"My instinct to hide away has been overtaken by the more crucial need to represent and be seen, to use the pictorial voice that I have been gifted with." - Fatima Ronquillo
Bold colours cast upon darkened backgrounds make the flora and fauna of Fatima Ronquillo's paintings come to life. Existing somewhere between Rococo and Baroque, these extraordinary pieces feel right at home alongside Vermeer and Boucher. The spellbound expressions show figures devoted to the stories so carefully crafted for them. Themes of mythology and love dance between the pieces, holding the viewer just long enough to beckon at something greater, perhaps something inside ourselves. A blending of culture across borders, Fatima's oil paintings hold secrets that only a trained eye can unveil.
As a child, Fatima found the 1901 self-portrait from Picasso during his 'Blue" period in an art magazine. At around five-years-old, it was the Filipino artist's first glimpse into a wider world of ideas; a world she very much wanted to be a part of. She remembers feeling awestruck by the intensity of the blue field and Picasso's gaze. During her teens, she moved to Texas and was able to cross the border into Mexico and study mural traditions of Mexican painters like Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo. One of the pieces from her youth she's proud of was completed in high school. Through the sponsorship of the San Antonio Museum of Art, Fatima developed a few mural projects of her own. This was the first time she worked on a large and complex composition. Using various symbolic imagery and narrative, her paintings took several weeks to complete.
As a self-taught artist, this first big production taught Fatima a lot about the craft of image making and the important process of researching references. These skills, along with incorporating appropriate symbolism has been a mainstay in her art to this day. Though the early lessons she received were through the lens of this large-scale mural and its wider societal themes, she claims that her work has evolved into the small scale and Through Eyes Bound By Love intimate paintings she constructs now; something she likens to Frida Kahlo's own evolution.
Fatima's creative headspace is invoked through her routine of walking in the hills with her dog followed by some reading. Once she achieves clarity, she retums to her studio and puts on classical music, as she feels anything that requires a lot of focus, such as drawing, can be amplified with the right type of music. Setting up her easel to paint involves having a state of flow and switching to a podcast or audiobook helps allow this focus to be preserved. The painter reveals that her relationship with her paintings-in-progress is akin to a conversation with them, perhaps even a partnership, as they disclose to her the direction she should explore. With an outright moratorium on predetermined or rigid ideas, this attitude of openness has led to unexpected and oftentimes delightful surprises with her work. The magic of her creations is bound in its secrecy between art and artist as Fatima spends her time in solitude and avoids showing the happenings of the studio to others. Despite this, she lovingly describes her space as it is illuminated by the moming light through large east-facing balcony windows. The balcony itself overlooks an arroyo and hillside. Her studio is just large enough to hold two easels, a desk, and a drawing table. The warmth within is palpable beyond the immediate senses, cushioned by worn vintage Turkish rugs on the floor, held protectively by green-grey walls, and an inordinate number of chairs.
Her art process can be effortless at times, but many pieces take weeks or even months to complete. Her classical indirect technique slows things down as she allows for the layers of oil paint to dry between sessions. Before she can connect brush to canvas, Fatima absorbs herself in research "then there is the drawing study, an underpainting, a second underpainting, the middle layers, the upper layers and glazing*. While there are quite a few steps involved, she also explains there is a lot of room to step back and breathe, which allows her to pivot when an idea wishes to evolve into something else.
Looking through her portfolio online and through social media, one can see the expanse of ideas laid out in charcoal. Some should even be familiar as Fatima explains she draws using a trois crayons technique which consists of sanguine conté crayon, charcoal, and white chalk. These elegant drawings are the early phases of paintings which serve as the preparatory study. "The drawings", she clarifies, 'are the most important part of my process." Much of her planning and problem solving happens in the drawing stage, which is why these pieces are far from the cliché beer-stained napkin sketch.
One of the rather unique attributes of the Filipino-American painter's pieces are the pearl-lined eyes that seem to be worn as jewellery by many of her figures. These are inspired by the late 18th century Georgian miniature paintings of eyes that were typically worn as jewellery. This fad was originally introduced by Prince George of Wales as he pined for a woman he could not legally marry. The would-be couple had portraits of their eyes done on tiny pieces of ivory which were then worn around the neck in lockets. The addition of pearls in the jewel-lery later symbolised tears to honour deceased loved ones. Though this trend lasted only a few decades, Fatima has reverently pulled the symbolism through to the modern era with inclusion of the Lover's Eye on many of her pieces. "The surreal aspect of an isolated eye attracts me tremendously -the idea of physical dismemberment which is symbolic of a removal or estrangement of a loved one. For anyone who's ever been in love or had a crush on someone, the image of the beloved is treasured. It also reminds me of the Mexican 'Milagros' - little charms of different body parts used to aid in praying for the healing of broken arms or hearts, or even eyes. Compositionally speak-ing, the framed ornamental eye gives context and a reason for a floating third or fourth eye in a painting It's a device of conceit: a portrait within a portrait. For me, it's an iconic symbol about the figure represent-ed, not unlike the reliquares of saints in old devotional images, she explains.
Aside from the Lover's Eye, much of Fatima's work includes images of endangered animals and incorporates themes of love, hope, and nature. These symbols are expressions of the divine as seen through the beauty of nature around us and she often touches on the idea of a paradise lost and found. The figures in her pieces represent kindness and compassion towards others and her belief in humanity and a higher power is skillfully imbued into her work. In addition to these substantial symbols, some of her pieces hold additional stories as she transcribes the words of poets including William Blake and Shakespeare onto canvas. One of her favourite lines, 'Let me not to the marriage of true minds...' is from Shakespeare's Sonnet 116. She interprets it as an ideal version of love, unattainable, but something to hope for, which is, as she describes, unashamedly romantic.
Fatima also adds that many of the paintings that I admired and sampled in art history, such as lover's eye portrait imagery, focused on Western and European high society. Over the years, it has become more important to me to be more inclusive and to feature different ethnicities. As a very private person, I rarely reference myself in my paintings But my instinct to hide away has been overtaken by the more crucial need to represent and be seen, to use the pictorial voice that I have been gifted with Like a lot of artists I have always felt like an outsider, doubly so for being a minority. I think it is invaluable that all children (including those who would be future artists) should see themselves mirrored in the paintings that they see, to have a sense of belonging."
One of the greatest challenges for Fatima has been the pursuit of the artist's life. The precarity of the commitment is not without its joys, though she mentions it took many years of perseverance and hardship to overcome. The lesson taught her to not take the privilege of making art for granted and to always try her best to show up at the easel with a spirit of wonder and authenticity. In times of doubt, the American poet Mary Oliver's inspirational words fill her with optimism: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
When asked about how she might see her art changing over the next five years, Fatima answered resolu-tely, "I have been practising my craft for over thirty years, and I have seen it evolve as I myself evolve as a person She does, however, defend that she is a committed oil painter who is still learning every day she creates, a process that is complex enough to afford a lifetime of study.
Words by Addison Devereux for Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Issue 46, September 2024