About Me

Hello, World!

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COFFEE PAINTING IS DEFINITELY NEW. It is not something we always hear about or see.

Stay with me as I journey through this new path. Meanwhile, let me tell you more about myself.

Painting became clear to me — that I really wanted it — when I was a sophomore college student at UST (University of Sto. Tomas). I saw then how easy-going the life of a fine arts student was. You know, they just sat there in one corner and drew whatever they thought was nice. That was how it all seemed to me then. I thought then, I wanted to be just like that.

I had been painting for a time already with oil, and interpreted whatever I had read, heard or seen. Lately, though, my ideas come from dreams. I sketch them as soon as I wake up. After preparing all the study, I begin painting. And the finished works started to grow until i could not contain them anymore. So my solo exhibit has to take place, or else.

Each work, like a puzzle, completes the set in this first solo show, which is also a dream come true.

All these works were based on my own dreams. Dreams with no interpretations but are shared in a unique way through the visual arts, not the spoken word. These are dreams made real through coffee painting. Of course other sources of inspiration include pure imagination, love for doodling, picture-books, illustrations, plus a lot of encouragement from friends and family — and all that sum up to LSD Trip by Caffeine!

I use watercolor paper. My first coffee painting done in 2000 has no fixative and it is still as it was before; my succeeding paintings are now enhanced with fixative just to make sure nothing happens to the paintings.

COFFEE ART IS A NOVELTY. For me it is a breakthrough. At first I thought I was the only one experimenting on the medium but there have been a few artists like me who have been studying its techniques, its ins and outs.

Coffee is a popular drink to both young and old, especially now that Nescafé claims more health benefits from coffee than tea or juices, based on their research.

Love for coffee is seen everywhere — in mushrooming coffee shops around town, the increase in the number of coffee lovers — and just realizing that this well-loved beverage has another aspect to it — aesthetics, such as coffee painting — makes it all the more amazing.

Also it is a fact that coffee is a reliable medium, unique in its own. That makes coffee more interesting in a functional-aesthetic sense, in a way. Isn’t that something worth our while to be curious about? If Van Gogh intoduced color and Pollock introduced texture on canvas. coffee introduces color, texture, aroma in some kind of way — a new kind of experience, I would say!

I CAN ONLY HOPE that people are now ready to expand their horizons in the arts. I also yearn to uplift that aesthetic awareness among people of all walks of life and make them realize that with an old-time drink, such as coffee, there can be unique possibilities, such as coffee paintings. I also hope my works will encourage people to get out of the box and be more creative in their outlook in life.

I believe anyone from 2 to 70 will understand and be able to relate to my work. The toddlers will surely love the illustrations while the young adults who want to get a tattoo, but can’t, for some reasons just as I, will find the paintings a good place to leave their tattoo dreams on. And older people will find a way to define beauty simply, yet in a different way.

The works sent to London and Canada started me to get more serious with coffee paintings. There were earlier woks I did in 2005. My Henna Banana was sent to London for viewing, What inspired me to paint it was my own desire to have tattoos done on my skin because I couldn’t so I just made an artwork about that.

Rastah Mahn, on the other hand, was inspiredy my my love for reggae music and Bob Marley. It was also sent to London for viewing purposes.

There’s one swan painting that is due for transport to Canada after my show, and a triptych, a commissioned work that is also to be transported to Canada after my show.

I am so glad Nescafé readily agreed to sponsor ny show. I truly am grateful for that. Of course, and this goes without saying, the efforts of my managers are priceless. Truly grateful, I am.

IF I WERE TO DESCRIBE MY COLLECTION now, I’d say it is “spontaneous” The patterns and designs are so unpredictable that even I gets surprised at times with the result, the outcome of my work.

Sunshine

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To all my guests . . .

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