Willi Chen’s ‘Escriva’ Lighthouse Tower

September 15, 2010

Tags: Devotion, Trinidad and Tobago

At Pointe-a-Pierre Roundabout, Trinidad and Tobago, a monumental piece of sculpture serves as a beacon pointing to the value of work. In an article first written in 2006, its designer described his inspiration and explained why he named it the Escriva Tower.

By rejuvenation in a complete refurbishment of the “Escriva” Lighthouse Tower, Petrotrin has shown consideration to a symbolic structure that was constructed in an attempt to showcase clarity and symmetry on a three-dimensional work of art that was free from gratuitous decoration.

Four years ago Mr. Imtiaz Hassanali, Petrotrin corporate officer approached me on commission to furnish decorations to celebrate our Independence Anniversary. Naturally the ubiquitous trappings of flags, buntings, and ribbon streamers were last on the list of essentials, to produce a high-spirited concept bravura of outdoor décor and architecture, not yet seen nor known and a humble but meaningful challenge to creativity.

The eccentric visual imagination of famous contemporary architects came to mind. Frank Gehry master of iconism, the Canadian architect of the Guggenheim Museum is a precursor of the “Bilbao Effect”.

“The Bilbao Effect was a cliché of politicians worldwide charged with encouraging the design of sensational buildings to attract visitors and rejuvenate ailing cities.” Mr. Mahabir’s lopsided dramatic galvanized winged station building located on the Southern by pass opposite the Fire Station in San Fernando is such an example.

Willi Chen, Escriva Light Tower, n.d. mixed media, steel, 40' x 4' Commissioned by Petroleum Company of Triniday and Tobago, Ltd. (Petrotrin) Pointe-a-Pierre Roundabout, Marabella, Trinidad

Other architects of international repute who flashed before me were Jorn Utzon of opera house fame, Norman Foster, Santiago Calatrava, the Baghdad-born British woman architect, Zaha Hadid, Keizo Piano, the Japanese Kenzo Tange who died last year, and the Shanghai-born Chinese Ieoh Ming Pei who created the controversial reflective triangular glass box with steel frame at the Louvre that became a reputable landmark. My local favourites are Colin Laird, John Gillespie, Colvin Chen and Anthony Lewis, no eclectic forerunners of outlandish fascination, but nonetheless, conservative in their valiant modernist approach to their work.

Here at Pointe-a-Pierre the originator (yours truly) of the Escriva Lighthouse attempted to fuse essential components of petroleum technology with spiritual, sacrificial zeal to produce a unique symbol of social and economic orientation that must be a formidable contribution.

Petrotrin may be the Caribbean life-blood masthead of sustainable growth of wealth and production. It is a source of continuous work.

Elements of the Refinery were used to produce this sculpture. The 40-foot cylindrical column built in our Willart riverside studios represents the fractionating towers similar with the Absorber, the Stripper, and Debutaniser towers found in the Eastern Refinery compound, Gas Concentration and the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit at Pointe-a-Pierre.

At its base is the glowing heater firebox through which raw crude is passed. The bottom-based wooden slat pediments are reminiscent of the cooling towers. Lights are mounted on pedestals, which allude to oil pipelines and central pivotal connection, the inlet of crude pumped out of the drilling fields. Globes of light of various sizes and spacing at the top represent the molecular structure of chemical atoms of petroleum. The flame above the column is likened to the field-burner, symbol of continuous life and energy and thus everlasting work.

This simple statement of architectural expression, an amalgam emblem formulated by the concept of work and prayer is named after Saint Josémaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei, (work of God) canonised in 2002, who was born in Barbastro, Spain, on January 9, 1902. I went to see him when he visited Caracas, Venezuela, in 1975, the year of his death.

Priest, chaplain, hero of the poor, extraordinary man of God, absolute friend of the downtrodden and sick, an epitome of humility and dignity, Saint Josémaria Escriva upheld the basic truths of Christianity, which occupy a fundamental place within the spirit of Opus Dei. He spoke constantly about work as the unifying force of all spiritual action.

“Sanctifying work, sanctifying oneself in work, sanctifying others through work. The sanctification of ordinary work is like a hinge on which the whole spiritual life of the ordinary Christian turns.”

This tower therefore becomes not only a lighthouse to show the way to uphold the dignity of honest labour which Petrotrin supplies, but serves as a fractionator of life in which in essence, Man’s journey through life is likened to the crude into the refinery process, in which he is “distilled”, to become free from all impediments, sin and earthly baggage of waste and uselessness – until he ascends to be purified an invisible spirit to heaven.
As “Light House of the World” the Escriva Tower embodies all that is gloriously attainable through work, through prayer achieved by the spiritual, associated with human, moral values, endorsed by Saint Josémaria Escriva himself.

Congratulations are in order for Petrotrin for their interest in Art, on this symbolic installation - outdoor magnum opus, strategically placed in their front yard, to brighten the lives of all workers especially at this Christmas Season. Painted in the national colours, the column’s vertical position expresses the feeling of uprightness, loyalty and commitment.

I publicly thank Petrotrin CEO, Mr. Malcolm Jones and Mr. Imtiaz Hassanali for giving me the opportunity to fulfill this humble task of artistic expression, which could be considered a national ideogram.

By Willi Chen. H.B.M C.M.T