by OP Monzon
“What do you do outside of your being a physician?” Jo Florendo asked me when I first met him in 2010 during their art exhibit opening at the lobby of the Philippine Heart Center. His group of two other artists, Adler Llagas and Tony Dale On were opening their concerted work, “Three-Gether for Art”.
The inquiry kept me still. It was the same question I asked physician applicants during interview for residency position in Radiology, “What do you do when you do not work as a physician?” The simple question kept them quietl, reviewing the events in their life how to answer the question. Many times they would say, it never occurred to them to do other things other than see patients. I would tell them later that, “a person is gifted with other things to share to others and if they would only do diagnosis and treatment, it is going to be such a boring life.” We are not only made to be a physician.
As a resident I would be doing many activities - poetry reading at Cancer Center, a running group with other residents, exhibit of paintings at hospital lobby. I would go jogging around the 18 hole golf course at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (I was training in the field of Radiology) to get pictures from my deranged Minolta, of trees, empty chairs, golf carts or the familiar golf swing. Later on, in Germany the two-year fellowship in Nuclear Medicine weekends were spent getting pictures at town squares, train stations and flea markets. I would admire those pictures in my portfolio, reviewing stories of where and how the pictures were taken.
I told Florendo that I was not a real photographer, sort of, they call it hobbyist photography. He said he doesn’t mind whether it was professional or beginners’, but only to see my work. In the past I was brave to exhibit my crude work at the Philippine Heart Center Gallery for “Ordinary Photographs” and at UST Beato Angelico Gallery for “Windows Doors Narrow Streets”. I used a Kodak Easy Share Camera, given by a friend in all these exhibits..
Florendo was opening the possibility of painting my photographs. He asked again, “can I see the photographs?”
My insecurities disagreed to the idea. My photographs were unskilled and sloppy. It could not compare with better pictures from a good camera. The photographs I took were not manipulated, simply because I did not know photo shop. The objective to exhibit was to impress upon visitors of the gallery who were mostly students that good pictures could be taken from a simple and inexpensive camera.
After reviewing my photographs, Florendo was convinced that many of the pieces could serve as a source of reference painting materials.
The “Feeding the Doves” project of Paintings from Photographs started when he picked one of the photographs, “Flowers on a Window”. He said, “I like this photograph to start our collaboration. I will be back in one month’s time to show my work. If you are pleased with it, we can continue, I just hope you will like it”.
“Flowers on a Window” was one of the lucky hurried shots I did while trying to catch up a bus waiting during one of our tours. It was an insignificant photo and I thought I should discard it.
Florendo came after a month with a grin, he was drifting. It was a rainy day in July driving for three hours in the rain from Tanay to Manila when his car broke down. He was fortunate to see a mechanic by the roadside. His painting was covered with Manila paper, but I could see that he was excited, a totally different reaction from mine. I was awkward and uneasy. He uncovered his work and showed his painting.
My eyes traveled from photograph to painting to photograph. It was amazing. It was the first time that I have seen a painting made from a photograph and I do not recall any exhibit of the sort in any of my gallery visits. The talent of this young artist was incomparable, he spent a great deal of time and creativity to a trivial picture. My small art became bigger. My irrelevant art was now a painting and could sit beside it in a gallery exhibit. I was silent for some time in admiration to the art that we have created together.
Before he left, Florenodo said, “can I select another twenty of your photographs?”
He told me that it would be better to set a deadline. He would paint twenty of my photographs in five months, that he would bring four paintings in a month and to finish the project by December in time for a January exhibit the following year.
If it is a major work, artists do not finish a painting in a week, it takes time. The arrangement is acceptable to me as photographs could easily be developed, the paintings which would fall in Florendo’s domain could take time. We should be ready in five months’ time to beat the deadline to the opening.
The paintings came swiftly in pairs every other week and five months seem so fast. The last painting came in December after Christmas and the paired collections were complete. My photographs developed in bigger sizes were ready all the time. As I see them in pairs now, the Photographs served as a reference model and an inspiration for the artist to paint, while the Paintings portrayed the sensitivity of the artist to give a reflective interpretation to every detail of the picture. Reviewing the work gave me a profound experience, my art now elevated to a painting.
Radiologists are gifted with a keen sense of sight. The X ray machine works like a camera and the film, say a chest x ray is the photograph. We review the quality of the x ray film and we interpret them like a painting on the wall. But this time, we hang it on the negatoscope or view it on the monitor if it is a digital image. The Radiologist’s work is to find the reason for the patient’s complaint, see an obvious or hidden detail to explain patient symptoms and contribute to decision making on how a patient should be managed. As art critics are trained to untangle the mystery in a painting, radiologists unravel the mystery on the X-ray picture. In simple words, Radiologists are trained how to interpret a picture. In a hospital setting, radiologists are usually in the center of discussion in front of the X-ray film, looking for signs and surrounded by clinicians and medical residents.
“Feeding the Doves” is one of the photographs which Jo selected to paint. It was a photograph of my daughter Christelle in the middle of a square in Lucca, Italy, and feeding the doves. She saw the film “Milan” and it became her obsession to imitate the main character of the story with hands outstretched feeding the birds in the middle of Milan Cathedral square. The dream has become a reality.
Florendo and I exhibited our work at the Philippine Heart Center Art Gallery in January, 2011. “Feeding the Doves” a collection of Paintings from Photographs earned the most unique exhibit award for that season. It was our first alliance. It was also a landmark exhibit where Photographs were unveiled side by side with the Paintings.
Jo Florendo has uncovered a delicate interpretation of my Photographs. The exhibit was also sold out.
~~~~~~~~~~ Series II to follow print: PAINTOGRAPHS: Paintings from Photographs II Collaboration with 5 artists, Vic Bachoco, Denis Diego, Jo Florendo, Bong Sunga and Jun Rocha ~~~~~~~~~~
About the author OP Monzon is a radiologist and nuclear medicine physician by education and training. He collects art, organizes medical conferences, gallery exhibit openings and raises funds for charity. At retirement, he finds himself going back to his roots and discovers that he could paint.
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Acknowledgement: We thank the Lord, Almighty for giving us these wonderful opportunities, the talent, the blessings. We are grateful. Mario Miclat and Alma Cruz Miclat for the many Inquirer feature articles, including “Physicians Turn to the Healing Power of Art and Beauty”, and articles in her coffee table book “Soul Searches and Dreamers/Artists Profiles, © 2015; Arlina Onglao and Journeys of Faith of a Marian Pilgrimage, 2005, where many of the photographs from this exhibit were taken; Hannah Jo Uy and Bravo Magazine article; Noel Sales Barcelona and Roi Espinosa for coffee table book, "Different Strokes", (c) 2016 and The Filipino Artists Magazine. Dr. Bernard Laya Anton Tan, Marlon, Marian and Ianessa Ang Zerimar Ramirez, Dr. Kenneth and Paz Sy and the Monzons - Victoria Edna Monzon Annab Monzon Christelle Monzon-Daza Jano Daza Jose Monzon Sheryll Millette Samadan-Monzon Marguerite Monzon for their endless support.
Paintograph I and II Artists Vic Bachoco, Denis Diego, Angelito Florendo Rufo Bong Sunga Jr. Jun Rocha.
For friends, relatives and art collectors who have supported us by bringing home our work and taking care of them, the paintings and photographs from these collections.
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