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| Tawasil: In Retrospect |
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| Written by Darwin Wally T. Wee |
| Tuesday, 23 February 2010 04:45 |
  ZAMBOANGA CITY – From simple watercolor-painted vintas to the multi-hued seascapes and flowers punctuated by vignettes of social issues, the craftsmanship of multi-awarded Moro painter Rameer Amilasan Tawasil has gone a long way as he celebrates his second decade of painting this month.But more than that, for Tawasil, whose root is from the island-province of Sulu, those 20 years also saw progressively his various transformations as he took on the challenges in enhancing his unique style of painting. “I survived as an artist for 20 years, and art fully overcame me. I cannot escape from it. If I’ll stop painting, I’ll die,” he said. “I did not expect nor believe that I will go this far. It’s hard to survive being an artist in our local society,” he added. For all his life, art has played an integral part of Tawasil’s existence. As a child, Tawasil began his career by merely playing out his curious mind with pencils and even chalkboards until he found his way – prolifically – to making genuine masterpieces that were bought and collected by prominent people and connoisseurs. Known for his “ukkil” brush strokes, which is a form of Tausug carving done even before the Spaniards introduced Western painting in the Philippines, Tawasil said it was not even his intention to draw such strokes. “I just wanted to create a movement in my visual art. During my college years, I frequently traveled between Zamboanga and Jolo, and I saw the disturbed water, it has energy, and I thought why not use it on my art to portray movement,” he explained. “It was just purely experimental until many noticed it. Sometimes, it is not conscious intention that makes your particular style. It just flows out involuntarily,” he said. “It just continues without hesitation and you’re not chasing for something. It’s all pure expression,” he continued, adding though that “it takes time to mold it.” According to him, the ukkil can be traced from his Tausug culture - the way he derived the ukkil pattern in his artworks is by not forgetting his cultural heritage. “You cannot just ignore your culture and history. Its influences contribute to who you are,” he says.. And these are the very same subjects one views in Tawasil’s boldly colorful art works. Tawasil, who experienced the wrath of armed conflict in his province at a tender age, could not but make a visual commentary of issues in the society. “There are a lot of relationships. I was an activist before, and some of my uncles were members of the Moro National Liberation Front movement. All these affected me, these are the things that inspire and drive me to paint,” he said. In his recent exhibit in Davao City, Tawasil “unleashed”several Moro warriors bound in blood-red color and pure black ink. On the other hand, the longing for peace has been a constant theme in his repertoire, too. Tawasil conceptualized the “peace dove” logo that has become a peace campaign symbol here and other communities and being widely used by civil society groups during the Mindanao Week of Peace. “I felt for peace because of my experiences in our wars,” he said. “There are a lot of things that can influence an artist - history, cultural traditions, social events and issues, such as the history of Moro issue, the burning of Jolo which I personally experienced,” he said. “I look at art as an instrument that can in turn shape and reshape the social and political landscapes, as what Picasso did,” he said, referring to the renowned Spanish master who painted the famous Guernica battle. His works had earned him several recognitions and awards here and abroad. Tawasil’s artworks have been featured in different national dailies, magazines, and even books. All these can be viewed as he launches his fifth solo exhibit at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University’s The Gallery of the Peninsula and the Archipelago. The exhibit, dubbed as “Tawasil: In Retrospect” will open on February 24 at 6:00 in the evening and will run until March 27. It will be part of the Gallery's celebration of "National Arts Month.” “In this exhibition one can expect to view some of my paintings that were not exhibited in public in the past. These include my first attempt in painting using water color and oil. You can see the transition and can even investigate from where I got my influences,” he said. (Darwin Wally T. Wee) |