THE artist in focus today is Thessalonia “Isay” Java, whose parents I know well because they’re good friends of mine.
Isay’s father is the painter Christopher Java Sr. of San Fernando, Cebu. The Java family can be considered artists family now.
The elder Java has sent two of his children to take up fine arts at the University of the Philippines (UP), and both have since left school and are now working as artists.
Isay had her first solo art exhibit as a school requirement for graduation.
She called it “Spherism,” a thesis exhibit at University of the Philippines’ (UP) Little Gallery inside the Lahug campus.
The artist’s focus for the artworks she made for her thesis was the landscapes found in San Fernando, the town where she grew up. But her landscapes have a twist.
Instead of painting them, she utilized airsoft pellets to compose them. Any airsoft war gamer will wonder why.
Her choice makes her artworks appear like a pointillist impression of a landscape, pretty much like what the French started when they invented impressionism.
Clearly the influence is from that movement. Learning art in UP means students must continuously evolve their choice of materials. There is much challenge in looking for the right medium or material for a plan body of works.
Alongside the actual production of an artwork is writing the thesis that entails a comprehensive research on the student’s chosen area of study.
As a postscript, this story may be too late as an “art exhibit feature.” The show’s over.
The artist graduated March. And the cause of this tardiness is my fault. I thought the photos I asked from Isay had been
misplaced or even lost.
They say it’s better late than never because lost things have lives of their own. They tend to surface when they think they’re ready. And then maybe it’s the best time to make a point. Make that pointellism.
