Beauty of the basic

It doesn’t always take a somber Stravinsky to create heady, intricate music. It doesn’t always take a ponderous Thomas Pynchon to come up with a work of jolting, complex fiction. It doesn’t take a manic, melancholy master to paint a pretty picture. Visual artist Honey Banal believes that light-heartedness and simplicity in art are underrated. After all, the muse can crack a joke from time to time, and that there is magic in the minimal.

"Most of the time I want to laugh," Banal shares. "I don’t care if people accuse me of being shallow or simple. To others, art is associated with the shocking and the striking, but for me, the joy of art is in the beauty of simplicity."

Honey Banal is featured in Six Solos exhibit, along with five other artists, at the Pasig City Museum from Sept. 1 to 30. Keep in mind that this is not a group show. Six artists (Banal, Norly Meimban, Jes Evangelista, Raul Roco Jr., Grandier Bella and Jane de la Paz) will simultaneously stage their solo exhibits in one venue – a nascent concept. And striving for the beauty of the basic (although not deliberately or unconsciously) is what binds these six different artists with six different mindsets.

Banal is a shoe designer by profession. She has her own company, which supplies ladies’ shoes for Artwork. After giving birth to her youngest daughter, Zoe, she decided to take her painting more seriously. Wall to Wall is Banal’s first one-woman show.

"I’m fascinated by walls (laughs)," Banal shares, pointing out the uniqueness of walls in terms of colors and how they fade. "Walls seldom have just one color. There are several tones you can observe. Besides, walls are places where you hang your work of art."

Banal is attracted to walls the way some artists are drawn to flowers or women with big feet. She’s also fond of puns. One of Banal’s works is titled "Bench Marker," depicting the marks made on a bench by a person who constantly sits on it. As a tribute to her father, Conrado, she painted a guitar leaning on a bare wall. She calls it "Wall of Fame."

"I see my style as Minimalist, which is not just about bare backgrounds and a single object. It is also about contentment with myself – as a mother of two girls in my quiet simple life," she says.

As for influences, Banal purveys a list.

"I like Paul Klee’s way of abstracting or distorting things; I like David Brayne’s colors; I like Malang’s figures; and, of course, Remy Bouquerin was and is my art guru."

Most of Banal’s works revolve around everyday life, but she focuses on the aspect that is often overlooked by people because of their helter-skelter minds. "I think we all should stop and see the beauty of things around us."

Raul Roco Jr., whose first solo exhibit is titled Prisms divides the canvas into cubes and spreads the colors like a rainbow.

"I’ve always played around with colors," recalls the son of Senator Raul Roco. "In my paintings (for the show), I try to depict how the seven colors comprise light – on landscapes and objects."

He expresses admiration for the works of Cesar Legaspi and Vicente Manansala. "My dad and mom (Sonia) are very supportive, and they are both artistically inclined."

Raul’s favorite painting at the present is called "Dewdrops." He worked on it meticulously for two weeks, devoting time on each square, arranging the complimentary colors in alternate order.

He also raves about a triptych called "Prism of Time," consisting of three islands and a floating watch, with the seven colors emerging from an expanse of white. "My point is to let people see the beauty of colors in the simplicity of white light. We can see light anytime, anywhere. But we have to look deeper into it."

Norly Meimban, who works as part-time animator, has drawn characters for industry titans such as Dreamworks, Hanna/Barbera and Disney.

His paintings explore – Martin Heidegger’s favorite topic – time.

"When I work in the office, I always have to deal with deadlines. Nainis tuloy ako sa time (laughs)." But instead of being defeated by time, Meimban chose instead to capture time in a series of artworks in a show titled Bondage of Time. "It’s about how man is imprisoned by time – kung paano pinapatakbo ng oras ang tao.

Norly’s biggest influence is his dad Felix Jesus Meimban IV, along with Salvador Dali and the Impressionists. He admits that his style can be categorized as Impressionism and Expressionism put in a stylistic blender, with bits of Surrealism added to the artistic brew. One of his paintings depicts two figures whose outstretched limbs become the hands of a clock. The work is called "Time Framed."

"It’s about how man can’t beat time unless he comes up with a time frame," he says.

Jes Evangelista, who used to design consumer products, staged his first solo exhibit last year titled "Evangelista" (take note: with a cross instead of a "T") at the Crateri Café Lounge. His exhibit at the Pasig Museum titled Square Line deals with (what else?) square lines.

Influenced by Nestor Vinluan and Chabet, Evangelista came up with the idea for his artworks by trying to draw the connection between his art and his plastic card collection (consisting of ATM cards, phone cards, debit and credit cards).

Evangelista explains, "I incorporated the way one swipes a card into my painting process."

Christian themes are rife in the artist’s work. He even has an installation inscribed with The Lord’s Prayer and the John 3:16 text.

Grandier Bella, who started as a graphic designer, considers himself primarily a realist. These days, his medium of choice is pastel ("One of the most direct media around," he says), and his preferred subject is Filipino food.

"I remember my family going to the market and cooking," Bella recalls. "All of my relatives are in the States now. Food is what I strongly remember from my childhood."

He digs Rembrandt, particularly his way of contrasting dark and light, as well as Leonardo and Michelangelo – not those Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but the classical masters. He considers Fernando Sena his mentor.

Interior designer Jane de la Paz is into architectural structures.

"I use them to symbolize foundation, strength and stability," Jane says. She juxtaposes them with human figures, elements, shapes and vibrant colors to "uplift the soul and spirit." The title of her one-woman show is Emerge, which – judging from Jane’s love for epics and mythology – has overtones of redemption and renewal as discussed in the texts of The Golden Bough. Very noticeable in Jane’s works is the sense of fluidity and motion despite the implied rigidity of her pyramids.

"Emerge is about rising above situations, and not to waste what God has given," says Jane.

The key, these artists are trying to communicate is, to see the glory of everyday living; to see art in walls, prisms, pyramids, light and lines; and to see the beauty in the basic.

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Six Solos exhibit is on view from Sept. 1 to 30 at the Pasig City Museum, Plaza Rizal, Pasig City.