[My “Frenchy” beatnik-looking frat brod JONAHMAR AGUILAR SALVOSA is shown here at work daubing picturesque designs on canvass while sporting his usual naughty smile. Born into humble beginnings in the sleepy town of Calabanga in Camarines Sur, JONAH’s upbringing in an environment full of nature’s bounty must surely have influenced him to explore art in all its splendid color. JONAH’s artworks engulf one’s senses with a harmony of color and brilliance that not any artist can just convey. His mastery of the paintbrush, his expressive use of colors convey in the most impressive of ways his entire being – a complete oneness of man and his art. Just recently, JONAH championed his advocacy of BREASTFEEDING. He has in fact come up with a FACEBOOK account on this advocacy of his which features diverse paintings showing mothers with their respective child while nursing their child via natural breastfeeding. I am writing this BLOG to memorialize those PI OMICRON brods of mine who have excelled in their chosen fields of profession. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROD JONAH!]
If you’d come to see him in his NICHE,
He’d seem as though a saucy BEATNIK1;
But mind you Mesdames/Sirs – he’s meek and truly PROLIFIC,
For he draws and stains… so quaintly MAGNIFIQUE!
He’s endearingly called JONAH,
Had painting engagements and awards ala BONANZA2;
For a start, and as a teen – he won the SHELL PRIZE3,
And a saintly piece hangs at the VATICAN… ‘tis a SURPRISE…
When Pope John Paul II planned to come to R.P.4 in 1981,
A contest5 for San Lorenzo Ruiz’ image emerged, as gift for Pope JOHN6;
A committee was formed and thousands of artists PERFORMED,
JONAH’s name was always among qualifiers …in the list of the top NORM!
As there ensued some jockeying and LOBBYING7,
Some artists complained of a sting cum CONSPIRING;
The APOSTOLIC NUNCIO8 resolved the ISSUE,
And the contest re-started as a fresh joust ANEW!
It indeed was a pure SURPRISE,
As JONAH sans any backer, found it hard to SURVIVE;
The jousting and re-jousting was draining and STRESSFUL,
JONAH felt that his prospects got so NIL and so AWFUL!
But as some judicious deliberation had ENSUED,
And the protocol of the committee of ONE9 was PURSUED;
JONAH never thought that his piece would SCORE,
Though he knows that his piece, was TRAVAIL D’AMOUR10!
And his piece now hangs proudly in a niche at VATICAN CITY,
Though he never had the chance to meet the HOLY SEE11;
For the Philippine envoy dreamt of bringing all of his CLAN,12
Regretfully — JONAH got bumped off at the VATICAN!
‘Tis JONAH’s show of humility and AMITY,
He did not want to make a fuss of that VERITY;
For the LORD up above knows it so TRULY,
It was JONAH — not the ENVOY who painted the quaint IMAGERY!
[Here are two (2) of the recently-posted breastfeeding paintings uploaded at Brod JONAH’s FACEBOOK account entitled 100 BREASTFEEDING FILIPINAS. This has been Brod JONAH’s advocacy and that, in the process of championing this cause, he has been enticing celebrities-nursing mothers to pose for a painting session to capture that unique motherly act of bonding with a child.]
[Legend: 1 – A BEATNIK refers to a person who participated in a social movement of the 1950s and early 1960s which stressed artistic self-expression and the rejection of the mores of conventional society; broadly, the term refers to a usually young and artistic person who rejects the mores of conventional society. Typical of a beatnik attire during the 50s and 60s, particularly for the male: a beatnik hat which Jonah sports in his photo above, relatively long hair, and a mustache or a goatee.
2 – Here is a listing of JONAH’s bonanza of awards:
* 2009 -MAIN PRIZE, 2009 Freedom to Create Prize.London,U.K.
