KASINING ESSAYS by Arnaldo de Tondo

  Essay 21. MELANKOLIA By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol Pinggot Zulueta's solo show, "Melankolia", opened last January 16 at the Saturday Group Gallery at Shangri-la Plaza. It was a well attended affair. Gathered there were fellow artists and friends who, like me, are fans I'm sure of Zulueta. The exhibit showcased once again Zulueta's mastery of the pen and ink medium---a mastery very evident early in his career as editorial cartoonist. His cartoons of that period were visual witticisms at their best. I have said before that the era, which stretched from the waning years of the Marcos regime up to Cory Aquino's presidency, was the golden age of political cartooning in the Philippines. Who can dispute that when we saw the likes of Jose Tence Ruiz, Dengcoy Miel, Neil Doloricon, Dante Perez, Willy Aguino, Benjo Laygo, Benjamin Lontoc, Ludwig Ilio, Net Billones, Edwin Agawin, and of course, Pinggot Zulueta working at the same time and turning in daily works that a...

  Essay 20. RENATO HABULAN AND PAPELISMO By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol Last February 28, the biggest in the series of exhibitions to assert the significance of paper in artmaking opened at the Estancia Mall. Titled PAPELISMO BOCETO, the show, which was presented by Eskinita Art Gallery and part of the Ortigas Art Festival 2020, featured around 300 bocetos or studies for bigger works by 100 artists. RENATO HABULAN, the driving force behind Papelismo, invited me in late 2011 to join an art exhibit devoted solely to works on paper. This exhibit was Habulan's way of disabusing the art-loving public of the notion that works on paper are inferior to oil and acrylic paintings on canvas. The exhibit, titled PAPELISMO, opened on September 4, 2012 at the Crucible Gallery. It was the first in what would turn out to be a series of exhibits. Participating in that initial show aside from Habulan, were Alfredo Liongoren, Benjamin Torrado Cabrera, Pinggot Zulueta, and myself. The show gained much ...

  Essay 19. ARTLETA By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol The word artleta is a portmanteau. It is a blending of the word art and atleta (athlete). I coined that word to, ahem, describe myself - because aside from art and literature, I'm also into sports. But artleta will better describe Francisco 'Isko' de la Cruz. He'd done feats of physical prowess which I've never done and can never hope to do. Look at what he is wearing in the photo showing him with his artwork. That's one of the many uniforms he wore as participant in several marathons. But before taking up running, Isko was first a cyclist. He is my cycling and swimming buddy. But unlike me, he's not merely a recreational cyclist. He's hardcore. He belongs to a group of cyclists - supercyclists I call them -  who have biked from Monumento to Sorsogon several times already, which distance took them four days to traverse. Their group have already gone biking to Bagac, Bataan; Jalajala, Rizal; Lucban, Quezon; ...

  Essay 18. DEAN OF WATERCOLORISTS By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol In contrast to the two guys I wrote about previously, Jerry Dean was a very disciplined student. Unlike Jojo Garcia and Mon Villanueva, Jerry diligently attended his classes, passed his plates on time, and abhorred gallivanting and indulging in vices. He was one classmate I have not lost track of over the years. We are compadres. He is godfather to my younger son, Kai. We were also partners once in a t-shirt printing business. Jerry and I shared the same love for adventure outdoors. We snorkel, trek mountains, and camp out a lot. He had climbed Mt. Pulag which is very much higher than Mt. Makiling, the mountain I and my Tondo buddies climbed in 1981. The activity we've done together often was snorkeling. We've snorkeled in Marinduque, Zambales, and Cebu. He joined us for a vacation one summer in Oslob, Cebu, in 1994. Not one day passed then when we didn't go to  sea. We borrowed a small banca every morning ...

  Essay 17. LES ZAMBAL By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol Les Zambal was the name of a restaurant in Sta. Cruz, Zambales. Its specialty was mami, specifically sibut mami. What made sibot mami different from the mami served at Ma Mon Luk and Masuki are the ingredients used in it, which are a combination of star anise and other herbs. The owner of Les Zambal was Salvador 'Jun' Diaz, my closest buddy at the UST College of Architecture and Fine Arts (USTCAFA). One time, I and Jun ate at Ma Mon Luk. He frowned after tasting the mami. He must have found it bland compared to the mami he used to serve in his restaurant. Which is true because the Ma Mon Luk mami recipe was much simpler, using only garlic and spring onions as its flavoring herbs. Cooking is one of Jun's enduring passion. He excelled at it. I always look forward to attending parties at their house because I know I'll get to savor again the dishes he himself cooked. Jun's other passion is art. I first met Jun at U...

