'Canvas'sing the passion of Christ

Philip V D’Mello, popularly known as Vasaivala has displayed 27 paintings in his art expo ‘Reflections’ at Orchid Art Gallery.

 The 8 water colour paintings and 19 Indian Ink on paper bring out the excruciating pain of Christ’s suffering, hence surfacing his divine persona.
Speaking to City Herald, D’Mello reveals that he was influenced by Mel Gibson’s movie

‘The Passion of the Christ’ and hence he decided to create a similar series with paintings.
The eight water colour paintings with bright colours like yellow, red and blue depict the eight stations of the cross, which signify Christ’s last journey.
D’Mello has depicted the important episodes of Christ’s last hours such as stripping him, Christ carrying the cross, Christ falling under the cross, Christ being nailed to the cross, crucifixion, Christ’s body placed on his mother’s lap and Christ being laid in tomb.

The 19 Indian Ink on paper sketches depict different biblical episodes such as ‘The triumphant march,’ ‘Face of Christ,’ ‘Christ in Gethsemane garden,’ ‘Christ’s final submission’ and also various portraits of Christ wearing an expression of pain that are intricately drawn with the dark strokes.

“I want to paint the 14 stations of the cross, though I have completed only eight. I am working on the others,” says D’Mello and adds that during the course of painting, he enjoyed the experience of travelling with Christ.

Unlike many other paintings, these splendid pieces of art are in a miniature size.
Responding to this D’Mello says, “I live in Mumbai and it becomes extremely difficult for me to carry and transport big paintings. Hence I paint on small canvas”.

Apart from his series on Christ, Philip has also painted portraits and landscapes.
He is also inspired from his visit to Tamil Nadu and Kulu-Manali and has painted his experiences and the landscapes on canvas.

Philip also works with mix media like oil, water colour, ink, pencil and others.
“God lies in details and these paintings with fine details has the capacity to influence the viewer,” says Orchid Art Gallery Director William Pais.

The painting expo will be open for public till April 25 from 10 am to 7 pm.

‘The Triumphant March’ portraying Jesus taken on a procession on a donkey, a sketch using media Indian Ink on paper.

The artist

Philip, born at Vasai in Maharashtra in 1950, studied art from J J School of Art (Mumbai) and is working as a full time artist. He has held several solo exhibitions in famous art galleries like Jehangir Art Gallery (Mumbai), Hotel Sea Rock Art Gallery (Mumbai), Cultural Show (Switzerland) and also group exhibitions in Mumbai, Nagpur, Kolkata and Germany.
He is married to Soshao and has two daughters Albina and Berpina who are enthusiastic about art, just like their father