Art in the time of happiness

After his wife Michelle got a new lease on life in 2007 after vanquishing endometrial cancer, businessman Benny Soliven gifted her on her birthday with a painting that reflected her infectious joie de vivre.

“The vibrancy of the lady in the painting (36 in. x 42 in. entitled Midnight at the Kasbah), who is seated while having cocktails as she overlooks a seascape, reminds me of my joyful and vibrant wife,” says Benny.

Midnight at the Kasbah is by former businessman Carlos Rocha, who found his true calling at middle age when he succumbed to his first love — painting. (His porcelain-skinned wife Minda is his all-time love.)

Benny recalls that he got attracted to the “playfulness” of Carlos Rocha’s art.

“He is able to give life with his own impressionistic style that is colorful and vibrant. I get the feeling that I am looking at a Monet painting every time I see how he depicts life on his canvas. He truly depicts the colors of life. I like the burst. It’s not dull. In time it will remain vibrant.”

Their Carlos painting now hangs proudly in their dining room.

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Happiness is the advocacy of Carlos (the painter, not the “Jackal,” mind you).

“I always walk on the sunny side of the street,” says the jovial father of three, who took up Architecture at the University of Santo Tomas. But he didn’t become an architect, and instead went into the shipping and cardboard business. But the urge to paint was like an uncoiled spring inside him, waiting for the right moment to unravel itself.

Some 12 years ago, when he just turned 50, Carlos or “Charlie” made a decision that proved to be a golden moment in his life. He decided to turn his boyhood dream into reality.

 â€œI didn’t want to have any regrets at my deathbed,” he shares. So with the support of Minda, whom he instantly knew would be the one for him when he saw her photo at a St. Scholastica’s College Yearbook, Carlos took up a paintbrush.

And he never looked back.

From that day on, Carlos was like a cornucopia, overflowing with works that reflected the vivid colors of luscious fruits — from pomegranates to apples — and the scenery that one sees mostly in one’s dreams.

“Painting was the only activity that didn’t bore me,” says the devout Born-Again Christian. It also gave him an opportunity to lead others to his sunny side of the street.

“God gave me talent for a purpose, and when I went into painting 12 years ago, I was confident I could do well even if I was a late-bloomer,” he affirms.

The late-bloomer and former “lost bullet” had found his sun and his direction. Today, Carlos is known for his pieces of sculpture as well, many of which adorn the suites of the Raffles and Fairmont Hotels in Makati City, and the lobby of the Crimson Hotel in Alabang. He paints in an airy studio with lots of sun, and works as regularly in his studio as a bank employee does in the bank, not succumbing to moods, not waiting for inspiration, for he finds that it comes as soon as he stares at his blank canvas.

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Carlos’ paintings are slices of places by the Mediterranean, places he has seen only in his dreams and in books and magazines.

“When you think of your dream honeymoon, what do you think of? Usually, you think of the Mediterranean and the South of France, with its turquoise seas and skies, and its colorful flowers,” Carlos points out. I wholeheartedly agree, for images of the Mediterranean make me want to sigh, “This is the life!”

Since he is a happy man, and since he wants to turn joy into a contagion, Carlos decided that his paintings would reflect his mindset.

“I wanted to shock and awe, and there are only two ways to do that. Either you shock and jolt people with heart-rending images, or you awe them with uplifting ones. I simply chose the latter,” he continues.

Vibrant oranges, vivid reds and cheerful yellows “shock and awe” those who gaze at Carlos’ works, for Carlos’ paintings are for gazing, not just looking. When I saw his paintings in my sister-in-law Peewee Lareza’s home, images of a Mediterranean cruise I once took with my husband bubbled to the surface of my mind.

Carlos was inspired by the paintings of Van Gogh before the latter’s depression, and the simplicity of the style of Matisse.

A self-described “colorist,” Carlos paints tranquil seas that make you dream of lazy days and holidays and romantic cliffside homes with breathtaking views. A fruit platter or basket is almost always present (with a half-eaten apple, to connote that something tempting is going on), as are two goblets of red wine. Another signature of Carlos is a pair of chairs by the window, on the balcony, on the garden, right beside the table with the fruits and wine. Could life get any better than this?

“It is my choice not to inject politics in my works. I prefer light subjects, subjects that make you want to stop and smell the roses, take out your blinders, and see the roses as well.”

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)