Daylight penetrates with ease the clean glass walls of Cydnei’s Cafe and Coffee Shop in Project 4, Quezon City. And between the door entrance and the cashier’s cubicle, there is just enough space for a few tables and chairs. Neat, spare, and modern, the ambiance is welcoming, the bread and pasta, nourishing.
Cydnei’s is a baby compared to the grandeur of Bahay Ligaya in Blue Ridge 2, Katipunan, also in Quezon City. This sprawling restaurant-cum-antique shop, owned by Joy Antonio, stands like a queen in the middle of graceful foliage, its walls offering exquisite paintings and choice artifacts to prospective buyers; its ornate tables and chairs watching over years of perfect settings for scrumptious dishes and delicacies.
No two venues could have been more apt for an exclusive photo shoot and interview for Tony&Nick, the art and culture magazine of the BusinessMirror and Philippines Graphic . On a Friday afternoon that mirrors the new and the established; the simple and the grand, three contemporary painters embrace their childhood and bring back their grandfathers—all National Artists for the Visual Arts.
Muralist Reborn
He lived in the house his Lolo Botong built in Angono, Rizal—the art capital of the Philippines. But Carlos “Totong” Francisco II, born on May 14, 1972, did not live to see his grandfather, legendary National Artist for the Visual Arts Francisco “Botong” Francisco, who died in 1969.
But Totong grew up with Botong’s wife, Lola Nene. “I grew up in the house of my grandfather and grandmother. My life revolved around that house. It became my world. Even if I did not see my Lolo alive, I heard so may stories about him, it was as if I had lived with him,” Totong said.
Artworks filled that house. Each with a story to tell. Prints with etched mythological figures from local folklore. A painting that depicted the legend of the Pasig River.
“Actually, the painting is about the Mutya ng Pasig, the beautiful, fairy-protector of the Pasig River. One one side of the painting are fishermen on boats. In the middle, there is the Mutya strumming an old guitar. It is said that the Mutya strums the guitar as the fishermen sail toward the sea. The music protects them from pirates. That is why on the opposite side of the painting, there are pirates asleep after hearing the Mutya’s music,” said Totong.
He added that his Lolo Botong shed tears when the Mutya was sold, so attached was his grandfather to the painting. “The Mutya ng Pasig is now owned by a man named Reyes, who lives somewhere in Makati. Like my grandfather’s other works, the Mutya is a very, very big painting. It has been a long time since the painting was last seen. I have met the owner and he asked me to visit his house but I have not been able to do so.”
Totong said that his room is adjacent to the studio of his Lolo Botong. He would just open a side door to have a feast of his grandfather’s books about great abstract painters like Philip Guston and Pablo Picasso, as well as post-impressionist masters Paul Gaguin and Vincent Van Gogh.
With much encouragement from his family, Totong took up Fine Arts at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). His learning was further enhanced by the Ateliers of Angono, an organized group of painters who fulfilled Botong Francisco’s vision of having an organization dedicated to the promotion of art in their hometown. The group was led by Nemi Miranda, Salvador Juban, the Blanco family, and many others who served as mentors to a younger generation of Angono artists where Totong belonged.
Like his grandfather, Totong is a committed muralist. But unlike his Lolo Botong, he prefers to manifest his art as abstract expressionism with nature as his subject.
Biggest regret
He learned, too late that his laughing, loving, always fun-to-be-with Lolo was a national great.
In 2014, when “Comics king” Francisco V. Coching was hailed as a National Artist for the Visual Arts, his favorite grandson Marco “Macoy” Coching was already a 32-year-old father of two.
“Magaling pala ang Lolo, sana nagpaturo ako. Magaling sana ako sa komiks ngayon [I was not able to learn from my Lolo, didn’t know he was that great. Could have been a great comics illustrator and writer like him],” Macoy said.
Coching lived in Pasay, in a big house surrounded by smaller houses owned by his children.
Macoy said that his grandfather designed the big house. It was a bungalow with two floors and a garden on the first floor, next to an office-studio where his Lolo spent the day drawing.
Macoy remembered that his Lolo would fetch him at home and take him to the big house. “We were buddies. I was always in his studio. He did not ask me to leave. When he draws, I also draw. We were always playing. He would give me money when I finished a drawing. I copied his drawings but was not very good at it.”
Every Sunday afternoon, Macoy said, all 10 grandkids would go to the big house and they would have a drawing contest. The one with the most beautiful drawing won. “I was only eight years old and we would spend the afternoon laughing at our drawings. I was the second grandchild. But I was his favorite because they said I was the one who always asked my Lolo for a story.”
Macoy said that he liked it when his lolo told him stories about heroes with talismans. “I would ask him, ‘Lolo, where did they get their powers?’ He would tell me that the power came from the heart of a banana. The hero would wait until twelve midnight and acquire the power from the agimat (talisman) that fell from the heart of the banana. I loved all his fantasy stories.”
The little boy who was the much-loved apo of Francisco V. Coching found out that among his Lolo’s fans were the komiks world’s biggest stars—famous Marvel comics illustrator Steve Gan, comic book artist Gerry Alanguilan, and celebrated comics writer, director, and producer Carlo J. Caparas. “They told me that they copied my Lolo and loved his work. Carlo Caparas told me that my Lolo was his idol.”
Macoy said his Lolo somehow led him to the world of arts. Like most artists, he studied Fine Arts at UST and found work as a commercial artists.
He started taking painting seriously after he had a successful one-man show in 2010. “Out of 20 plus paintings, I sold 15.”
Macoy continues to experiment with his paintings. Of late, he is becoming increasingly known for his “glow in the dark” paintings.
He has featured his works in places such as ManilaArt and mall galleries such as Robinsons, Megamall and Mall of Asia.
Larger than life
As a child, painter Ronna Manansala—like her fellow painter Macoy Coching—did not see the life of her grandfather as extraordinary.
“I thought all families were like ours. That it was normal to paint and to have a house full of people. Until the day my Lolo died and everything became larger than life,” Ronna said.
Cubist painter Vicente S. Manansala was posthumously declared as a National Artist for the Visual Arts in 1981.
“I was awed when I saw then President Ferdinand E. Marcos at his wake. That was the time it dawned on me that my Lolo was famous,” Ronna said.
But her grandfather’s fame became a heavy cross when she decided to be a painter like her Lolo Vicente.
“I can’t measure how many tears and how much pain I suffered for bearing the name Manansala. During the early years, some said I was just trading on my Lolo’s good name,” Ronna said. “But instead of being bitter, I decided to face the challenge.”
Her first solo exhibit saw 18 of her 25 paintings sold from a range of P15,000 to as much P60,000.
With what she earned from her paintings, Ronna continued to study painting and gained a master’s degree. She now teaches part-time at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).
“I enjoy teaching so much, I plan to apply full-time. And as to painting, I am much happier now that they have come to notice my art first before my surname. They look at the painting and admire it, even without seeing the name,” she said.
Art dealer Kim Marcelo finds in Ronna’s paintings a developed style, very different from the elder Manansala. “Once working within her grandfather’s cubistic roots, she shifts and reverts to a more raw and pure style to better portray the dynamism of the body’s workings into two dimensional form. She uses bold, thick strokes—bold for bold hues, thick for thick strokes. Deliberate, calculated. Not wistful but willful.”
Image credits: Bernard Testa