An Erstwhile Reclusive Artist

 

AN ERSTWHILE RECLUSIVE ARTIST

By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol 

BODETTE MARASIGAN had joined only one  art exhibit since he left college in 1984. That was early this year, when he and some members of the UE Artists Guild held a group show at the Hounds and Grounds Cafe. Reason for that is Bodette wasn't really keen on exhibiting his works in a gallery setting. He confided that he's not really the sociable type who relish mingling with people, artists or not, during art exhibit cocktail receptions.

But that was then. Now, since associating with fellow artists who see art exhibitions not as mere social events but as one sure way of getting exposure in the art scene, Bodette has no choice. He has to chuck off his reclusive persona and introverted ways and mingle with fellow art enthusiasts in an event where canapés and cocktails are ingested in between conversions.

Bodette was born in Manila to Miguel Marasigan and Militina delos Reyes. He enrolled in Fine Arts major in Advertising at the University of the East School of Music and Fine Arts. He left college still an undergrad when a job opportunity beckoned. That job was as a production stage designer at the Meralco Theater. He'd worked in other jobs after that like in advertising agencies, and surprisingly also in a non-art related position as Property Management Area Manager for DMCI Homes. Adventurous in a way, Bodette, in an attempt "to seek greener pastures", even sojourned to Paris, France, where he stayed for seven years. 

Although a skilled practitioner of oil painting, Bodette apparently has a greater predilection for watercolors. While he does his oil paintings in a photo-realist manner, Bodette's watercolors exhibit qualities opposed to obsession with details and sharp outlining of forms. A truly remarkable series he'd worked on is his watercolor portraits of artists friends (including me), which he did gratis. The word that can best describe his watercolors is fluid, because the technique he employs  is not the dry-brush variety espoused by Andrew Wyeth, but rather the looser wash strokes favored by many watercolor enthusiasts. This technique is more impressive because it demonstrates the artist's mastery of his craft as displayed by his ability to capture likenesses and forms with fewer brush strokes. Besides, watercolor portraits done using the wash technique, being bereft of hard edges, look "softer", another endearing quality of portraits.

Another facet of his art which makes Bodette's watercolors distinct from those of other artists more liberal in their use of colors is his restraint in using them. Bodette doesn't utilized the whole spectrum of colors. He is not a proponent of loud coloration. He is more fond of employing mainly earth colors and olive greens and greyish-blues in his artmaking.

Bodette lives in Paco, Manila with wife Judith and daughter Pauline Marie. Bodette's watercolor painting of Pauline Marie posing as a fruit vendor displays best the qualities I discerned in his art, like fluidity, softness, and subdued coloration..