Morita Roces, the unstoppable artist

She’s our version of Grandma Moses, the famous American artist who painted in her advanced years. Elena Roces, fondly called Morita, is still producing artworks at 89.

The unstoppable Roces will hold an exhibit of functional objects at the gallery of Greenbelt 5 from Sept. 7-11.

“Why hang paintings and merely look at them? Beautiful objects should be useful and enjoyed everyday,” she maintains.

That philosophy is reflected in her apartment where the walls and doors are her canvases. She also owns a rare collection of semiprecious stones that have been documented and displayed like museum pieces. The food is stylishly prepared by her longtime cook under her supervision. The presentation is as artistic as her works.

The exhibit extends her sensibility. It will show doors, dividers, and a redux of her chairs inspired by Egyptian and tribal designs. Roces derives her inspiration from master works and ancient art and transforms them into phantasms, bathed in vivid colors and patterns.

Consequently, these images become her own, as they are suffused with decorative elements and semi-precious stones.

“Morita has a passion to be a proper and useful human being. She also has a natural gift—imagination,” says sculptor Impy Pilapil. “When she sets her eyes on something, she visualizes other things and spontaneously thinks of how she could create it her way. Even while listening to music, inspiration sets in to put ideas into form. Beautiful creations come from her own dreamy world that most of us would want to be a part of.”

Her doors and panels are composed of paintings superimposed on a collage, which lends novelty to her work.

The key piece is a massive door which is a combination of gold glass tiles that contrast the wood panel of carved Kalinga bululs or rice granary gods that fend off the evil spirits. Its backside is a play of swirls and specks of gold dust, evoking a seabed of corals, anemone  and marine life. It is encrusted with found objects and colorful stones. The hinges and fixtures were flown in from Spain to add solidity.

Oriental influence pervades in the major pieces and dining chairs. A screen divider depicts women draped in sarong against a backdrop of bamboo, tropical fruits, and flowers. It shows the Southeast Asian style of primary colors, subjects that exude purity beneath their earthiness.

She lacquers tables and chairs laced with off-white lotuses and exotic flowers set against a black background. The imagery is spiritual, symbolic of being above the muck of materialism. Carved chairs feature fish patterns, which are considered symbols of luck among the Chinese.

Egyptian patterns

Roces also reverts to an earlier influence, Egyptian patterns in turquoise and earth tones, reminiscent of geometric designs associated with pharoahs, and set against gold acrylic and lacquer chairs.

The daughter of  Alejandro Roces, Morita studied fine arts and was a publisher, restaurateur, designer and real-estate owner. When she lived in America, she designed colorful placemats and glass holders for Henri Bendel.

Upon returning to the Philippines, Roces pursued her passion for painting, making religious icons and diptychs with gemstones, jewelry from fine silica beads,  functional objets d’art, and decorating residences with her signature maximalist style.

She has held several exhibitions at the Avellana Art Gallery, Hotel Intercontinental  and Galleria Duemila. She also had a restaurant which was famous for its vivid walls and doors done in African, Egyptian, and tribal styles. Roces gets her energy from sweets—and from rowing a hundred strokes a day.

The exhibit at Greenbelt proves that she shows no signs of slowing down. “I’ve got to keep working. It keeps me alive,” says the artist.