Director Richard Somes revisited his first love during the pandemic.
Somes, an award-winning director, has always loved the visual arts. He was a boy from Bacolod when his romance with the arts started. He would doodle inside their room at home and these would win him first prize in their school’s poster-making contests. He had wanted to pursue an arts course, but because of the cost, he opted to take up seafaring instead.
It was the father of award-winning filmmaker Erik Matti who taught him appreciation for paintings. It was Matti, meanwhile, who introduced filmmaking to him. Somes started working in the production as art director and writer, before directing one of the episodes in “Shake, Rattle and Roll 2K5” in 2005.He won best director in Cinema One Originals for “Yanggaw” in 2008.
When the pandemic hit last year, he was plagued by worries on health and finances. They were twelve at home, including two family members who are elderly. He was also concerned with the welfare of his fellow movie workers, many of whom have been left jobless and without the means to support themselves.
“It was really a bad time for me. Number 1, ang rami namin sa household. I have my nanay and my lola na parang cousin ng grandma ko,” he related.
“Lumabas ang pagka obsessive-compulsive ko sa paghuhugas at paglilinis. Namumula na ang noo ko kaka-check ng temperature. Sobrang fortunate that during that year, wala man lang sa aming nagkasipon.
“My second fear was economic,” he continued.
Somes started a donation drive for film workers and his call was answered. “Almost 3000 na tao in that span of months ang natulungan namin and on the side, I kept on painting.”
Somes took up his brush. It cleared his mind, and to his surprise, attracted art collectors, who eagerly snapped up his works. Painting also had a therapeutic effect on him. While his energies were being spent on taking care of others, his loved ones reminded him to take care of his health.
“What’s amazing is how I lost weight. I weighed 230 pounds before the pandemic, but because I started painting, I started to go back to exercising and diet. In a way, it was how I helped myself to not succumb to fear…,” he recalled.
Ten of his pieces are currently on exhibit in his first solo show, “Into the Mind of Richard Somes,” at the Secret Fresh Gallery, Ronac Art Center on Ortigas Avenue in San Juan City.
“It’s my reflection of how I do my film. The set design, color, texture, chaos… everything is all there. In a way it is being genuine with how I felt and my imagination,” he explained.
“Ang raming restraints sa camera — because of economics, demands ng gagawin — but with my canvass, I’m free now, I can express what I truly feel now.”
His art works, as does his movies, depict women, an homage to his mom who raised him singlehandedly and a reflection of his being surrounded by strong female characters.
“I find women fascinating and I’m very proud of it,” he remarked.
“They have strength and resiliency that can only be found in them,” he added.
His paintings are a new way of expressing his art, an extension of his cinema.
“The pandemic actually made me create. I have a lot of ideas in my imagination and it’s not just for an apocalypse film. It’s more diverse, more adventurous and challenging. I created a lot of stories, nakalima pa akong script since last year, may dalawa pa tayong inaayos ngayon. Tuloy tuloy pa rin. I wrote a love story, action, about a hit man film which we finished.
“I have found urge and newfound energy because of painting. I found hope.”
