My Uncle, The Visual Artist
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Visual artist Joni Ramos
One still-life artist who is generating a lot of buzz in the art world is Joni Ramos. This is not news to me because I have known his artistic gift for a long time. By the way, he happens to be my uncle.
A native of Santa Barbara, Pangasinan, he studied architecture at the University of Pangasinan. He has always been good at drawing. But it was only when he started winning in art competitions did he set his sights on being a visual artist.
He really loves painting. “Time stands still when I paint,” he says. “I get so energized that sometimes I can’t stop painting.
“A canvas is like a blank wall. A visual artist gives color, personality, and emotion to make it a painting even if he has to bend rules.”
Uncle Joni can also do portraits and landscapes, as well as photography. His photos have been featured in Positively Filipino.
But his still lifes have become a sensation. It all started as a fluke.
One of his friends posted Uncle Joni’s Litson (2015) on Facebook, showing a happy roast pig’s head. Lo and behold, it went viral! Visual artist Chito Maravilla, who is based in Vancouver, sums it up: “What a hoot! A still life of a laughing hog-tied roast pig’s head! Grotesque! Satirical of Pinoy gastronomy and tradition! Totally original!”
Litson by Joni Ramos, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 16" x 16”. (private collection)
Antiques dealer George Garma, who resides in Modesto, California, agrees: “Images of roast pig are macabre unless there’s an apple in its mouth to lighten the mood. But this pig is jolly! It seems its head was cut off while it was having fun!”
In Pulburon (2016), Uncle Joni presents the eponymous Philippine compressed cookies on a bilao (circular basket made of bamboo splits). Travel consultant Marie Toralballa of Washington, D.C., who is a big fan of Uncle Joni, can easily tell that the pulburon are homemade because they are wrapped in papel de hapon (Japanese paper) and there is a mold. “The mold looks so realistic,” she describes. The late architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was right. God is in the details! “Not only does it have a metal sheen,” Toralballa continues, “but there are crumbs underneath!” The painting reminds her of how her family made pulburon together in Iloilo.
Pulburon by Joni Ramos, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 20" x 16”. (private collection)
Uncle Joni seemed to have worked under a microscope in Kilawen nga Ipon iti Ballesteros (2016). Ipon is starry goby (Mirogobius stellatus), which is eaten as a salad in the coastal town of Ballesteros, Cagayan. The painting is based on a photo by Engelbert Alvarez, a nurse in Ballesteros. Tomatoes, onions, and ginger, which are the salad’s ingredients, are shown in the painting. But it is in the mass of itty-bitty ipon where Uncle Joni displays his artistic prowess. Homemaker Pinky Corpuz, a Ballesteros native, exclaims, “The painting is so lifelike! It makes me want to eat ipon right now!”
Kilawen nga Ipon iti Ballesteros by Joni Ramos, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 20" x 15”. (private collection)
He commemorates the long friendship of pen pals Rey E. de la Cruz (Philippines) and Satu Vaverka (Finland) in Postage 1966: The Beginning of Friendship (2019). The flags of both countries are shown, as well as the stamps in 1966, the year their friendship started. The photos in the painting were what they gave each other in their first letters.
Postage 1966: The Beginning of Friendship by Joni Ramos, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 20" x 15". (Finnish American Heritage Center)
The painting is close to educator Cheryl Cage’s heart because she had pen pals when she was growing up in Chicago. “The ballpen and the air-mail envelopes in the painting might look like artifacts now,” she expresses, “but they were icons when writing was writing.”
Visual artist Ronnie Garcia, who is based in Manila, likes that Uncle Joni put important details in the painting. “Take note of the background in the painting,” he points out. “There are bamboo slats on one side to signify the Philippines, and hardwood on the other side to represent Finland. Only a master like Joni can think of that!”
I asked Uncle Joni what his formula is in making still-life masterpieces. “Being a photographer, I rely on photos a lot,” he tells me. “Also, I research online. Then, I do a layout and work on the colors. After that, I use my imagination to go above and beyond everything!”
I hope you enjoyed meeting Joni Ramos. My uncle, the visual artist, will paint for you now.
Joni Ramos can be reached at joniramos@rocketmail.com.
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Ivan Kevin Castro
Ivan Kevin Castro is based in Chicagoland. A photography enthusiast, he has an artistic temperament with paintings. An audiophile, he can’t go without music. Although he only has dreams, he is an aspiring global explorer of the world’s richest cultures.
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