I can taste
the thick adobo tales
of your life
--Al Robles in a poem to Manong Felix Ayson
The strong smell of adobo hits you hard when you walk through the door of Mel Vera Cruz's art exhibit "Quintessential Adobo". It is a smell that, once it gets into your skin, you can't get rid of it; and once you taste it, you want more. It is much like the poem by Al Robles who found his way to his ancestral homeland, the Philippines without setting foot on its soil--finding it in a place called Manilatown in San Francisco by following the smell of adobo swirling around the small rooms of the International Hotel. That same fragrance inhabits the work of artist Mel Vera Cruz. He greets you at the door, just as the manongs of the past did, unassuming, donning a black leather hat and letting his art speak for itself.
Mel Vera Cruz remembers his first doodles as a child. It was 43 years ago. He says that he didn't “have to dig a nail deep onto our wall to draw and proudly show it off to my mom”. As a kid he wondered what he could be, now and in old age. He remembers that the answer that came into his mind was art. To Mel Vera Cruz, art is everywhere. Mel says, “Visual art may not matter to most people but it is everywhere. It is unavoidable because we live in a visual world”.
Oftentimes the lines that exist in the arts are blurred. One line blends into another, permeating a border or perceived border to create another line that is unique, much like a poem that has been given birth, one line, followed by another until the gift that touches our deepest core is there to be sung, to take flight. That feeling of taking flight took a hold of me when I attended the launch of “Quintessential Adobo” an exhibition of art by Mel Vera Cruz, held in the City's Bayview Community at the Paolo Mejia Art Gallery and Design Studio, located at 4343 #B, 3rd Street. It is befitting that this exhibit was being shown in the Bayview—a community under attack by banks and developers who are intent on grabbing land and destroying community. This art exhibit is a resistance to this, without apology.
To me, Mel Vera Cruz's art occupies that space between poetry and the visual. On his canvases, which are common items like wood and cardboard, inhabit images of the Filipino soul, our dreams, our contradictions, pieces of everyday life that make up who we are. Life size black and white images of our ancestors are presented on mylar amidst a myriad of images of sardine cans, a common food of the worker, the poor, the every day person whose stories go untold but in whose eyes and silence a thousand stories are told.
Rather than fetishize these manongs—our ancestral elders—the artist gives their bodies, their being, the proper respect by preserving their memory in such a way that is not overshadowed by the medium. To the contrary, the medium functions as a conduit of reverence and respect which is the brilliance of the pieces. Through his humble use of art, Vera Cruz becomes poet, storyteller—a messenger from the past and of the present.
Mel Vera Cruz is a humble artist whose art assumes many identities making up what it means to be Filipino. But ultimately this means not forgetting who you are and not being ashamed. Mel says:
This show is one of the things that I believe in. Quintessential Adobo for me means being myself.
Adobo might stink to some people because of the vinegar but once you try it, you'll surely come back for more. Vinegar might be for cleaning and not edible for some but besides making the food taste better, it is the main ingredient to make adobo last for days without refrigeration.
That's how my psyche works. It preserves and can be clear even in murky waters because it was built on solid ground. It takes courage to open up to it because it doesn't conform and it might stink at first but can create lasting impressions once opened up to it.
Mel Vera Cruz is an artist but to me he is a poet. His work brings me to my ancestral homeland, the Philippines, a place that I have not been to. The art in “Quintessential Adobo” is a homecoming, it is poetry, it is a celebration. I taste the thick adobo tales of his art.
For more information: http://www.paolomejia.com/?p=882 and www.melveracruz.com