Melchor Bernaldo was a former AFP marine. And so it isn’t really surprising to see that his paintings are an alternative vision of a world far from his military life.
Looking at his paintings, you’d think that this artist has had some formal training in art, but he is actually self-taught. An unexplainable source of talent is given to a very select few. And needs to be released either by destiny or fate.
We who are trapped in a life of routine, cannot imagine and paint ethereal beauty such as the Bathaluman series.
Painted in acrylic and gesso, applied in large swabs, with brush and palette knife. These are invitations by the artist, inside his vision of a coloristic life.
His goddesses are strong, seductive, beautiful, mysterious and divine. She is Earth, the forest, the sea, the sun, the moon, flowers and butterflies. Each deity was assigned a role by Bathala to play a role in the life of man. ...
Alusina, the beautiful. Tala, the morning and night star to guide the lost.
Dayea was knowledge, justice, wisdom and intelligence.
Bakunawa, the serpent encircled the Earth.
Anitun Tabo was wind and rain.
Amihan , probably the most relevant today in relation to climate change, was
the goddess of weather.
Bighari, a flower goddess, and to whom the rainbow is associated.
They live in off world realms, illuminated by a yellow sky, and a large pearlescent moon that seems to never set. A floral-scented world. These are places of the
“not there”.
We are outsiders and should we care about mythology? What is their relevance today? If we are to find the true meaning of the series, we need to look deeper than the Bathalumans perfect beauty. Are they just pretty faces? Are they us? Are we them?
All of mythology are stories of gods and goddesses. But they are also about us mortals. Gods were far from perfect. Their character flaws were epic. Vain, greedy, and warlike. They squabble amongst themselves. Took sides against another side. They wreaked havoc on earth, destroying her forests, flora and fauna.
The seas rose and drowned the entire globe. The lands opened and swallowed everything, till there was none left but utter emptiness. Did the artist intend for the viewer to enter the realm of the painting just to admire beauty for beauty’s sake, or were we to go down a rabbit hole of self-evaluation?