* 2008 – 2nd Place Winner, 1st International Designers Network Club
Philippines. Pasig Photo Safari. Metro Manila
* 2007- Salute to the UNCEAN Outstanding Alumni for Arts. University of
Nueva Caceres. General Alumni Association Inc. Naga City
* 2004 – 3rd Place, Sculpture Category, Art Association of the
Philippines. Sculpture Competition
* Top 5 Watercolorist for 2002 – 19th Kulay sa Tubig Annual
Watercolor competition sponsored by Gallery Genesis
* 1999 Millenium Oragon Award For the 100 Outstanding Personalities
of the Province of Camarines Sur in the Second Millennium
* 1999 Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Fine Arts 250th
Foundation Day Anniversary Calabanga, Camarines Sur
* 1995 Best Entry,1st Place, “Pamana” Lithograph Printmaking Category.
(1995 Art Association of the Philippines) Annual Art Competition,
Philippines
* 1984 Outstanding Bicolanos Awards University of Nueva Caceres, Naga City
* 1979 Outstanding Calabanguenos Award (Art) Calabanguenos of Metro-
Manila
* 1978 1st Prize, “First Filipino Saint” Art Competition- Trip to Rome –
Circulo-Romano Filipino and AAP
* 1975 1st Prize and Honorable Mention “Pamanang Ginto “On-the-Spot
Painting Tilt “Parks and Wildlife” –Trip to Belgium – Capitol Jaycerettes, Quezon City
* 1961-1st Prize-On the Spot –Watercolor contest ,13th Foundation
Anniversary University of Nueva Caceres
3 – Since years before, SHELL has been organizing the ANNUAL SHELL STUDENT ART COMPETITION, and JONAH was among the yearly winner of this and other art competitions as though sweeping them all.
4 – R.P. is acronym for Republic of the Philippines.
5 – Following the canonization of San Lorenzo Ruiz as the First Filipino Saint, a painting contest was had for the best image that would present itself as the most fitting and most apt depiction of San Lorenzo Ruiz in acrylic paint.
6 – Pope John is Pope John Paul II.
7 – It was bruited about that some members of the committee were themselves rooting for their friends/favorites who have joined the contest for the FIRST FILIPINO SAINT ART COMPETITION, a painting contest to draw the most fitting image of San Lorenzo Ruiz, the First Filipino Saint.
8 – As the contest was also being co-sponsored by the Vatican, the committee composed of topnotch Filipino artists was abolished and the Apostolic Nuncio was constituted as a ONE-MAN COMMITTEE to determine the FIRST PRIZE winner. In both the adjudication first by the COMMITTEE, and the APOSTOLIC NUNCIO; Jonah was among the top qualifiers and Jonah was eventually declared FIRST PRIZE Winner.
9 – The COMMITTEE OF ONE was constituted by the APOSTOLIC NUNCIO himself.
10 – Travail d’amour is French which means “labor of love”.
11 – HOLY SEE is used here to mean the Pope though it would usually be a term referring to the whole jurisdiction of the pope (the word see is from the Latin for “seat”).
12 – The word that got circulated in the grape vine and as was affirmed by Brod JONAH himself, as he was awarded a trip to ROME and the fringe benefit of handing over the winning San Lorenzo Ruiz painting unto Pope JOHN PAUL II; the appointment as conveyed to him was for a 2:00 PM appointment with the Pope. The Philippine envoy was supposed to accompany him. But as the Philippine envoy wanted to bring the whole of his family to the meeting with the Pope, Brod JONAH never had that chance to kiss the Pope’s ring and meet him. Brod JONAH in the afternoon received a message that as there was a change of sked (10:00 AM of that very day instead of 2:00 PM), which purportedly prevented a quick communication, Brod JONAH got bumped off from that trip to see and meet Pope JOHN PAUL II. ]
I am a litigation lawyer in the Philippines and a graduate of the UP College of Law. I also hold an AB Economics degree from the University of the Philippines. While taking up Law at UP Diliman, I was working at the Tondo Foreshore Development Project which eventually became part of the National Housing Authority (NHA), where I started out as a Research Officer and eventually rose as Estate Manager. When the EDSA REVOLUTION happened, I resigned from the NHA in May 1986 and got employed as Legal Officer with Allied Banking Corporation's Legal and Collection Department, which got merged with the Philippine National Bank. In 1998, together with my UP Law classmate, the late Jaime G. Nagrampa, we put up a private law firm which originally was named NAGRAMPA & YOUNG Law Office and now, as THE YOUNG LAW FIRM.
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