FLOWING seamlessly with grace, the journey of a river contains hundreds of stories untold. These stories reach far and wide, as rivers travel and remain witnesses of the unraveling of mysteries through time.
Fascinated by this as a child, Mario de Rivera depicted a story through 15 mixed medium artworks telling stories of the river from his recently concluded exhibit entitled Songs from the River.
A collaboration by Qube with Hiraya Gallery brought to Cebu for the very first time the mixed media artist. The exhibit launching was on Oct. 17 in Abaca Baking Company located in Crossroads, Banilad, Cebu City. The artworks were specifically made for his first ever show in Cebu having only visited the region once when he was younger.
“Songs from the River—(the exhibit is) in reference to my childhood place where there is a historic river; it’s a part of Cagayan. It’s like a special place for me, and these (artworks) depict memories from childhood,” said de Rivera.
Having been exposed to art at a very young age, de Rivera earned his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at the University of Santo Tomas in 1974 where he majored in advertising. This career path brought him to the Middle East and China, and the rich culture of the places he has traveled to, provided great inspiration in the elements he introduces in his pieces. “In the mid ‘80s, I went to Beijing and I lived in Beijing as a commercial artist. I was making ads, so I was living in Beijing for over a year. It has a very rich history and I spent weekends in the Summer Palace or in the Forbidden City. The richness of the history of China; actually, that’s where I got the influence of gold from,” said de Rivera.
De Rivera revealed that one technique he uses in his artworks is influenced by his wife, specifically by her hobby as a baker. He admitted that he learned the technique of icing letters on cakes as he used to help his wife in doing so when she baked. This is what he does with his paintings when he places details usually using gold to accentuate the oriental feel of his vision.
For his process in creating visual art, he explained that he’s the kind of artist who visualizes first the output he wants to achieve before he starts working on it.
“I visualize the picture first and then I come up with the solution on how to come up with the vision. Sometimes the process includes reading poetry. I am inspired by the poetry of this Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda. His poetry inspires me. All these (arts) fuel me; from books to poetry, food and music—they’re all one and the same energy. Like, when you read poetry, you come up with images and then later on these inspire you to do visuals like these,” said de Rivera.
Aside from painting, de Rivera also enjoys cooking especially international cuisine. But as an artist, he clarified that he’s not the usual kind of artist that people often meet.
“I’m not a very artsy person. I’m not eccentric. I’m far from that,” said de Rivera.