Fish of fortune

Good friendships never die. A friendship picks up where you left off even after a long lapse of non-communication. This is how I feel every time I see Silvana and Ramon Diaz, two of my favorite people whom I have known since way back when. We always have something to talk about even if we haven’t seen each other for the longest time. Come to think of it, the topic usually revolves around art and the artists that she is concurrently exhibiting at her Galleria Duemila. 

Silvana has been a patroness of local artists ever since she founded her own gallery in 1975. She pursued her studies in art history in Paris and Italy and made a successful career as an art curator in Manila.  It is just perfect that her husband Ramon is an artist himself and comes from an artistic family. Talking of strong genes, sister Isabel Diaz is a highly rated Filipino artist locally and internationally, and his mother Teresa Diaz is a painter herself.  The artistic genes in the Diaz family are traced all the way to master painters Hidalgo and Juan Luna from both sides of the family tree.

Lately, Silvana’s pride is husband Ramon, who is making waves as an artist of koi fish. In 1995, Ramon tested the waters as an artist and joined his sister Isabel and his mother Teresa in a group exhibit at the Phoenix Sound Stage. I was at the exhibit where his theme was koi fish and his canvases were life-size. It was an impressive collection and was sold out in no time. It seems that there are a number of koi fish collectors in the Philippines because it is known to bring good fortune to the owners.

In 1997, Diaz ventured into his first one-man exhibition and this time his theme was seascapes and sailboats. Diaz is an avid sailor and has a love affair with the sea and marine life. Since that exhibit, he has had many others on different subjects. Last December, his theme was the horses of different Chinese dynasties.

The latest feather in his cap is his successful exhibit at the Steuben Glass flagship store on Madison Avenue, New York.  Mark Tamayo, Steuben Glass visual director, invited Ramon for a one-man exhibit and Ramon chose koi again as his theme and it was an instant hit with the buyers.

Ramon Diaz’s fascination with koi fish is like an obsession. He has amassed a vast collection of books about them and has spent years studying their history, observing their graceful movement in ponds and aquariums.

He also photographs them and admits to watching them for hours and noticing that they always have a “dance.” He explains that there is no aggression with the koi as both genders and all age groups co-exist in perfect harmony. He doesn’t tire of the subject, always finding something new about it — new colors, new marks that mean something else, or another species of the fish that has a different face or scale structure.

Some koi fish apparently do not have visible scales. He takes the liberty of using his artistic license in painting them longer and sleeker, which is not anatomically correct.  “I find them more elegant that way, “ he says.

In as much as the nishikigoi (Japanese term for koi) has fascinated him, the fish is also a source of constant challenge to him as a painter. He is his own harshest critic and does not stop until he feels he has perfected his canvas. The patterns of the koi he chooses to depict are always those of the champion carp, which he gleans from books and magazines. The Japanese are very particular about a koi’s markings, with only 30 accepted patterns. Research says that the koi originated from China during the Qing Dynasty but was widespread in Japan during the Edo period and now the Japanese are its most avid collectors.

Even though Diaz’s koi paintings are garnering him critical acclaim, the challenge remains. “It’s like a beauty pageant with the koi,” he explains. “There are certain standards that are expected and considered beautiful to the true collectors. To find new ways to paint them is intriguing and how to find different patterns and colors keeps me on my toes.”  He says that popular belief says it is bad luck to have the koi swimming downwards; it is when they swim upwards that brings good luck. This is not the case, he says, “Because when you stand at the edge of a pond, watching the koi from a top side view, it seems like they are swimming downwards, but actually they are swimming towards you.

Koi swims upstream, similar to salmon. They are a powerful fish and Diaz often paints them on a black background, which makes them look more regal. Critics say that his paintings are so realistic that the fish seem to leap off the canvas and splash water at you. The texture makes the fish look so alive that you can almost see them breathing through their gills.

Diaz did not expect his New York show at the Steuben Glass museum to be as successful as it was.  He had hoped to sell a few paintings but instead it was sold out and he was commissioned to do eight more paintings of koi.

Diaz is now busy preparing for another exhibit in Monaco, which is being arranged by G&O Art LLC, the same group that brought him to Steuben Glass, New York.  This time, he is not yet sure of his subject matter. One thing is for sure, whatever subject he chooses, his canvases will show the markings of an excellent artist.