THE EVENT / by Glenn A. Bautista
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It was 1965 and I was 17 years old when my father, a Methodist minister, encouraged me to join an International Art Competition. Submitted artworks were exhibited at the New York World’s Fair. Sixty entries from all over the world were received and visitors at the fair casually voted for the artwork they wished to win. I almost hit the ceiling of our house jumping for joy when I received a registered “airmail” from WorldLit-Lit & Christian Literature notifying me that I had won the art competition.
Not too long after the announcement, I received a check and some boxes of Christmas cards of my artwork, “The Event”. I was never the same since then. I maintained the same passion I had then in painting all through these years- with only a few interruptions. Below is a brief description of what I had in mind when I worked on this award-winning piece.
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THE EVENT / by Glenn A. Bautista
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“The Birth Scene is THE EVENT designed by God to usher into the world the Kingdom of Heaven. The faint outline of the world, cross, and Bible suggest that the translation of THE EVENT into human experience has not proceeded far enough. But modern man need not accept defeat! The three Wise Men and their modern counterparts are still persistently pointing to the Star of Bethlehem as the one sure hope of peace,” says artist Glenn Bautista, of Manila.
“The Event” (tempera on board), First Prize Winner, International Christmas Art Competition, New York World’s Fair, New York, N.Y., U.S.A., World Literacy and Christian Literature, NCC 475 Riverside Drive, New York, N.Y. 10027 @ WLCL, Printed in U.S.A.
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(Lifted from “The Uncommon Art of Glenn” by Alice G. Guillermo)
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After a number of portraits and landscapes, religious subjects began to occupy the artist more and more. In fact it was in his paintings of religious themes that he came to the attention of a wider public. His early paintings of religious subjects were done in the idiom of transparent prismatic cubism, more curvilinear than geometric and which, moreover, had a luminous, stained-glass effect.
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Of a technical virtousity, they often portrayed human figures, many of them children, in attitudes of worship done in style which endowed the subjects with an appealing freshness and innocence. Among the canvases of this period were Peace, He Took them in His Arms, Providence and Jesus Loves Me. Another painting; The Event, won first prize in the International Christmas Art Competition in New York in 1964.
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The Event ‘65 / tempera on board – 16″ x 20″ inches /
by Glenn A. Bautista
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In this painting, Glenn Bautista himself wrote: The faint outlines of the world, the cross, and the Bible in the painting suggest that the translation of “The Event” into human experience has not proceeded far enough. But modern man need not despair. The three wise men and their modern counterparts are still persistently pointing to the Star of Bethlehem as the one sure hope of peace.”
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He Took Them in His Arms / oil on canvas – 32″ x 56″ inches /
by Glenn A. Bautista
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In 1970 the New World Outlook, a magazine in the United States, reproduced “He Took Them in His Arms” in full color. These works bring together numerous religious symbols which are superimposed in curvilinear transparent planes of delicate hues on the figures of people and children.
These early works are orthodox Christian in content and infused with a feeling of reverence that the stained glass quality lends. However, his later religious works became increasingly eclectic in character. The artist no longer remained within the confines of Christianity but brought in diverse elements from Asian religions, particularly Buddhism, in order to create a spiritual synthesis and a universal ecumenism of religious worship. Although Glenn Bautista later turned to other subjects and themes, there always lingered a trace of the religious in his paintings, either visually, as a solitary Christ figure in unfamiliar landscapes or as a mood in mystical or supernatural atmosphere.
