The Night I Met the Talented J.A. Tan

Meeting an artist, may it be a musician, a painter, a designer as well as a digital artist will always be a pleasure to me. To be one of them is really an ambition for me, sadly, I am not as gifted as them. That's why when I went to see the exhibit of the very talented Jose Antonio "J.A." S. Tan last week at Ayala Museum Artist Space, all I can do is to be amuse to every piece he has done for his collection "...On and On... Step By Step..."

Born with autism, this Vancouver, Canada based Filipino artists recently joined the exclusive club of artists who have designed stamps for the United Nations when his artwork entitle "Victory" has been chosen and issued as a UN stamp last April 2, 2012.

One of the 8 pieces that were chosen from over 200 worldwide submissions, J.A. Tan's "Victory" was showcased to the public last August 26, 2013 at the Ayala Museum Artists Space together with a dozen more of his artworks that are just truly magnificent.

Tan's praxis included painting, drawing and collage which showed how his thoughts, feelings and ideas work. And in his show "...On and On... Step By Step...", everyone got a glimpse of Tan's world that is mostly colorful, fun and exciting.

Tan used acrylic, oil, black ink, pastel, pencil, crayons and mixed media to describe his feelings in this set of art pieces, and I must say that even if I really don't have that much knowledge to paintings, I can tell how much emotion he has poured unto them - even by just glancing at them. And one that really got my attention - heart and soul - is his art piece called "Fortress".

Fortress

Despite of living in Canada, I can also tell the Filipino influences in his painting that simply make me proud.

Congratulations and thank you J.A., for sharing your work to us and by making us proud.
Keep it up! God bless you!