William Chua with one of his sculptures, currently on view at The Gallery, Shangri-La Plaza Hotel. Photo by BOY SANTOS
MANILA, Philippines -“I seldom see an artist awed by his subjects like Dr. William Chua,” explains The Crucible Gallery’s Sari Ortiga. Ortiga is talking about how Chua — a cardiologist and electrophysiologist who is also a painter and a sculptor — is so fascinated with the inner working of the human heart.
As an artist, Chua has held exhibitions since 1996 using, fittingly enough, the heart as his major subject. He has mounted shows in the Philippines and in the US, particularly New York and Washington D.C. His paintings have been included in several art books. Heart: Sketches in Eden is a handsome notebook-style compilation of drawings and paintings by Chua. His massive sculpture titled “Puso” (black iron pipe in red urethane finish on black granite base) sits in front of the Medical Arts Building at the Philippine Heart Center.
The doctor’s latest sculptures are currently on view until June 25 at The Gallery, Mezzanine Level of EDSA Shangri-La Plaza Hotel in Mandaluyong City. The show is titled “Tangible Rhythms,” featuring a rhapsody of shapes and forms that aim to depict the mysterious interior beats of that particular thing that moves everyone’s world: the heart.
Dr. Chua is in love with the process of sculpture itself, continues Ortiga. “The result is a sincere piece of art paying homage to creation itself.”
The artist-doctor agrees, confessing that his oeuvre is dedicated to a higher love.
“This is an ode to the Maker of hearts,” concludes Chua. He often wonders if God had a special place in the Garden of Eden where the deity drew and drew designs upon designs for Adam’s heart — the leaflets for its valves, the plants for the inner linings, the intangibles that make possible the most ineffable of feelings.
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“I truly appreciate the love and beauty He puts into designing the life-giving organ.”
A labor of love — just what the doctor ordered.
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For information, call Chari Elinzano at 635-6061.
