‘Only love can save the world’
Silence is the greatest lesson he learned from his grandfather, Catalan painter and sculptor Joan Miró, one of the world’s most renowned Spanish artists. Without a doubt, Miró’s surrealist body of work is his humongous gift to the art world.
“Silence makes you see yourself naked. I learned that from my grandfather,” says Joan Punyet Miró at the opening of his art exhibit titled “Oneness” at Leon Gallery International in Makati. His artworks, some 100 of them, of acrylic on canvas mounted on wood, reveal that he is an abstractionist. The exhibit runs until June 8.
“Oneness” achieves a coherent feel of being surrounded by the colors of the Mediterranean sea and sky, and feel the pulsating love of man and nature embracing you. Even when one feels the energy and excitement in his artwork, one still draws that stillness from within when one looks at Joan’s works.
“Silence is all about introspectiveness. Through introspectiveness, you can really reach the world of dreams. And that’s where you can really be alone with your soul… and when you reflect in front of a mirror, it will show you your weaknesses and your humanity,” he says.
He adds: “Silence allows you to understand the depth of your soul, the depth of your spirit. And in these days of conflict and hopelessness, going back to your soul, the human soul will show you lots of things about the future.”
Joan’s works are haikus on canvases. Poetry is part of the artwork. Words of encouragement and fortitude—and other lines that talk to the soul to atone or to amend or to simply enjoy life—are as much part of his every piece of art.
In Silence, Joan defined life with these words written on the wood frame: “Life is blooming from the green, songs of glory carried by the breeze, mother nature and constellations are always deeply anchored in me.”
In Blue Sky in Manila’s Shrine, he wrote, “Love grows in this heart of mine, unearthly colors fall upon us, divine lights glow at night.”
In The Paradise of Immortals, Joan grew introspective with this: “The dazzling inner sights, fearless people ready to embrace the power of blissful life.”
Bliss, hope, love, peace—all these and more are encapsulated on his little canvases that are gargantuan in meaning and life. They talk about the human spirit that has known joy and defeat. But his colors—”they are the Mediterranean colors of my grandfather like the blues, the oranges, the yellows”—are always on the bright side because that’s not only the personality of the artist; that’s also his prayer for the world.
“Only love can save the world,” he says, repeating that line thrice over during the interview.
Joan, though he says he is “at the moment without a girlfriend at 58,” is a romantic who believes that being single is actually having a relationship with the self. And this relationship is found in his every frame.
“In art, my grandfather taught me about freedom. Freedom is all about showing yourself the way you are. Don’t try to be a person that really wants to work upon other people’s desires. Just be yourself.
“I was 15 when my grandfather passed away. I remember spending every weekend with him in Palma de Mallorca in Spain until the day he died,” said Joan, who finished Fine Arts at New York University. He has been painting for more than 30 years now.
It’s his second time to exhibit at Leon Gallery International. The first one held a couple of years back was a show based on the poetry of Stephane Mallarme, the French poet.
“I met Joan Miró through the eminent Madrid gallerist Adolfo Cayon. Then Joan and I became friends,” says Jaime Ponce de Leon, founder and director of Leon Gallery. “His charisma is infectious. He is multidisciplinary, a true artist, a great admirer of beauty. There is so much depth in him that I can sit with him all day and listen to all his thoughts and stories. I am truly honored to have met him in whose veins runs greatness.”
Liza Guerrero Nakpil, former chair of the National Historical Commission and now curator and consultant at Leon Gallery, says, “As an artist, Joan is a worthy heir of an immortal legend. His artworks are vivid; the kind of art we need today.”
“Right now, we’re going through hell—polarization, AI, wars, inflation, people are very depressed. People are committing suicide,” observes Joan. “And the only thing that really can take us away from the machine age is love. Something human. Machines cannot love. Humans, we can love.”
And in the words of Joan Miró as depicted in an artwork at his exhibit: “Only love can save the world.”
