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Bencab revisits his early career(Philippine Daily Inquirer Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)FOR SOMEONE WHO MAKES A LIVING WITH words-both written and spoken-it was difficult to find an appropriate one-word description for the latest exhibition of works by the eminent Filipino artist Bencab that opened in Singapore over the weekend. While "exciting" immediately comes to mind, it is, at best, an understatement given the varied large-scale prints and paintings produced through a fruitful collaboration between Bencab and the Singapore Tyler Print Institute in 2005. Having abandoned the etching plate for paint and canvas, the STPI residency was a welcome break for Bencab, who was given the chance to revisit the muse of his early career. With the facilities at STPI, Bencab was able to push the parameters of his craft by exploring new techniques, new technology. Even the colors in his Singapore works are different from those on his palette in the Philippines. Then there was the possibility of producing prints in a large size which was not possible in his etching press back home. Being abroad provided a retreat from Bencab's normal routine and the social pressures of being one of the country's most sought after painters, resulting in the present exhibition of new works that, we are told, will be mounted in a homecoming show of sorts in Manila, perhaps at the CCP Main Gallery, later this year. As a historian, it is a professional hazard, a professional bias perhaps, for me to be drawn to Bencab's visual vocabulary culled from a deep well of 19th-century photographs of the Philippines and the Filipinos. As a scholar and a collector of Filipiniana, I have come across illustrations in old books and magazines, postcards, maps, prints and stereoscopic cards, glass positives and other ephemeras that have been transformed by Bencab's eye and craft into works that speak to us who live in a different time and place. In the only negative review Bencab has ever received in his entire career, one harsh critic saw nothing but useless nostalgia in the artist's work more popularly known as "Larawan" (literally picture or likeness). He even suggested that Bencab return these images into the musty grandmother's baul where they came from and there be consigned to the past and devoured by silverfish and other vermin. We beg to disagree, for one arresting image from this exhibition depicts a Filipina nanny carrying a cute Caucasian baby. Originally shot at the turn of the last century, the same old image appropriated by Bencab manages to speak to us in the 21st century. Then comes the painful realization that a century has passed and Filipinas are still playing nanny to other peoples' children both at home and abroad. It is an image that has particular resonance in Singapore, a work we would have entitled with a paradox: "Contemporary History." Bencab's works have always had this double edge. Underneath the pop nostalgia is seething social commentary. One would think that Bencab, through his works, steps over the task of the historian more forcefully and, mercifully, with fewer words. The opening was well-attended, with some friends and collectors flying in from Manila for the event: Claude and Maryann Tayag, Gigi Montinola, Phyllis Zaballero, Jeffrey and Jenny Co, Sylvana Diaz, Nestor Pagulayan, Marivic Vazquez, Jonathan Matti and others lost in the crowd or walking about the galleries surprised by the size and scale of these new works. They showed how the STPI residency pushed the limits of Bencab's craft to reveal a wide range of promise and possibilities. We can only wish that Bencab will return for another STPI residency and, if possible, stay longer to produce yet another series of fascinating works. *** Last Tuesday, a small but fascinating exhibition of the illustrated journals of Anita Magsaysay-Ho opened at the Ateneo de Manila University Rizal Library. The artist was in attendance and everyone was talking of the latest book on her paintings by Alfredo Roces, "In Praise of Women," which is literally and figuratively a heavyweight in the current crop of coffee-table books. The book on Magsaysay-Ho comes in a special boxed, limited edition, reminding me that most publications on Philippine art or artists are oversized, glossy and rather expensive coffee-table books. Consequently, they are rarely consulted after one has flipped through the pictures soon after they are acquired or borrowed. While some books are read for pleasure and others read for work, there are welcome additions to our shelves that can be read for both reasons, like the recently published "Discovering Manansala" by Ma. Isabel Nazareno, a promising young historian who is with the Ateneo's history department. In a clear way, she presents Manansala's life and works within a historical context. Her book is simple but substantial. It is one work on Manansala that can literally be taken as bedside reading, unlike the landmark work on the artist that is so heavy it has to be consulted reverently on a table rather than enjoyed on your lap. This is the second publication of the Museum Foundation of the Philippines that aims to bring museums, art and artists to a wider general audience, and we hope it will not be the last. *** Comments are welcome at [email protected] |