
This guy paints subjects that escape our selective sight because these to most of us are eyesores like street scenes lined with ramshackle shanties, the chaos of junkshops and wharfs, decrepit edifices of old houses and even an unattended vacant lot full of overgrown weeds and trees. That’s because two things capture his attention, the glorious old and the disarray of dilapidation.
He’s Jose Maria Picornell, a painter of Spanish blood. But inspite of his blood, his concern to document the local way of life makes him more Filipino than most of us. Joe lives a simple and ordinary life. When moving around in the city he just walks and when his destination takes him far into the outer city limits, he travels using his balloon bicycle.
His beard grows if he can’t find the time to shave himself in a week and the chap is usually seen going around wearing a cap for he never leaves home without it. Perhaps he feels naked without the headgear. Joe is an impressionist painter, local art’s very own answer to Van Gogh. When he ventures inside the city’s depressed areas seeking what to paint, most often the tall and robust fellow is mistaken as a foreigner. It is only when he talks in the dialect that locals starts to realize that he’s not what they actually think he is. Like most impressionist painters in Europe, Joe loves the great outdoors which is very evident in his works. So when he positions himself in a street corner, mounts his easel and starts to paint no passer-by or motorist can,t resist from taking a peek at what he’s painting. Never a snob, Joe always has the time to entertain those who go near him and to answer their queries. The gentle big guy’s most noticeable caprice is guzzling beer and burning tobacco. Joe has been painting Cebu for more than 30 years now, going serious with his art in the early seventies. A very skillfull carpenter as well, he frames the paintings himself. His sky is filled with raging blues a common distinguishing feature. And for the record Joe is the only painter in Cebu who has sold a self-portrait.
So after that he painted another portrait of himself wearing his ever-present hat and favorite red shirt, I saw the new painting hanging at their kitchen when I visited him for afternoon coffee weeks ago. Apart from painting he’s also into photography and is damn good at it. To browse over his albums and files will make one truly appreciate the beauty of black and white photos. Still like his paintings, the photos he shoots shows a consistent interest in local activities many of it fast disappearing as these are now eclipsed by the city’s transformation.
(March 2, 2004 issue)
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