The daughter of a Filipino model and a Spanish lawyer, Cavestany spent her first 18 years in Barcelona. The day she turned 18, the high school graduate boarded a plane to Manila, the capital of the Philippines. The city felt like home and would soon become such.
"Here is how the story begins: I settled in the land of my maternal grandparents and soon discovered Chinese painting," Cavestany recalls. The young university student decided to major in history and took up painting classes with one of the many Filipino-Chinese professors in Manila. "For several years, I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to go to classes. Yet Chinese painting can take a lifetime to learn," she says.

Since these days, Cavestany has been focusing on watercolor -- although she does use other techniques at times. Some of her most recent canvases are currently on display in Nişantaşı’s İlayda Art Gallery, which is exhibiting 30 of those pieces, watercolor paintings and "mixed media" alike.

"Fragments and Flowers," which runs through May 18, is far from being Cavestany’s first exhibition. The young woman was still in her early 20s when a gallery offered to exhibit her work. "An exhibition had been planned for several Manila artists and one of them had to turn down the invitation," she explains. "I replaced him, which felt strange because I had never thought that I could become a professional painter, let alone have my work exhibited and judged."

That first exhibit was only the introductory chapter to Cavestany’s impressive record of other such events around the world. "Galleries started to call me as I was pursuing my training with workshops in Seattle, New York or Mexico," she says. "Manila is a mixture of 400 years of Spanish rule followed by 50 years of Hollywood -- the Americans -- and by independence in 1975. There are many talented artists in Manila, but they do not all get the chance to exhibit abroad."

A story of luck and work

Cavestany, who now alternates six months in Manila with six months in Barcelona ("I follow the monsoons"), says her story is one of luck and work, of talent and encounters. "I was once walking on the beach on the tropical island of Boracay, when I met a French woman who was an art merchant in Tokyo," Cavestany cites as an example. The artist showed some prints of her work and the merchant promised to arrange an exhibition in Tokyo. Since then, London has been followed by Japan, Mexico, Madrid, Barcelona, Singapore, Stuttgart, İstanbul and soon Hong Kong -- in addition to Cavestany’s two annual exhibits in Manila, where she sells most of her work.

"Until recently, I had never had an agent. I was calling galleries, showing my portfolio around or just being lucky," says Cavestany. "I think people feel a kind a proximity to my paintings. They feel that they don’t need a book to understand and like them. It goes straight to the heart and it is original, but not too much, so that everyone can relate to it."

Above all, Cavestany likes to paint beauty. And, to her light-green eyes, flowers are the personification of beauty. Little wonder then that the İstanbul exhibit features 30 exclusive pieces filled with colorful flowers, all combined with elements of Turkish and Ottoman culture. "I like to mix motifs and patterns," she adds. "İznik tiles, Ottoman motifs, 19th century Manilan figures. … After all, we are not pure but a mixture of here’s and there’s."

Among the 30 paintings on display -- most of them already sold -- visitors might notice dervishes whirling on a vase of fresh flowers, painted on a background of İznik motifs. "I always do my homework beforehand," Cavestany notes. "I have a history background and I am used to reading a lot. On my first trip to Turkey, I bought a pile of books about İznik pottery and tiles. I also went several times to İstanbul’s Rustem Pasha Mosque."

Another piece shows a Chinese-like teapot covered with İznik motifs on a floral background. Colors and flowers are the recurring features of Cavestany’s paintings and she describes her home as naturally full of colors and flowers. "I cultivate flowers, especially orchids, though I don’t have a favorite flower. Flowers make you feel better. When we surround ourselves with beauty, we become better artists and better humans." On a side note, Cavestany advises Today’s Zaman readers to put a few ice cubes into their flower vase for their flowers to stay beautiful.

"I paint flowers and other figures as they come out. The element of surprise is the key, although there are some recurring patterns, such as the use of color and the use of space," she notes, admitting a fondness for bright, tropical colors. "Also, my compositions are always full, as if I were afraid of blank spaces, which I think is not the case."

The chaotic harmony of ‘mestizaje’

Cavestany says artists such as Francisco Goya, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Rembrandt, Botticelli, Joaquin Sorolla or contemporary Spanish artists like Perico Pastor have been, more or less consciously, a source of inspiration to her. "Plus, my work seems to transcend borders and nationalities, although I must say that the reactions of the Japanese audiences were incredible. I was surprised and flattered to hear them say that they ‘could never do this’," she smiles.

Cavestany is a prolific artist, averaging 70 paintings a year. "I paint several pieces simultaneously," she explains. "I can paint 10 hours or more in a row, day and night, locked in my studio with no contact to the outside world." Cavestany notes that the most difficult part is not to start but to finish a painting. "I tend to put too many things so I often have to get away from my work in order not to spoil it," she notes, adding that she is never fully satisfied with a piece. "Now I am strolling around the exhibition hall, hoping that I could remove some brush strokes from this or that painting."

As she pronounces those words, Cavestany heads to the side hall that hosts the "mixed media" she realized for the exhibition. "Those are called ‘mestizaje,’ the Spanish for ‘mixture’ or ‘crossbreeding’," she says. "Those pieces are both chaotic and harmonious. They combine decoupages of Filipino, 19th century art with motifs from Turkish carpets and traditional artifacts, a portrait of Suleiman I with flowers popping up from his turban. ... It is like painting several pieces in one."

Cavestany, who traveled extensively to Turkey ahead of the exhibit, says she is not done yet with the country. "For example, I would love to be part of the İstanbul Biennial," she says, adding that she hopes this first exhibit will help foster some further contacts.

Today's Zaman