Jaime attends daily mass in our Recollect parish of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Mexico (Lomas de Tecamachalco). He has done seven icon paintings reflecting the Recollect spirituality: St. Augustine, St. Monica, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, St. Rita, Fr. Luis de León, St. Magdalene of Nagasaki and St. Ezekiel Moreno. He now has the sketches for new paintings which will include: Our Lady of Consolation, St. Thomas of Villanueva, and St. Alonso de Orozco. Years before he already painted the way of the cross, and the encounter of the Samaritan with Christ; paintings that can be admired in our parish church.
Q.- How could you define your artistic work?
A.- Fresh and full of light, with rich content in gospel values and the values experienced by the saints I paint.
Q.- What aspects of spirituality have do you reflect in your paintings?
. A.- The aspects that will motivate the observer to encounter a symbolic and religious code. This will awake the interest of knowing more about what he/she does not know. The observer will have an interest for scripture. In a sense, it is catechetical art.
Q.- How do you make your painting express the gospel values in their faces?
R.- Neo byzantine art concentrates more on the background essence than in the form. This way you get the observer to the point of concentrating on the content instead of the one that carries the content. I don’t guide myself by formal traditional esthetics, instead I concentrate on emphasizing on the key symbols that can take us to the knowledge of the values in each representation. Maybe it’s the eyes that can be a window between this world and the transcendental world.
Samaritan woman’s encounter with Christ . Q.- Can you give us some suggestions on how to contemplate and read your work?
A.- While you read Sacred Scripture and the Tradition of the Church, follow the map which is the icon painting. In a saint’s painting, look for the symbols or gestures that depict the saint’s virtues. I am not concerned of my personal interpretation which could deform the background. And I am not looking for formal perfection, this could distract the spectator and end up only with the exterior aspect and never reach the mystery and spirituality of the icon.
Q.- How can an icon help us live a spiritual life?
A.- Images, colors, text, symbols… all of these are used in my humble work to give glory to God. Second objective is to live an encounter with our Lord through the illustration of Sacred Scripture passages, God’s angels and saints. I believe my work is not a painting, it’s a meditation.