74. 14. NATIONALLY-RENOWNED KAPAMPANGAN ARTISTS

The Philippine art scene is made livelier by the contributions of these gifted Kapampangan artists whose unparalleled skills in painting, has earned not only personal glory, but accolades for the country. Meet 14 of these painters, abstractionists, watercolorists, muralists, printmakers and sculptors who rank them among the country’s finest visual artists.

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1. IRINEO MIRANDA

The Dean of Philippine Illustrators, Irineo Miranda (b. 1896/d.1964), was an early graduate of the University of the Philippines’College of Fine Arts, finishing in 1916. He honed his craft under Fernando Amorsolo, and soon, he was earning illustration commissions from Pacific Commercial Company, doing product labels and advertisements. So good was he, that in 1918, he was appointed to the faculty of U.P. where he taught his forte—cartooning--along with decorative painting and commercial design. He would stay on for over 40 years in the academe. He continued to get project, illustrating covers for Graphic, Liwayway and El Debate magazines. In his time, he was also a top-notch water-colorist and a political caricaturist.

2. JUAN C. FLORES

Pampanga’s legendary sculptor and carver, Juan C. Flores (b. 24 Jun. 1900/d. 14 Sep. 1992) of  Sta. Ursula, Betis, grew up in a fishing community. Not wanting to be a fisherman, he went to Manila to seek his fortune and found work in the santo shops of Quiapo. He became an apprentice of Maximo Vicente, worked with the Tampingcos,  and honed his carving skills to perfection. But just as he was making a name in the city, he returned to Betis in 1922 to start his own ‘taller’. He  made religious statuaries, furniture, decorative wooden items, church fixtures famed for their details and high quality. On the side, he mentored young artists like painters Vicente Manansala, Antonio Dumlao and Allan Cosio.  First Lady Imelda Marcos gave him commissions to do the decorative woodworks in Malacañang. He was rewarded in 1971 with a  Washington D.C. trip as the country’s representative in an art competition which he topped. Flores’ winning piece was a bust of the U.S.  Pres. Richard Nixon. At the ripe age of 77, he was given the Panday Pira Award. His most cherished award was being awarded as one of the “Most Distinguished Sons of Pampanga” in 1982. His work is continued today by his son Daniel Flores.

3. ELIAS LAXA

Guagua’s master painter of Philippine vignettes (b.1904/d.1990), was born in Banka, a  fishing village. At 16, he left for Manila, but it was only at the advance age of 25 that he enrolled at the U.P. College of Fine Arts, graduating in 1933. Laxa took on odd jobs, including sign painting in Escolta. He went into serious painting only after the War, supporting himself by giving art lessons.  His signature works are his color-splashed seascapes, inspired by his humble background. But he could also paint other subjects—calesas on narrow alleys, market women, old colonial churches, --done in colorful, swift-strokes. In 1952, Laxa held his first one man show at the Miguel Galvez gallery. It was through his art that he managed to support his 9 children, who earned degrees in engineering, architecture and education. In 1964, he flew to Hawaii where he found artistic success. Laxa’s family would join him there, in the island state that embraced him and his art. He passed away  in 1990.

4. JOSE BUMANLAG DAVID

 In the field of portraiture—where technical accuracy, mastery of light, tone and mood are required of the artist, one Kapampangan painter stands out—Jose Bumanlag David (b. 26 Jul. 1909/d.199?) of Mexico. Though he painted a variety of subjects throughout his long, prolific career, it is in portraiture that he found recognition, thanks largely to his American clientele. A  product of Pampanga High School and the U.P. Fine Arts (1934), his paintings often appeared on the national magazine, Philippine Free Press. His works could be found in pre-war classrooms as he painted many historical scenes. David took a break to finish a management course in 1964 at the Air Force Institute at Gunter Air Base University, Alabama. From 1971 till 1982, he gave private art classes to bored American wives of U.S. military personnel and their other family members in Clark Field.  One of his last one-man show was held in 1990 at Galerie Andrea in 1990. Many of his portraits of American military officers used to hang in various Clark Air Base buildings and those of Filipino heroes at the Scottish Rite Temple.

5. VICENTE S. MANANSALA

National Artist Vicente “ Enteng” Manansala (b. 22 Jan. 1910/d. 22 Aug. 1981) was  born in Macabebe, and already had artistic inclinations as a boy growing up in Intramuros where his family relocated. At age 15, he painted his first oil—a head of a cow coped fom a milk can. He entered U.P. Fine Arts in 1926, and left home after graduation. He worked as a billboard painter, art director and finally won his first national award in 1941, for his work “Pounding Rice”. He would be included as a member of the “13 Moderns” and the “Neo-Realist Group”. Manansala earned scholarships in Canada (Ecole de Beaux Arts in Banff)  and France (Ecole de Beaux Arts of the University of Paris). He devised his own technique called “transparent cubism”. His prized paintings are in various private and corporate collections here and abroad. Holy Angel University has a section of its museum called The Vicente Manansala Collection, holding most of the sketches, studies and drawings from the artist’s estate.  Mananala was named National Artist for painting in 1981.

