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AN ART educator has poured his personal experiences on canvases to form colourful connections and delight viewers until the end of April.
The 39-year-old Filipino Jesus Ramos Tejada, known as Jess, is showcasing 45-mixed media pieces in his solo exhibition - entitled Iridescent Playground - at InTouch Clinic & Gallery, Janabiya .
“It talks about my last three years exploring people’s stories, nature reconnections, disappointments, my advocacies, relationships and defining love and faith,” said the fine arts graduate who majored in arts and design and is an International Baccalaureate visual arts teacher. He has been living and working in Bahrain for more than 13 years.
“These are some of the main ideas that my artworks explore in this exhibition. On another note, it isn’t all about showcasing pieces. I just want the viewers to connect with the pieces and rekindle their creative souls upon understanding the creative and technical process of my recent practices.
“It is basically a dimension that I connected to the playground, and visually, I used a lot of fluorescents which is also a synonym for iridescent…and these colours are visual interpretations of my newfound love for art-making.”
According to his art curator Frances Stafford, Jess is well known for his public murals, both regionally and internationally, and his latest collection ranges from paperwork, canvas on wood, ‘plushies’, tote bags, shaped wood works and mixed media pieces in various sizes.
“In these artworks, I have explored my love and enthusiasm for the wide range of textures of acrylic-based paints and some latex, enamel and oil paints,” Jess added.
“I have explored unique ways of the technical process, such as using paint bottles instead of brushes, and my most compelling process is using some fluorescent shades. I also used some old dried paints in some of my textured collage works. I think I have defined more textures in my pieces here.”
More than 50 people attended the exhibition including Filipino Club Bahrain president Ric Advincula and the Philippines Embassy’s cultural attache Jie Marie.
While all of his paintings have a special place in his heart, he holds his artwork 3rd World Superwoman in high regard.
“All of my works talk about empowering women and children empowerment and their relevance to society, but I believe that my experimental 3rd World Superwoman is my most compelling piece,” he shared. “It’s a visual interpretation of the stories that I heard from my friends, specifically women who strive to work so hard even in the most awful situation just to feed their families back home.
“It was inspired by stories of women in Bahrain who left their families to provide them with a better future and despite the struggles, they manage to keep that fire within them to be a superwoman of their own world.”
As art lovers enjoy his showcase, Jess is looking forward to another exhibition at an expat club in May and is working on pieces for international competitions.
For details on his work, follow @boomewam on Instagram.