Essay 16. STREAMS WITHOUT NYMPHS By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol BUTCH JACINTO studied Fine Arts at the University of the East School of Music and Fine Arts where he majored in Advertising. He wasn't a full-time student. Jacinto had to divide his time between working and studying, and had to take on a job as tourist guide for a shipping company to be able to support his studies. After leaving school he worked as Creative Visualizer for Philippine Refining Company (PRC). He worked in that capacity for thirteen years, after which he decided to transfer to the Sales Department of the same company. After his stint with PRC, Jacinto put up his own company together with some partners called CDEX System. He was the brain of CDEX. He did all the designs and performed the selling functions of the company. CDEX System specialized in fabricating advertising collaterals, like brochures, newspaper ads, websites, banners, posters, stationery, etc. Jacinto is tech savvy. He is proficient in computer g...

Essay 15. PORTRAITS OF WOMEN AS MOTHER NATURE By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol There are Filipino painters who didn't finish college but still went on to make indelible marks in the Philippine art scene. A notable example is Mauro Malang Santos---or simply, Malang. Malang's protege FRANKLIN CAÑA VALENCIA would be another. Frank officially entered the world of serious painting when he joined the Saturday Group in 2001. Before that, he was at the pinnacle of his career in advertising working as design director and later on department head for J. Romero and Associates.  Malang was one of  Vicente Manansala's proteges. Manansala was that master who passed on to his followers his fascination with cubism. These followers are ---in addition to Malang---Angelito Antonio, Hugo Yonzon, Oscar Zalameda, Romeo Gutierrez, Manny Baldemor, and Ang Kiukok, to name just the really famous ones. But their individual styles, even if from a common cubist wellspring diverged at some point, and have bec...

Essay 14. PRISMATIC WATERSCAPES By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol Ponciano Zapanta took up Architecture at the National University, but left the school without graduating. His not being able to finish Architecture led him into a career in the graphic arts instead and later on into serious painting. Zapanta's first job (or business I should say) was as silkscreen printer--- which paid well according to him. He related that he was able to buy land from the earnings of his silkscreen business.  Zapanta later on worked as graphic artist in Jeddah and China. It was in Jeddah where Zapanta rediscovered his love for painting when he joined and garnered third place in the First Saudia Open Competition for Heritage and Culture in 1992. He was a finalist in the second edition of the contest in 1994. In 2015, he joined the GSIS painting competition, where he was again a finalist.  But it seems that Zapanta's talent isn't limited to the visual arts: he was also a poet who once won a gold meda...

Essay 13: MIXING ART WITH MUSIC By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol FIDELIS BALAGTAS-BELDA earned her Bachelor of Music degree major in Piano and minor in Voice from the Centro Escolar University. She took further studies in Violin and Voice Concentration in the University of the Philippines. Even before she finished her music studies, Des (as she is called by friends) was already teaching. She was also an on-call artist, an organist, and a choral conductor then. Des now teaches Music in Isidore de Seville Integrated School in Malolos, Bulacan, and offers tutorials in her home's music room, the FBb Studio. She had also  taught before at the Centro Escolar University Malolos, La Consolacion College, St. Rita College, Lord's Angels Montessori, St. Joseph School in San Pablo, Laguna, and at the American-owned and run Scoula dei Bambini di Sta. Teresita. But Des had lately decided to mix music and art. Although she already had an inkling of her artistic talent when she was in grade one, she...

  Essay 12. ART WITHOUT ANGST  (Exhibition notes for Eman Santos' 2015 solo show at the Artologist Gallery.) By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol The scene where worried parents discourage a child from taking up fine arts in college was played out many times before. The reason given almost always is the perception that an art career does not pay. Which is true in many cases. But I also know of several painters here who proved the fallacy of that perception. These painters are on a roll because their paintings sell well. EMAN SANTOS is one of them. Santos had traveled extensively in Europe, exhibiting his works in major cities there, and earning critical acclaim and financial rewards in the process. The European cities where he had exhibited his works were London, Vienna, Sienna, Essen, Oberhausen, Berlin, and Luxembourg. He had also held shows in Asia, in Singapore specifically, and of course in the Philippines, where he had mounted several solo shows and participated in more than a doz...

Essay 11. THE DYNAMIC LINEARIST (Exhibition notes for Monnar Baldemor's 2015 solo show at the Artologist Gallery) By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol How does a son avoid being compared--- unfavorably most of the time---to a famous father? Monnar Baldemor does it by signing his paintings merely with his first name, and by creating works antipodal in both theme and technique to the paintings of his father Manny. Since first stepping into the University of the East School of Music and Fine Arts in Caloocan, Monnar had tried his best to downplay his relationship to the famous painter Manny Baldemor. He said that the pressure on him to prove himself worthy of being called Manny's son was palpable. What Monnar dreaded most at that time was to be compared to Manny and be found wanting. That's the reason why Monnar pursued cartooning and illustrations when he graduated from college in 1989 with a BFA degree major in Advertising. He shunned serious painting for several years, and worked as ...

