Tessa Mendoza and the anatomy of grace
Paintings, they not only render the past; in certain cases they foreshadow what is to come as well. Take the case of Tessa Mendoza and the portrait she made of her daughter, and how the young girl Danielle “grew into the painting.”
Tessa explains, “Danielle is the youngest of my four children. The others all have strong personalities, but Danielle is the meekest, the most quiet. She was 14 when I painted her.”
At that time, the artist-mom didn’t really know her daughter that well. Danielle was very pleasant, a bit curious, always compliant, did what she was told. “I decided to ‘invent’ what she was like based on my own perceptions,” says Tessa. Because of her love for the artist Gustav Klimt, she put a lot of symbols — and the painting became a swathe of symbols, colors and lines going the route of the Byzantine and beyond. Unconsciously, she also put musical notes, putting them around the main figure.
“Then, years later, Danielle started to teach herself how to play the guitar. She became so musically inclined. The cover photo for her Facebook page shows Elvis Presley. And she talks to her lolo about music.” Other favorites of Tessa’s now 19-year-old daughter are Kurt Cobain, Gorillaz and Led Zeppelin. “I’m just so amazed that she grew into her painting. Yes, I’d like to think she evolved into that portrait.”
“Window to Your Soul” is one of the pieces currently on view until tomorrow at the Writers Bar in Raffles Makati as part of Tessa’s “Gracia” exhibition, a comeback of sorts for the artist.
Tessa described herself as a self-taught one. In 1986, she studied under watercolor artist Jonah Salvosa. One of his other students, Marivic Rufino, wanted to mount an exhibition and Salvosa recommended that she do a back-to-back show with Tessa. The joint exhibit titled “Nuances” was held at the Hotel Inter-Continental Manila. But a year later, Tessa got married and her career in art was shelved.
“I completely forgot about art. I didn’t miss it. I didn’t think about it. I didn’t draw. I didn’t paint. Because my family was growing.” She lived in San Francisco and then moved to North Vancouver, Canada. Life was serene: outdoorsy, nature-centric, with black bears and possums passing thru the backyard. But — as Lennon once sang, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans…” — 21 years later, Tessa recalls looking in the mirror and remembering her “creative identity.”
In December of 2010, she decided to make Manila her home again. She worked on her series such as “Kalikasan” (a view of nature as a nurturing mother) “Cathedral Glass” (inspired by her visit to Barcelona and Cuenca in Spain) and signature portraits (mainly art pieces and not literal representations of individuals). And she has done so with her arsenal of brushes, acrylics, gold leaf ornaments, a cache of symbols, and this mindset: “I love things that luster. I love gold. And I can’t do without textures. Textures, I feel, are a manifestation of passion.”
She shares, “The pieces in ‘Gracia’ are representative of my artistic revival. They are all special blessings to me as they remind me of God’s gracious gift of second chances.”
And, boy, how those abstract works have become conversation pieces.
One particular piece spurred three people to give three different interpretations. The first said it depicts churchgoers surrounded by stained glass. The second said it makes the person think of the Mediterranean. The third finds it very spiritual — a day in Bali, women carrying offerings, colors everywhere.
“I want my paintings to communicate with the viewer,” Tessa explains. A quiet, intimate conversation with symbols as language, textures as ciphers of emotions, and paintings that can be visually fondled.
She concludes, “Siguro it was mid-life crisis that got me back to painting, but all I could think of was how God must probably be saying, ‘You’ve neglected my gift to you for so long!’ So, I sort of got back into it. I woke up one day and said, ‘I’m a painter… This is who I am.’”
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The exhibit is presented by Raffles Makati and Ralph’s Wines and Spirits. For information, email the artist at tessamendoza.art@gmail.com or visit tessamendoza.artist on Facebook. Raffles Makati is at 1 Raffles Drive, Makati Ave., Makati City. For information, call 555-9777.
