Filipina painter does cover for metal
band Sepultura
by rick olivares
One of the come ons for vinyl
records is the cover artwork. Filipina visual artist Camille dela Rosa got the
surprise of her life when metal band Sepultura got in touch with her asking if
they could use one of her paintings for their new album.
Getting asked to do the cover for
the new album of an international superstar band like Sepultura is something,”
beamed dela Rosa during an interview a Paper Moon coffee shop inside Megamall.
That album is “Machine Messiah,”
the 14th in Sepultura’s 23-year history. The concept of the album is
life or humanity came from a machine and the offspring of is some biomechanical
savior. The band’s guitarist, Andreas Kisser, was searching online for art or
an artists whose style fit the concept of the album and they found dela Rosa.
Kisser reached out through a
representative of San Miguel Corporation which sponsored the band’s show in
Manila last year.
“I was surprised when I was
contacted,” said dela Rosa. “First of all, the painting was finished in 2010
and while my work was inspired by the late Swiss painter H.R. Giger (whose
claim to fame was painting stunning or even disturbing visuals of humans and
machines linked together in some cold biomechanical relationship), my work has
changed over the years. Nevertheless, the work has many elements from my
personal life and beliefs.”
The title of the painting is
“Deux ex Machina”, rendered on 48x48 inch oil on canvass.
“Machine Messiah” was released
last January through Nuclear Blast Records. The record though, isn’t available locally
as one has to import it if they want a copy.
“I never even heard of Sepultura
until they got in touch with me,” admitted dela Rosa. “The band was a
sweatheart as they were nice. And thet sent me copies of the album and the
DVD.”
“I think artists work in phases,”
revealed the 34-year old University of the Philippines alumna. “I have this taste
and preference for horror films. Not because of the gore but because of the
effects and the make-up. As an artist, that fascinates me.”
She grew up in a family of
artists so the influence to follow in their footsteps was there at an early
age. Yet her late father, Ibarra, forbade her to paint. “He probaby felt that
there wasn’t much money in art. Instead I went into voice (not like there is
money in that as well).”
Dela Rosa would sing in shows and
did some bit of showbiz joining Ang TV Kids during its second season. “Like I
said, that was a phase,” she laughed. “Mahiyain kasi ako so it’s hard for me to
be in front of cameras. “She finally took up painting – landscape and abtract
like most everyone else -- when her father passed away in 1998.”
Ironically, dela Rosa was trained
in voice and theater. “My (late) father, Ibarra, forbade me to follow his
footsteps as an artist. Perhaps he thought that there was no money in it. Eh,
masunurin akong bata. My mother had me take up voice instead. And I also went
into
some showbiz. Dela Rosa was a
member of Ang TV Kids during ints second season. “I guess, it really isn’t for
me,” she said with no trace of regret in her voice. “It’s good though I tried
it out. Mahiyain kasi ako so it’s hard for me to be in front of cameras.”
With her work on Sepultura’s new
album, Camille hopes she’ll get more hgih profile work. ‘Right now, a lot of
the interest in my work comes from Europe,” summed up dela Rosa who is actually
on leave now from her work as she is doing some other Christian work. “I’ve
done some exhibits in Europe. Hopefully, we’ll have more. But it’s cool being
on a rock record; even if it’s not my favorite kind of music.”
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