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"Triduum" by Jovan Benito at The Podium
"Triduum" (Humanizing Kristo), a Lenten exhibit by Jovan Benito, opens on April 2, 2009 at Galerie Joaquin Podium and runs until April 17. The gallery is located at the Lower Ground Level of The Podium, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City with website, www.galeriejoaquin.com and telephone numbers 634-7954 or 723-9418.
The exhibit features Benito's re-interpretation of familiar religious imagery by some of the world's most famous artists. These images have stood the test of time and are considered masterpieces of European art. The originals, among them Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, Michelangelo's Pieta, and Rogier van der Weyden's Deposition, depict events associated with the Triduum, the period in the Church calendar beginning Maundy Thursday and ending on Easter Sunday.
In adapting the 15th century works using her contemporary voice, Benito brings back her assembly of quirky figures resembling storybook characters for children. Dressing them not in the colorful Filipiniana she is adept in portraying but in the tunics associated with the time of Jesus Christ, Benito shows the ability to adapt her style to different settings and contexts.
The self-taught 26-year-old artist describes her works as a push to strike a balance between the too-solemn realism of Renaissance paintings and the purely secular art more common today. By depicting the Biblical events leading to the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ on the cross, Benito acknowledges Filipino religiosity and the importance of faith in one's life.
As a mother of two, her intention in creating these oil paintings is to make it easier for children to appreciate events that Christians everywhere have seen many times over without making their beliefs traumatizing or frightening for the young.
Benito's prismatic style takes on the effect of stained glass, illuminating and breaking up the form, and serving a pedagogical purpose, as in the pictorial art of the gothic cathedrals of medieval times. Although Benito retains some of the symbolic colors of the clothes found in the originals, her Christ is a figure not completely differentiated from other men. Free from the glowing halo of holiness, Jesus was one of us--fully human as he is fully God.
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