Vheng and the Supremacy of Eve

 

Amirasolo and Other Essays

Part 3. In my Book

Essay 33. VHENG AND THE SUPREMACY OF EVE

The title of the painting below is "Supremacy of Eve". It is an acrylic on paper work measuring 30 x 22 inches. It was bought by a former and very much younger schoolmate from the University of the East School of Music and Fine Arts, Elvira Gonzaga. We call her Vheng.

Vheng was one of those from our school who made good in life. As I have said before, Vheng tops my list of successful Fine Arts friends because painters like me hold art collectors in high esteem. I'm sure Jojo Garcia and Oca Magos regard her highly too. We three are the full-time painters in our group. We owed Vheng a lot. She never hesitated to buy our works everytime we offer them to her.

Vheng must have liked the Supremacy of Eve per se. But what could have added to her interest in it was the fact that this painting was written about in a newspaper.

The highly-respected art critic Constantino Tejero wrote a review of my second solo show at the Crucible Gallery titled "Illustration art as fine art". This painting was one of those shown in the exhibit. The review appeared in the June 25, 2007 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. This review was a gift Tino gave me without him knowing because June 25 happened to be my birthday.

Below is an excerpt from that review:

"...But even more than his delicate colorism, the viewer appreciates his fine rendering of form. His illustration skill goes beyond mere visual narrative.

"The viewer can immediately see it in the painstaking details of a piece such as "Supremacy of Eve": the grains of the loose soil; the ribbing of the banana leaves; and even how the light falls on the front and the back of each leaf; the yellow overripe bananas on the ground; the tiny yellow and purple flowers of some weeds."

I had the most difficulty doing research for this painting. As you can see, this work required a lot of banana plant references. Since I only have a few clippings of that at home, I had to go out with my camera and bike to search for real banana plants to shoot. The effort took me to Dagat-dagatan near the boundary of Malabon. It was on a vacant lot along Dagat-dagatan Avenue that I found a dozen or more banana plants. 

There was a barung-barong (hovel) on the edge of the lot beside the road. The hovel's window was open. When I peered inside, I saw sleeping on a mat on the floor a couple, with the man only in his briefs. Boy was I surprised! Hahaha.... I got scared too. I surely wouldn't want to wake them up. So, I just decided to do fast what I came there to do, to take pictures of banana plants. I'm still wondering to this day what that man would have done to me had he woke up and saw me taking pictures on what appears to be his lot.

Incidentally, the barung-barong is located in what is probably the Kalookan or eastern part of Dagat-dagatan. The western and northern part of Dagat-dagatan belong to Navotas and Malabon respectively. Dagat-dagatan up to the early 1970s was all water---a real lake dotted with fishpens. It was drained in the mid-1970s to enable the government to use the reclaimed land for its resettlement project.

Nick Joaquin, in his book "A Question of Heroes", mentioned that the city's name Kalookan was probably derived from Manila Bay which could be seen in the old days from the ridge where the city hall is now located. Bay is translated into 'look' in Tagalog. Or perhaps, the name was inspired by that now non-existent lake below the city hall ridge. Dagat-dagatan translates into false or imitation sea that's why I have the feeling, just a guess actually, that Dagat-dagatan might also have been called Look-lookan a century or so ago. Hence, the name Kalookan.

(Photo collage above: Top photo---SUPREMACY OF EVE; 2006; Acrylic on paper; 30 X 22 inches; Elvira Gonzaga collectiono

Bottom photo---Vheng is the lady standing at right. Others in the photo, clockwise from left, are myself, Jerry Dean,  Oca Magos, Bert and Dulce Falsies, and Jojo Garcia)