  Essay 10. REMINISCENCES IN PASTEL SHADES (Exhibition notes I wrote for Mayu Solano's 2015 two-woman exhibit with Karen de Pano Picadizo at the Artologist Gallery. Top art critic Cid Reyes wrote the notes for that of Karen) By Arnaldo B. Mirasol "Happy Thoughts" is the title of MAYU SOLANO's collaborative show with Karen de Pano Picadizo at the Artologist Gallery. I remarked that their paintings must be of happy memories or events. Mayu agreed. She added that the happy events that are the subjects of her paintings are not necessarily memories of her childhood, but rather her recollections mostly of recent events in her life. Although the movies and music are frequent sources of inspiration for her, Mayu confessed that she starts each painting with no definite motifs in mind yet. Her working method is impromptu. She begins by laying down on canvas the colors she likes until she sees on it the right combination of colors and form. It is only then that Mayu begins to de...

  Essay 9. PSYCHOLOGICAL DISSECTIONS (Exhibition Notes for Francis Arnaez' 2015 solo art exhibit at the Artologist Gallery) By Arnaldo Bernabe  Mirasol Painter FRANCIS ARNAEZ  is a storyteller. His paintings are portraits of people whose stories he knew. They are in-depth narratives, a dissection as it were of his sitters' inner selves. Where most people tend to gloss over imperfections, Arnaez does the reverse and mars perfection. That's what his impastos are for, said Arnaez--- to uglify not only his models, but also the very painting itself. An objective I judged as not achieved, because the slashes of thick paint he slathered over parts of his model's faces only heightened the expressionist element in his 'quasi-surrealist' works, and made them more beautiful, I must say. Arnaez graduated recently from the Technological University of the Philippines (TUP), where he majored in advertising. He used to work as graphic artist for Wacom before he turned to pa...

  Essay 8. ACHROMATIC WOMEN (Exhibition Notes for Michael Adams Nacianceno's 2015 solo art exhibit at the Artologist Gallery) By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol Painters who thrive on monochrome are 'rarae aves'---rare birds. They are unusual individuals, whose self-imposed limitation on their use of color set them apart in a Philippine art scene where colorful artworks seem to be the norm. Lao Lian Ben is an outstanding example. Lao, throughout his painting career never betrayed his fidelity to black and white. And with good results, too, because his paintings can easily command six figure price tags nowadays. Now comes Michael Adams Nacianceno, a twenty-two year old Fine Arts student from TUP (Technological University of the Philippines). He will open with Francis Arnaez their two-man show on April 18, at the Artologist Gallery. Entitled "Stillness Hours", the show, by its very title, promises to be not your usual run-of-the-mill art exhibit. Stillness Hours refer...

Essay 7. FOLKWAYS AND UNREQUITED DESIRES By Arnaldo Mirasol The "bayanihan", that quintessential Filipino demonstration of cooperation, is a theme that Danny Simbulan Rodriguez returns to again and again. For those who do not know what bayanihan is, it is that Filipino practice of lending a helping hand (or should I say shoulder) to neighbors who wish to relocate their house. But that practice, which we carry over from times when nipa huts abound, may be on the wane, especially now that more and more houses are being built of concrete and other sturdy materials, and whose foundations are firmly rooted in the soil. That's maybe one of the reasons why Rodriguez frequently revisits that theme -to remind the current and future generations that what we were in the past is worth emulating. The other reason could be plain aesthetics. The subject lends itself to stylistic variations that never fail to please the eyes. Though the bayanihan theme was pioneered and popularized here ...

Essay 6. PASSION FOR QUAINTNESS By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol DANNY PANGAN belongs to that breed of Filipino painters who put a premium on nostalgia. The former director of the University of the East School of Music and Fine Arts, the late Florencio Concepcion, was the first to point this out when he labeled Danny Pangan's paintings as nostalgic realist. Bencab's series on turn-of-the-century Filipinas in baro't saya, Isagani Fuentes' paintings of pre-Spanish jars and artifacts, and Dominic Rubio's charming old Binondo denizens with stick necks are prime examples of nostalgic art, that people today, the netizens particularly, would probably call throwback art.  The surrealists' esoteric themes that delve into the workings of the subconscious and even of the occult are not for Pangan: nor is the pop artists' concern with contemporary icons and images. It is the past that Pangan wants to dissect. In the nineteen-seventies, Lino Severino came out with his vanishin...