Artist follows his eye down creative pathway

It’s difficult to know just how much Anthony Mendivil, avowed reveler in the solitary experience, would enjoy leading a class of young, inquisitive minds, but for sure he has ideas about what he’d like to teach.

“It makes me happy to see things, and I want to share that experience to make someone else happy,” said the retired Hawaiian Electric Co. meter reader-turned-painter. “There should be a class in how to look.”

Indeed, there is a way of looking that has played a guiding role in Mendi­vil’s life, particularly in his development as an artist.

Born and raised in California, Mendivil moved to Hawaii in 1980 to join his twin brother, John, who had moved to Honolulu years earlier to work on the new Aloha Stadium project.

In his younger days Mendivil loved baseball and hoped to become the next Warren Spahn. When the reality of his athletic limitations set in, he devoted himself to writing. A Hemingway devotee, he dreamed of following Papa’s early path through journalism.

But once he settled in Haleiwa, Mendivil found himself drained of all previous ambitions and energized by the cerebral rush stimulated by his new surroundings.

“I always had a camera with me,” he recalled. “I’d go to the beach, and I’d be overwhelmed by the colors of the trees and plants I’d pass on my way there. Some people go to France to be inspired artistically. For me it happened right here.”

Mendivil had no previous artistic experience, but was soon stalking the aisles of Longs Drugs for paper and colored pencils, and doodling to help process the visual stimulus around him.

In time he started taking art classes at what was then Linekona School and the Honolulu Academy of Art. His early training was in watercolors, a medium that made obvious his eye for color and what others recognized as innate talent.

“People would say that but I’ve never accepted that,” Mendivil said in a genial, measured tone. “I would say that I have an interest and curiosity that is maybe more than most.”

For many years Mendivil’s work for HECO paid for his paints and brushes. He said he enjoyed the job because it allowed him to see the island and take in the breadth of the natural environment, with all of its unique shapes and colors.

Some 15 or so years ago, Mendivil found himself at a personal crossroads, from which art again provided a way forward.

“I was going through a painful time with a divorce, and I found that watercolors couldn’t express what I was feeling,” he said. “Only oils.”

Working in a new medium, one better suited to his passion for exploring color, Mendivil found inspiration in the works of Paul Gauguin, Gustave Moreau and the Russian landscape painters of the early 1900s.

Two years ago Mendivil developed cancer, the treatment of which required removal of a kidney. The experience underscored the centrality of art in his life. As he recalls, it wasn’t until he returned home, to his small space crowded with his own paintings and the tools of his craft, that his recovery began in earnest.

“I recovered more in the first 15 minutes there than I had in 15 days in the hospital,” he said.

Cautioned to avoid sun exposure for the first year, Mendivil said he discovered just how much he enjoyed working in the studio, a space that accommodated both his creative habits and the pleasure he derived in being alone.

Recently, however, Mendivil allowed his solitude to be disrupted in a most public fashion.

For years, close friend Donna Ching, whom Mendivil met while taking art classes at Linekona, has worked to connect him to collectors and others with a passion for art.

Thus, when local litigator and art enthusiast Alethea Rebman was looking to decorate the new office she and partner Dyan Mitsuyama had opened, she turned to Mendivil.

Mendivil and Ching dug deep into more than 15 years of collected works stored in Mendivil’s home, selecting some 60 pieces for a reception at Mitsuyama + Rebman titled “Appetizers, Aperitifs and Art.”

“I have separation anxiety,” said Mendivil of having his art displayed away from home. “When we were setting up the exhibit, my heart was beating so fast Donna had to take me to emergency. I got over it but it was very scary.”

The reception turned out to be a great success, with seven of Mendivil’s pieces sold to enthusiastic collectors.

“People love the opportunity to see art outside a museum or gallery and to actually meet the artist,” Rebman said.

Mendivil said he’s happy his pieces have found new homes (“They’re in a better place”) and that their sale helps him to continue doing what he loves best.

“The best part is in the process,” he said. “Creating is exciting.”

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.