Arya!

The Art of Alan Gomez

His model ships have sailed off faraway places, bringing with them treasures that smell of rice fields and banana plantations. His framed mixed media artworks depicting Bohol’s best proudly gaze at you in restaurants and resorts around town. His charming original creations appear in most every trade show that the province partakes in.

His art has become a celebrity of sorts but he whose hands and genius shaped these obra’s, has remained elusive. Until now.

Alanieto ‘Alan’ Gomez is not a people person. He leaves that to his father, Nito Gomez, who has been marketing and promoting his son’s artistic creations from the beginning of this artist’s career.

It was in 1988 when Alan Gomez sold his first galleon. It started as a hobby, a fascination of model vessels meticulously 3d-rendered in indigenous materials, chiefly unas (dried banana leaves). Proud of his first creation, it sat prominently in their sala. It didn’t take long for it to be noticed by a guest. It was purchased almost instantly.

Many galleons and schooners later, Alan and his art has since evolved into framed mixed media artworks (the art includes the frame) and other model vehicles like vintage planes, jeepneys and bicycles. But he remained loyal to his media of choice, easy to come by, native materials such as unas, coco products, twigs, bamboo.

Though he spent some good years in an architectural school, Alan is self-made and takes inspiration from everything and anything that takes his fancy. In the faux-window-frame art that he made for Atty. Jun Amora’s new office, he applied the technique he saw in Disney’s Art Attack in creating the texture for the frame.

Though some may dismiss his creations as craftwork, not artwork, Alan stands by his conceptions as works of art. He says his art cannot be duplicated, replicated and mass-produced, as with the craftworks’ case. His artwork is pedantic, and could only be sculpted, modeled, painted with his own hands.

But he need not defend his art. Not in the case of Alan Gomez’ art.

His art has transcended craft and scale, Loayanon’s want a real-size galleon rise in their sandugo site, and guess who they approached?

The sails of a real galleon will be seen flapping over the Loay sandugo site years from now, it will be an Alan Gomez.