Where do we grow from here?

Jenni Epperson likes to cry.    She cries when she’s happy, she cries when she’s sad. She cries when she’s strong and she cries when she’s weak. When she’s weak, she tries to act strong, and then she cries. I think crying is proof that deep inside, you are really strong — strong about your passions and desires, strong about your beliefs and strong about what you love and who you love.

Jenni has been crying a lot lately, mostly because she feels loved, and this makes her strong. But no, this article is not about Jenni, and what makes her cry. It is about her husband Tom Epperson, who I think has been making her cry.

In an e-mail, Jenni talked about that Tom-New York-cry moment. ”We just came from Tyler Rollins Gallery to check out Tom’s photos. They just finished hanging the prints this morning and when we walked in, I couldn’t believe how stunning Tom’s photographs were. I was lost for words and I silently cried.”  

Now Tom is the opposite of Jenni. But that day, he couldn’t help it. Tom was overwhelmed and he cried. No one else but Jenni saw the tears rolling down his cheeks. They looked at each other, spoke without words, and cried. When life is amazing, cry.

Mabuhay, tom!

To follow the track on Tom and Jenni’s journey to New York, I copy-paste an entry from her blog (www.mabuhaygirl.com):

“New York — Ever since I’ve known my husband, he has always been in search for something original and relevant to work on. I’ve been keeping mum about his exhibit in New York for the past seven months as I was afraid I’d jinx it. (Lol.) It all started last year when our friend, Marcel, who is a huge art collector, attended Tom’s ‘frozen’ exhibit and bought one of his prints. Months later, New York gallery owner, Tyler Rollins met up with Marcel in his home to look for Southeast Asian artists so he could invite them to show their works in his gallery. Tyler saw the photo that Marcel had bought from Tom and asked to meet him. At that time, my husband was still at the last leg of his month-long trip in Mongolia, so it was not possible. With the help of Marcel, Tyler and Tom finally met in June 2008.

“After Tyler saw Tom’s “Frozen Flower” series, he sent Tom a letter (I tell you: that letter was something else), inviting him to show his work at Tyler Rollins Fine Art, and signed him up for two years! Whoa.”

I was talking to Jenni on the phone when this news of abundant blessings came upon the man and his family. I wanted to cry, too. This is one for the country, like Manny Pacquiao scoring a win — but this one was for the arena of art photography.

Tom’s New York Moment

When they got to New York, they paid the gallery a visit to see how Tom’s images were mounted before opening night. On their way to the gallery, they walked past several important galleries in the area like Mary Boone, Chime and Read, and the Gagosian Gallery, all temples for the most important artists of our time. Marcel quipped: “Isn’t it amazing that Tom is doing a show on the same street as the photographic greats such as, William Eggleston, Edward Weston, André Kertész, Imogen Cunningham, and Wolfgang Tillmins?”

And with that, Tom cried. Jenni held back from crying. For once, she had no words, only tears — of joy.

On the of the exhibit itself, more than 300 guests from all over the world came to applaud the Philippines’ very own. The attendees were mostly editors, writers, art lovers, buyers, art students, photographers, stylists, other artists, curators, and many more who were amazed at Tom’s highly original, conceptual, and visual work. Tom has always worked with water, his being an avid surfer. This exhibit marks a paradigm shift in his career, a milestone in art and photography for the Philippines and Filipinos in general.

Frozen from a giant ice cube, each image posed a question. While watching a documentary on the Ice Age, Tom the thinker all of a sudden asked himself, “What if the Ice Age dawned upon us, what will be the remnants from our time?” The things splashed or, shall I say, frozen on this Supreme page on a hot, summer day reflect the changing signs of our times, of memories of a life gone by, seized by a magical moment, all within a photograph. If only we could freeze things, if we could just say, “Stop the world!” when we want, but we can’t.

That is the beauty of what art and artists can do to inspire, and make us remember — to make sure that we do not forget the beauty and madness that surround us, right here, right now. That night was frozen in its entirety in Tom, Jenni’s and daughter Aryanna’s memory. Jenni thought to myself, “You deserve this, hun.” Engulfed with too much emotion, Jenni cried.

After The Ice Storm

Young Star columnist Erwin Romulo told Tom, “I’m so proud that one of us made it here!” The critics raved: ”Wow, multi-dimensional, profound!” “He’s crazy to work with ice!” Another critic said, “I’ve never seen anything like this but ... I like it. Very much.”

“New Yorkers took interest in picking the artist’s brain, so to speak. Most of them asked about Tom’s process to achieve his art, and shared with him their interpretations of his work,” Jenni shares with Supreme.

With the recession on New Yorkers’ minds, Tom Epperson’s exhibit was a welcome break for a city spoiled and jaded with art. Tyler even told Tom, “It’s been a while since we had a really good vibe like this.”

“I watched Tom walk towards the center of the gallery after the storm, and he just stood there, immobilized for a few seconds. Although I wondered what his thoughts were, I didn’t bother asking him. I know him well enough that that pause was necessary for him to take it all in as he was profoundly humbled and overjoyed by the entirety of the surreal experience,”Jenni explains, herself absorbing the moment as she looked at her husband, her daughter and the frozen works of art that were hung in the gallery. And right on cue, a great moment in life frozen in her mind, she cried.

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Tom Epperson’s “12 below” exhibit runs at the Tyler Rollins Gallery until May 9. Visit trfineart.com for more info.