The philosophy of Joy
The artist in Joy Rojas is all fired up. Four months after his successful one-man exhibit titled Strong Material, Joy is galloping anew with his second solo show called Material Maker at the gallery of the Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo City from April 15 to 30.
The titles of his two one-man shows are the names of his champion race horses. The titles of his 30 artworks to be exhibited are names of horses he encountered during the time he was still into horse racing. Perhaps the horse god Equus guided him in his juvenile days to prepare him to become an artist now because early on his notebooks in grade school were filled with drawings of horses.
No, Joy, a self-taught artist, does not paint horses now. Not yet. Instead, in the abstract works he churns out are creations that gallop and canter in colors that are only evident in the world Joy’s spirit sees and understands. The sprint of emotions on his canvases delivers both quiet and joyful celebrations. His strokes are massive at once, feather-like the next. In between are textures thick and thin, strong and agile, like the dreams the artist makes. Always, always, there is a feeling of mad dash in his every work, perhaps that is Joy making a profound statement that life should always be honored and applauded.
Celebrated Ruler 1, mixed media(right). Time Master, mixed media, 4 ft. x 4 ft. (left)
Joy, a cum laude graduate from the University of Massachusetts with double degree in Economics and International Relations, honored people’s lives, especially the needy and marginalized, when he was general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Beyond that, in his own personal capacity, even after his term at the PCSO, Joy, a lawyer who graduated from the Ateneo, continues to help.
The kindness of his heart is evident in the opulence of Crown Jewel 5 (4 ft. x 6 ft.). Layers and layers of gold acrylic, both fine and coarse, found life on the canvas, like a golden tableau where generosity and fortitude is found. Joy’s strokes meander, as if in search of further purpose, longing for a resolve higher than his needs.
Also close to the artist’s heart is Crown Colony, a 4 ft. x 6 ft. painting in acrylic and mixed media. The title suggests of Hong Kong’s grandeur. “Hong Kong is a second home for me. It’s the city outside the Philippines that I visited the most.” So, in Crown Colony, Joy remembers his past and present memories of Hong Kong. He splayed a tug-o-war of blue and red on the canvas, but Crown Colony might as well be a depiction of the British government’s handover of Hong Kong to China almost 21 years ago today.
“The colors in my paintings are the colors I see in my travels,” says Joy, a member of the formidable Saturday Group. He also admits that the colors in his artworks are inspired by the beautiful relationship he shares with his wife Trisha Bunye Rojas, also a lawyer. They met at the Ateneo Law School and since then, Joy admits with a joyful squint in his eyes, they have both given beautiful colors to each other’s life.
Joy also says that his late sister Carmelita, who took up Fine Arts at the Philippine Women’s University, influenced him to discover his inner artist.
From left: French Rose, acrylic, 3 ft. x 3 ft., Taipan, acrylic, 3 ft. x 3 ft., Paris Match, acrylic, 3 ft. x 3 ft.
His French Rose is lovely and attractive, elegant and warm, sophisticated yet not distant. It taps on the soft side of Joy. It also taps on the tenacity of his artistic soul because layers and layers of gold and pink and red and what other colors Joy can concoct were applied to the canvas by Joy’s dexterous hand. In the process, Joy, like a beau anticipating for some love to blossom, has mastered the art of waiting — because he had to wait for the paint to dry up before he could coat another color onto the canvas. And the result is an attractive work of art!
The Paris Match is a play in tempered and muted shades of blue — cobalt, teal, azure, indigo. A splay of gray and charcoal is also here and there, reminiscent of how a beautiful life needs a little discomfort, too, to complete the picture of beauty.
Every painter is a philosopher, too. And the philosophy of Joy’s artworks is resplendent with the concept that is also his sobriquet — joy.
His abstract artworks are concrete manifestations of the genius that resides in Joy’s heart. Joy’s excitement and anticipation about the world, even his reservations, are all seen in a whirl and a whiff. Even in the whim of his soul.
(Material Maker will run from April 15 to 30 at the gallery of the Pinto Art Museum, #1 Sierra Madre St., Grand Heights Subdivision, San Roque, Antipolo City.)
(E-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com. I’m also on Twitter @bum_tenorio and Instagram @bumtenorio. Have a blessed Sunday!)
