Lord of the Reef

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LORD OF THE REEF, 2007, acrylic on paper, 30 X 22 inches

By Arnaldo Mirasol

Artist statement for my piece for “MUKHA: Portraits of Histories and Stories” exhibit at the De la Salle University (May 24-August 24, 2018)

This painting is a self-portrait —though not obviously so, because of the diving mask covering my face. If you look closely you’ll discern that the eyes, eyebrows, and moustache of the diver are my eyes, eyebrows, and moustache. Also, the attire and diving gear were what I used to wear then. But even though this work is a self-portrait, the scene is just imaginary. I am just role-playing here. The painting is a portrayal of my fascination with the sea and my admiration for and awe of spear-fishermen who I considered before as sportsmen par excellence. 

But why “Lord of the Reef”? The title is also a question. Who really rule the deep? Its fiercer denizens like the barracudas or sharks—or the intruding humans, whose greed and wanton fishing methods could only lead to the depletion of marine resources?

The persona I assumed in this painting is anti-heroic, so to speak. I said that I considered spear-fishermen as sportsmen par excellence. That was before. But no longer. I now see those who are into spear and deep-sea fishing for sports as no better than those who hunt for trophies in Africa. If they must kill fish, they should do it out of necessity—not for fun, not for thrills, and certainly not to earn bragging rights as champion sea hunters.

— May 5, 2018

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Published by arnelmirasol

I was born and raised in Tondo, Manila, Philippines. I took up Fine Arts, major in painting at the University of Santo Tomas and the University of the East. In 1981, I began working as a professional artist, when I was hired as editorial cartoonist for the newspaper People's Journal Tonight. In 1987, I applied and was hired for the same job in Joe Burgos' We Forum Publications. In between my cartooning stints, I worked as gallery assistant at the Galeria de las Islas, and was an educational book illustrator from 1988 to 2000 In 1996, I showed my portfolio to Reni Roxas and Marc Singer, publishers of Tahanan Books for Young Readers. Being especially impressed by the cover art I did for Phoenix Publishing House, Reni and Marc commissioned me to do the illustrations for their collaborative book First Around the Globe: The Story of Enrique. I went on to illustrate four more books for Tahanan: Tamales Day, The Brothers Wu and the Good-Luck Eel, Once Upon a Time, and Long Ago and Far Away. My other books are Origin of the Frog, and Anina ng mga Alon (Anina of the Waves). Two of my books are prize-winners abroad. The Origin of the Frog won a runner-up award in the 12th Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustration in Tokyo, in 2000. While the supposed excellence of my illustrations for The Brothers Wu and the Good-Luck Eel landed me on the Honour List of the Basel-based International Board on Books for Young people (IBBY). I had three solo art exhibitions, so far - once at the Hiraya Gallery and twice at the Crucible. I had also participated in several group exhibitions. My paintings in the eighties, although belonging to the social-realist school, were tempered somewhat with surrealist color and humor. One of my paintings from that period, the "Hungry Child Dissected", won in 1984, one of the three Best Entry awards in the First Metrobank Annual painting Competition. 2008 was a landmark year for me. It was during that time that I finally weaned myself away from the sharp-focus realist style of my previous paintings. While my earlier works were rendered with a meticulous attention to details, my recent illustrations and paintings - with their simplification, distortion, and loud coloration - have a decidedly modern and pop art feel to them. I still live in Tondo, with my wife Carina, and sons Brando de Niro and Karel Andrei. I am popularly known as Arnel Mirasol in the Philippine art circle.

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