doha diary
Alluring and enduring – Pearl has a new twist By Myriam Chandna
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rt is, what art does,“ says Patric Rozario, a professional artist from Malaysia and creator of PearlAppetite, a collection of works displaying a unique amalgamation of pearls, acrylics, ceramic and glass, designed to kick-off a trend of personally tailored, artistic corporate gifts in Qatar. “It is my offer of drawing the benign nature of pearls and presenting them as art on plates, which can be integrated into the
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Patric Rozario, Professional artist from Malaysia and creator of PearlAppetite
corporate culture of leading organisations in Qatar. PearlAppetite is envisioned to be an art collection for anyone who has the appetite to be a part of everything that is related to pearls,” says Rozario, who describes himself as self-taught. “My thirst for knowledge about art led me to study the history and evolution of art, across cultures, in my own time. I was very interested in how shapes came about, why some patterns and backdrops are more largely appealing than others.”
Rozario, who currently resides in Doha with his wife and two sons, was born and largely raised in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Of Indian descent, Rozario often reconnected with his roots on trips back to his ancestral city, Trivandrum, in the south Indian state of Kerala, where he also attended boarding school for six years. Rozario obtained his diploma in Marketing Management from Institute of Marketing Malaysia and went on to earn his Masters in Communication Management from the
doha diary
“PearlAppetite is envisioned to be an art collection for anyone who has the appetite to be a part of everything that is related to pearls.”
University of South Australia.
Nature abhors a vacuum
When Rozario arrived in Doha as a Senior Creative and Production Officer at United Development Company (UDC), the developers of the multi-billion dollar Pearl development, five years ago, he found little passion for art – a highly revered field back home in Malaysia – in the rapidly developing Gulf peninsula. However, the artist in him had found his canvas. “There was not a single art gallery in Doha. But as I began to understand Qatari society and people, I realised that people in Doha are very receptive and appreciative when they are introduced to something new. I noticed that because there was nothing, I could do something, because of the tolerant and bold attitudes I was met with,” he says. With the support of the UDC management, he created over a dozen paintings themed around the Pearl development. As an independent artist, Rozario once again found himself drawn towards the pearl; this time, only to use his art to contribute
to the beauty of the natural element which is otherwise futile to the oyster which carries it and the world outside. Launched two years ago, PearlAppetite revolves around the theme of pearls, or as he puts it, “the mermaid’s jewels,” combined with other features of the ocean, such as water lilies. The series of brightly coloured pearl-embellished plates is one of Rozario’s lines of products under his increasingly popular tagline, “Own A Rozario.” Head bent over his latest work in progress, he spoke of his passion for the sea as he used swift strokes of colour to trap a gleaming white pearl in an intricate pattern, making its lustre the centre of attraction on the emerald glass plate.
Maritime memories
“I drew my inspiration from my career at sea, which ignited my passion for the ocean and its natural splendour. I incorporate its palette – the shifting hues of waves and shoals, cobalt depths, dance of golden sunlight on the cerulean sea, grey mirage of distant ships – into many of my pieces,” says Rozario, a former Radio Of-
ficer at the Malaysian Maritime Academy, Kuala Lumpur. “My work enabled me to travel far and wide, and this exposed me to a diversity of cultures, music, and art, across the globe, and these travels have in many ways influenced my art.” In his creations, Rozario emphasises the lustre and cultural significance of the pearl by embedding it in an elaborate framework of acrylic designs painted on vibrantly-coloured glass and ceramic plates of various shapes and sizes. “The pearl is an important piece of Qatar’s heritage,” he says. “Qatar has one of the longest traditions of pearl diving, and pearls don’t need an introduction when brought up in this cultural environment.” While some plates are decorated entirely with glass pearls, others boast a striking compilation of cultured freshwater pearls and dazzling Swarovski crystal pearls. To preserve the diversity and spontaneity of his craft, Rozario maintains flexibility in his choice of materials. “I paint on mainly glass and ceramic plates, but I like experimenting to give the september 10
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Rozario’s Cosmic Rays of Acrylic
particular artifact its own unique identity. In most pieces, I throw in a lively combination of unusual pearls, semi-precious stones, Swarovski crystals, and glass beads, transforming them into vibrant display art,” he said. He also occasionally uses thread to complement the settled-in appearance of the pearls nestled in a concoction of acrylic prints with its fluidity. “Adding thread to wet acrylic adds to the shape and texture of the creation,” he says. By blending in distinctive factors of a company’s branding and design strategy, such as colour, logos, and symbols, into the PearlAppetite pieces, and taking into account its needs and audience, Rozario personalises the corporate gifts to aptly represent the company’s brand identity. In February, Rozario painted and presented a portrait of Placido Domingo to the world-renowned Spanish tenor during his majestic performance at The Pearl. “It was an honour, a rare and blessed opportunity to not only be able to paint 78
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a legend like Placido Domingo but to be able to present my creation to him with my own hands, which he accepted with utmost humility and grace as he embraced me in front of a huge crowd.”
A technological artisan
As the world of the 21st century artist becomes increasingly dependent on sophisticated design technology and software, Rozario’s experience with contemporary art methods is an ironic one. The more he learned about digital design and the flexibility of composition when creating art using computers, the more determination and confidence he gained to pour his inspirations out on the canvas. “Once you know how to navigate digital media, it opens doors to a huge variety of possibilities for you as an artist, and you apply traditional methods with more confidence and in the end create less conventional works of art because of what the methods revealed to you through technology.” In addition to the PearlAppetite cor-
porate gifts series, Rozario has several paintings and sculptures based on notions extracted from different art cultures to his credit. Even as he defines his art as a mosaic of his personal experiences, he acknowledges some influence of Polish Northern Renaissance painter Jan Polack’s spontaneity and speed, and in contrast, French painter Claude Monet’s meditated impressionist painting. “Both their works influenced me in their own classic ways,” he says. As far as he can see into the future, Rozario pledges no retirement from his work of creation, which he describes as a “continuous process.” “Creativity is a small of portion of it, it is your enterprise that makes a difference. I want to be fully invested in my art and give it all of me,” he says. “Someone once asked me, ‘Rozario, how do you find so much time to do art?’ I replied, ‘time finds me’.” n For further information, visit Patric Rozario’s website at: www.patricrozario.com