In Ray Gomez’s paintings, the first thing that comes into view are the details of what is probably a million rice grains. Each one painted with the proper lighting and shadow, to show depth, prompting an impulse to touch and hoping that it would feel the same as the real object.
But the paintings are much more than the details it boasts of. On trips to rural areas we may still be lucky to see old women hunched over a bilao of rice, painstakingly removing the rice from their husks. The rice is tossed into the air where the wind blows away the chaff, and the precious rice falls back into the basket. Chickens scatter about waiting for any falling from the basket. ...
But modernization has completely changed the way the Filipino cultivates and prepares this everyday staple. At field level, farmers no longer manually beat the harvested rice to be free from husks and even insects. Everything is mechanized now. The winnowing basket is no longer used as almost all households buy packaged Thai Jasmine rice and is cooked in minutes by Hanabishi rice cookers.
And so the winnowing tray is a reminder of vast rice plantations. Some antique examples of which are found in museums abroad. The showering of newlyweds with grains of rice as a blessing for abundance, prosperity and children, a bowl of rice grains at the doorway of a new home to ward off spirits are but some of old Filipino practices long forgotten.
While we are still fortunate, urbanization poses a threat to the disappearance of our rich rice lands.
And while the artist may have consciously realized it or not, he has painted a symbol of what must remain in the Filipino heart and mind. This is the time for looking, thinking and for trying to make sense out of our modern life by looking at art subjects, sourced from our past. And if we allow paintings of the old ways to carry us, we will experience pleasure, nostalgia and beauty. We may gain insight, inspiration and challenges to change or preserve something.
