Artist Jay now choosing his fights on canvas<\/p>\n
Mehru Jaffer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The canvas titled Fight says it all. It is in fact the entire
\nautobiography of painter Jay Briones De Gala, and also the title
\nof his debut exhibition.<\/p>\n
Using palette knives, Jay has cut into the canvas that is
\ngenerously coated with deep blues, shades of yellow and red paint
\nto carve a crude out line of an army tank that is seen driving
\nstraight toward a child. The tank is almost 10 times bigger than
\nthe little boy in the foreground.<\/p>\n
Obviously the child is no chicken. He stands in full action
\nwith one arm raised, holding a stone aimed at the tank. The
\ncanvas throbs with tension as the huge tank seems to almost touch
\nthe nose of the child whose face is turned away from the viewer.
\nAt a glance the artist appears to be glorifying the themes of a
\ntooth for a tooth, or a nail for a nail. But look again, for if
\nanything that is glorified in this canvas it is perhaps courage,
\nand not revenge.<\/p>\n
\"The child is not stupid. He knows that a stone is no match
\nfor a tank but at that moment that is the only way he knows to
\ndefend himself. Instead of doing nothing and waiting passively
\nfor the end to come he decides to do something in his defense, no
\nmatter how ordinary, how small that gesture is,\" said Jay
\non the eve of the two-week solo exhibition of 60 of his
\npaintings.<\/p>\n
Many of the other exhibits too depict violence in different
\nways. But if Jay had his way he would have nothing to do with
\nviolence. He has had enough of it. The truth, however, is that he
\nis unable to escape violence. Even today he carries a knife that
\nis tucked only a few inches away from a leather pouch holding a
\npacket of cigarettes, and strapped around his waist with a belt.<\/p>\n
He is not quite sure whether he really needs to carry a weapon
\nall the time or he does it out of a habit from childhood?<\/p>\n
\"If I were still in the Philippines I would be carrying a gun
\ninstead for self-defense,\" says Jay who came to Jakarta a decade
\nago as financial consultant to a Jakarta based company. Since
\nthen his ties to this country have only grown. His Indonesian
\nwife and three children often make him forget that he is
\nFilipino.<\/p>\n
Jay was born in the Philippines but it is in Indonesia that he
\nwas reborn, he likes to repeat. He came here on a business
\nassignment and made quite a success of it. Just when he was
\nfeeling that he had arrived he heard a little voice tell him that
\nsomething very important was still missing in his life. He
\nwandered around listlessly trying to shrug away the nagging
\nfeeling till he found himself engaged in a delightful
\nconversation with painter Mustika one day.<\/p>\n
That was two years ago when Mustika first told him that all he
\nneeded to paint was a desire to do so.<\/p>\n
Jay recalls bursting into goose pimples as he listened to
\nMustika talk and who made it sound so easy to practice art. Jay
\nalready had all the material comforts he desired but his soul
\nremained, as if, asleep. After Mustika, he met Moko who
\neventually taught him how to use oil colors on canvas.<\/p>\n
The first time he saw Moko he felt like Daniel, the karate kid
\nin the film of the same name. Moko reminded him of Mr. Miyagi,
\nthe wise karate master with his great wit, immense talent and
\nwhite beard. He had little problem in accepting Moko immediately
\nas his guru.<\/p>\n
Today his one desire is to be part of the international art
\nscene, using his paintings to bring people from around the world
\ncloser to each other.<\/p>\n
Jay's desperateness to create a better understanding between
\ndifferent people and societies stems from his own childhood that
\nwas filled with quarrels and terror. He is astonished to see the
\nheights scaled by terrorism today like in the recent destruction
\nof the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. He
\nunderstands the frustration of ordinary people who want a better
\nlife for themselves. After all he is one of them. But even in
\nworst moments people still have a choice in resolving the
\npredicament they face.<\/p>\n
Throughout his life he has tried to do good for himself
\nwithout harming the other.<\/p>\n
He was five years old when Jay first confronted violence. It
\nwas in the middle of one dark night when terrible sounds woke him
\nup and tried to turn his little world up side down. Although
\nthree decades have passed since that incident he still finds it
\ndifficult to forget the helplessness he experienced at watching
\nhis father lash out brutally at his mother both verbally and
\nphysically.<\/p>\n
\"I remained at the receiving end of much violence for 10 more
\nyears and then I decided to retaliate,\" Jay said.<\/p>\n
But instead of launching a vendetta against his father and the
\nwhole world, Jay wondered about other ways to improve his life.
\nFinally he concluded that the cause of much of the misery
\nsuffered by his family was due to poverty. He was 13 years old
\nwhen he first resolved to conquer poverty.<\/p>\n
While other kids of his age played and experimented with drugs
\nand alcohol, Jay studied. Eventually he earned a scholarship and
\ngraduated in commerce from Manila's prestigious De Lasalle
\nUniversity. A lack of a proper education, he feels, is often the
\nkey to many a problem people face in life. And now that he
\nhas conquered his own poverty, both physical and spiritual, he
\nlooks forward to helping others even less fortunate than himself
\nto do the same. The fight, of course, continues but violence, he
\nhopes will have no room in his life, ever.<\/p>\n
The Fight is at H Galeri, Jl. Tomang Raya No 39, (tel.
\n56961004). Open until Oct. 20.<\/p>",
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