RODEL Gonzalez remembers his dad getting very upset sometime in the 1970s over his decision to become a professional musician.

 

“I was then [at the University of Santo Tomas, taking up fine arts],” Gonzalez recalls, adding that his father, Ric Gonzalez, a visual artist, had been grooming him to also take up painting as a career, when he accepted an offer to play with a band in Japan.

 

He eventually formed Side A, one of the Philippines’ most popular bands.

 

Now he believes his dad, who passed away in 2012, must be smiling in heaven, because he has come full circle, returning to his early passion—art—and even exceeding his own expectations.

 

Gonzalez is the only Filipino on the roster of artists of Collectors Editions—the official licensee of The Walt Disney Co. and the global publisher of Disney Fine Art.

 

He counts among his clients the legendary filmmaker and “Star Wars” creator George Lucas, whose own company, Lucasfilms, has a licensee, Acme Archives Direct, that recently signed up Gonzalez to render art merchandise from the “Star Wars” franchise.

A thrill

That was a thrill, Gonzalez tells the Inquirer, recounting that Acme has been wooing him for quite some time but he couldn’t commit because he was busy with Disney and his own art.

 

“I didn’t want to bite more than I could chew,” he says. “But I was elated by the offer… . When I heard that ‘The Force Awakens’ was coming out, I told my publisher to ask Acme if the deal was still on. I jumped on it in June last year.”

 

From the first five pieces he made, Lucas bought four.

 

“I think he noticed my work because I was new,” Gonzalez says. “He said, ‘I want to have first dibs on anything he does.’ [He wants to see anything I do first before it goes to the market.] That feels great.”

 

Gonzalez points out that his work in Disney and “Star Wars” is not merely copying the characters.

 

“Although you cannot do your own story line but you can make your own scene, [it’s like you have your own] camera at the time of the film’s shoot. For instance, Han Solo and Princess Leia in a scene, you got to have your own angle … so when people look at the artwork, they’ll say, ‘I know this scene but I didn’t see it in the movie. [That’s what they like].’”

 

Gonzalez calls it interpretative art. He prefers acrylic and oil on canvas.

Two more ‘Star Wars’

But at his recent shows in Bonifacio Global City and Hard Rock Café Makati, he introduced something he calls “studies, like an [20 x 20 centimeters or 28 x 35 cm] … which is a very quick sketch, mixed media with acrylic colored pencil. The purpose of that is … because there are so [many] characters in ‘Star Wars’ so I wanted to familiarize myself [with] different angles of, let’s say, Yoda or Darth Vader or the Storm Troopers … . I wanted to do character portraits.”

 

 

 

The Walt Disney Co.—which acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion as its exclusive distributor—is reportedly releasing two more “Star Wars” movies, “Episode VIII” and “Episode IX,” until 2020.

 

“I’m excited,” Gonzalez says, “because I’ll get to do more characters.”

 

He is also glad that his work will be seen by more Filipinos in a coming exhibit dubbed “Home Is Where My Art is,” opening tomorrow, Feb. 2, at 6 p.m. at the Shoppes area of Solaire Resort and Casino.

 

Gonzalez has been living in the United States since 2002.

 

“The good thing about the Solaire exhibit is it will show the totality of my work in music (with Side A, and Second Wind) and art (my Hawaii phase, Disney, ‘Star Wars’). There will be at least 100 artworks—prints and originals. Side A will play some music, too,” he says.

 

Gonzalez points out that he comes from a clan of visual artists.

 

His dad, Ric, was with the Mabini Group of artists, having apprenticed with Fernando Amorsolo before moving on to open a gallery in California. He did portraits of Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Grace Kelly.

 

He says his grandfather Felix started velvet painting in the Philippines. “It’s painting on velvet, the effect is like 3-D. He used to have a gallery at the Manila Hotel,” he says.

 

A brother, Rudolph, is with the Tuesday Group of painters.

 

Among six siblings, all boys, Gonzalez says, “[only Naldy (Side A cofounding member and keyboardist) and I went into] music.”

 

But he can’t forget having started painting at 9 years old.

 

“It was like a normal thing for me. After school I would go to my dad’s gallery on Mabini, apprentice with him, wash his brushes when he’s done. I started painting and painting, street scenes, head of horse, cigarette [that smoked], whatever fancied me, and I would hang my works and [they would get] sold. I was already doing it during high school.”

‘This is my world’

In 2002, after bowing out of the local music scene, he decided to move to Hawaii, biding time as a solo musician for a year while transitioning to art again.

 

For the next five years he actively took up the paintbrush and was content. “A few galleries were carrying my work, with enough income to live comfortably,” he says.

 

His works were being bought in the US mainland and traveling from Hawaii was tiring. He moved to Los Angeles so he could do shows in Hawaii and at the same time still go to the East Coast to promote his art.

 

In 2008, Disney Fine Art CEO Michael Young offered Gonzalez a slot in the Collectors Editions roster of artists. Gonzalez recalls that when he asked why him, Young replied, “I’m a fan of your work.”

 

Gonzalez smiles at the thought that when a child expresses a desire to be an artist, the child’s parents should show their full support.

 

That’s what happened to him. “I put my best effort, and people appreciated it,” he says. “[So this is my world].”