BIOGRAPHY

Jose Trinidad
Vancouver, BC
Born: 1929 in Manila, Philippines

Educated at the University of the Philippines

Shows

October, 1982 Harrison Galleries
December, 1986 Harrison Galleries
April 1987, Galerie Mihalis, Montreal, Quebec
November 1987, Gallery Americana, Carmel, California
May 1989, Harrison Galleries
November 1995, Harrison Galleries
November 1996, Harrison Galleries

Commissions

Mural in a Manila Hotel for a state visit by, then U.S. President, Lyndon Johnson

Statement

"A child and a flower bud are the same. There is a beauty that is hidden and yet so obvious. My paintings are mental snapshots of the life around me. When a setting attracts me it remains fixed in memory long enough for me to get to a sketchpad and draw it in every detail. My room is full of sketches that have yet to be put to canvas."

Jose visits Europe every year to immerse himself in the settings of the impressionists, such as the famous water lily garden of the French painter Monet. In Spain, he seeks out traditional houses and quiet gardens. "I love the stucco, the old tiles of the buildings - these are what inspires me." By talking his way into private gardens he has discovered "some magnificent things that way, " he says.

He credits his wife, Leila, an interior and landscape designer, with setting up many of his still life's. Often she chooses the colour schemes too. "She does all the work," he says, "I just paint." Despite his travelling, he often chooses his own garden (also created by his wife) or his children as the subjects of his popular paintings.

History

Jose first enjoyed success as a painter in the Philippines. The Trinidad family emigrated to San Francisco in 1967 and eventually to Vancouver, B.C. Along the way, Jose studied extensively in France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. Travel being his professed education in art, Trinidad has also found his muse in the gardens and homes of North America.

The results of this wide-ranging education are oil paintings of entrancing beauty. Joyful colours, vibrant flowers and the uncanny play of sunlight and shadow -- his palette creates a dreamlike world of tranquillity and tenderness.

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Reference

Harrison Galleries, http://harrisongalleries.com/artists/trinidad/about.htm