6. PATRICIO SALVADOR (b. 17 Mar. 1911/d.?). A 1931 graduate of Pampanga High, he pursued an art course at the U.P. School of Fine Arts, taking only a year to learn and master painting basics. Soon, this Fernandino was dividing his time between commercial art and landscape painting. He was still painting in the mid 1990s at his humble home on Teopaco St. His small work, “Ricefields”, painted in oil in 1943 now hangs at the Jorge B. Vargas Filipiniana Museum at the U.P.

7. GALO B. OCAMPO, Sta. Rita

Galo B. Ocampo, (b. 16 Oct. 1913/d. 12 Sep. 1985 ), who hails from Sta. Rita, studied at the Univeristy of the Philippines. He is the only Flipino to study heraldry abroad and to hold membership in the International Institute of Genealogy and Heraldry in Madrid. He later became a Director of the National Museum in 1961. The multi-talented artist was also  painter, sculptor, scenographer, writer, teacher, and a cultural-activist.  On 22 July 2015, the order of Lakandula was conferred posthumously to  Galo B. Ocampo with the order of Maringal na Pinuno (grand officer) from the National Museum director, Jeremy Barnes.

8. LIBORIO T. GATBONTON

Liborio “Gat” Gatbonton (b. 23 Jun. 1914/.5 May 1976) was a Filipino cartoonist and caricaturist during the 1940s and 1950s who created the popular series "Jappy Days," a comic book that satirized the Japanese rule in the Philippines. He was also the chief cartoonist of the comics section of the now-defunct Evening Chronicle. The Candaba native went to Pampanga High School and took a correspondence course in cartooning. He took formal art lessons at the University of the Philippines, and, in 1935, joined T.V.T. Publications as a staff artist. He became a cartoonist for the Manila Chronicle and was the first Filipino artist to have his work published on The New York Times.

9. SALVADOR CABRERA

Salvador Cabrera (b.1930/d.1986) was BenCab’s big brother, older by some 12 years. He was often referred to as a ’quick-draw’ artist who could finish as many as 10 paintings in a day. His trademark works showed youngsters  with large, gazing, soulful eyes, inspired by artist Margaret Keane. Salvador, who maintained an Ermita studio,  had a successful career as an editorial cartoonist of Daily Mirror, where his comic strip featuring a character named Bindoy, ran for 10 years. In his heyday, he built a large clientele, who paid Php500 for his portraits, a hefty sum at that time—and he could finish 5 a day. He managed to provide a luxurious life for his family, but in the troubled ‘80s, when patrons ceased coming, he had to rely on BenCab’s help as his health began to fail.  Salvador Cabrera was also a skilled watercolorist, illustrator and a lay-out artist, and his works were once carried by Angeles galleries, He died of heart attack in 1986.

10. ALLAN COSIO

The versatile artist, Allan Cosio (b. 1941) traces his roots in Bacolor. This painter (op art and abstract) , printmaker, sculptor and tapestry maker  has represented the Philippines at the Valparaiso Biennale in Chile. The Indian Triennale, and the International Sculptue Event in Victoria, Australia. He has also exhibited in Geneva (Switzerland), California, Munic, Beijing, Marsala (Italy) and Hong Kong. For 5 consecutuve years, he was a prize winner at the annual Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) competitions. He won a Britsih grant as his award for winning the grand prize in the 1980 AAP awards. Cosio is married to the Ivi Avellana, daughter of director Lamberto Avellana and theater actress, Daisy Avellana.

11. BENEDICTO CABRERA (BenCab)

Benedicto Cabrera (BenCab, b. 10 Apr. 1942) is a full-blooded Kapampangan whose parents are from Sasmuan. He studied at the University of the Philippines, graduating in 1963, and had his first one-man show at the Gallery Indio in 1966. After BenCab married British Caroline Kennedy in London in 1969, the couple decided to stay there, where he slowly, but surely established his name in the international art scene, holding exhibits (London, New York ,Macau)  and winning several art awards. Returing to the Philippines in 1972, he was hailed as a Filipino pioneer of the arts, but the restrictive Martial Law years forced him back to London. This episode marked the beginning of his involvement with social commentary and the topics of freedom from repression. Later in the 1990s, BenCab founded the Tamawan Village, an artists’ sanctuary-cum-gallery that has become a popular cultural destination in Baguio. He was named a National Artist for Visual Arts in 2006, and in 2009, U.P., his alma mater, conferred upon him an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree.

12. JOSE  W. HERNANDEZ

Manila-born Jose W. Hernandez (b. 22 Sept. 1944/ d.19? ) practically grew up in San Fernando, when his father was assigned as a law teacher at Harvardian College. Jose spent his grade school years at the Assumption Academy. His artistic inclinations showed early; he would fill his notebooks with drawings rather than schoolwork. In his senior year at Pampanga High, he was offered a scholarship by Pres. Diosdado P. Macapagal. However, he abandoned his schooling to learn from established artists like Fernando C. Amorsolo, Botong Francisco, Vicente Manansala, Simon Saulog and Ben Alano. Painting in the realist tradition, he had his first group exhibit with Mabini masters in 1965. From 1974-77, Hernandez operated his own gallery in Angeles City. His works have been exhibited in the U.S., and reproduced on Unicef greeting cards.

13. MARCELINO  C. GALANG

“Mars” Galang (b. 1 Jan. 1945/d.2001).was born in Cabusao, Camarines Sur. His father, Zoilo M. Galang of Bacolor, was pioneering  encyclopedist who singlehandedly produced the 10-volume “Philippine Encylopedia” published in 1934.  This makes Mars, a half-Kapampangan. He went to public schools in the Sta. Cruz district of Manila, then took up Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines on a scholarship. He became not only a painter, but also a printmaker, colorist and draftsman. Mars dabbled in minimalism, where he excelled. He represented the Philippines at the 1st India Triennial in New Delhi (1968) and the 7th Paris Biennial. His last one-man show ws in 1985, an thereafter remained inactive.

14. CESAR VICTOR “CID” P. REYES

The prodigious artist, advertising executive, book author, art scholar and art critic Cid Reyes (b. 28 Jul. 1946) is a Kapamangan Pangilinan, courtesy of his mother Humilde, from Apalit. After his Lasalle studies, he became an Italian government scholar at the Academia de belle Arti in Rome, and tool courses in Art History at the City Lit Institute in London. Twice named Art Critic of the Year, Reyes is also a mutli-awarded advertising creative. In 1989, he authored “Conversations in Philippine Art”, which featured his interviews with 8 National Artists.  His published books have won 2 national Book Awards. As a painter, Reyes has exhibited his works in major art galleries featuring his robust abstract works using automotive paint. Reyes travels around the country lecturing on various aspects of art and art history. He was named Most Outstanding Kapampangan in Arts in 2015.

15. CLAUDE S. TAYAG

The renaissance man from Angeles City, Claudio “Claude” Moises Tayag (b. 1956) is the son of writer-lawyer Renato ‘Katoks’ Tayag. Although an AB Economics U.P. graduate, he forayed into art by observing artists E. Aguilar Cruz (his menor), Romula Galicano and  Sofornio Y. Mendoza. He won praises for his paintings of  folk festival imageries and folk santo watercolors. He also ventured into creating functional and decorative sculptural wooden pieces. Also known as an award-winning chef, Tayag and wife Mary Ann Quioc, offer unique dining experiences at his residence known as Bale Dutung (Wooden House), and at his 1856 Downtown Café, pop culture restaurant.

16. NORMAN TIOTUICO

The foremost exponent of Kapampangan contemporary indigenous art, Norman Tiotiuico (b.1966) of Angeles City is a Fine Arts graduate of the University of the Philippines. In 2004, he was named a Rockefeller and Ford Foundation grantee at the 4th International Sculpture Symposium in Vietnam His works are mostly sculptures, inspired by spiritual and environmental issues. Tiotuico, subscribes to the belief that he, as an artist, is just a medium used by the Creator as an executor of His ideas. His work is represented at Saatchi Art, the world’s leading online art gallery. This Most Outstanding Kapampangan Awardee for the Arts in 2008 exhibits regularly;  his latest, ”Kalalangan Kapampángan Experiment” (Feb. 2018), features his latest native art installation works.

SOURCES;

Salvador Cabrera: lex Castro Collection

BenCab: photo: wikipedia

Allan Cosio: http://www.philstar.com/arts-and-culture/2014/11/24/1394631/allan-cosio-cid-reyes-ricco-renzo

Juan Flores:Singsig,Magazine

Mars Galang: Portrait by BenCab, Art Manila Newspaper, Vol. 2 Series 7, 2001

Liboro Gatbonton: Mobilways

Elias Laxa: Sunday Times Magazine 1963.

Vicente Manansala: Vicente Manansala Collection, Holy Angel University

Irineo Miranda: Leon Gallery

Galo Ocampo: Positively Filipino

Cid Reyes: Cuadro Filipino, photo by Joey Ibay.

Claude Tayag: Scred Heart Seminary Annual 
Norman Tiotuico: Saatchi-Art, iorbitnews
All others: Kayumanggi, Biographes of Philippine Visual Artists, Peso Book Foundation 2000.