Our only love

Everyone who’s not living under a rock should know by now that a grand series of exhibits has started honoring the grand old man of Philippine art, Fernando Amorsolo. Never has it happened that seven reputable museums proudly took part in such a manifold presentation of art from one man. No doubt the artist lays full claim to such an honor. 

He is, after all, our first National Artist, albeit awarded posthumously. Even before he was officially bestowed that title, his name was already a byword for painter and painting, for artist, Filipino artist.

The inimitable quality of tropical light made evident in his landscapes marked him out as an exceptional pioneer, someone whose style was copied no end.

Rice fields, farmers, bamboo groves, women bathing in streams, mythical and historical episodes all proved to be his signature creations — which made his countrymen proud even as we were all elevated to a common if ironically rarefied sphere of appreciation of the land and splendorous beauty in our midst.

His name became legend, too, because he walked with ordinary folk even as he painted portraits of and for the elite. One particular tidbit of awareness about this man is that he was responsible for the artistic creation of what would become a highly popular brand design: Archangel Michael vanquishing Satan in the Ginebra San Miguel bottle.  

No doubt, too, his name was true to our hearts: Amorsolo. Love alone. The only love.

Mothers took to referring to children who showed early talent in drawing by saying, “Aba, magiging Amorsolo yata ang batang ito!”

On Sept. 23, the UP Jorge R. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center started the ball rolling with an exhibit entitled “Capturing Anxieties: Amorsolo, His Contemporaries and Pictures of the War,” which runs till November 16.

On Sept. 24, the Lopez Memorial Museum unveiled “Tell-Tale: The Artist as Storyteller, Amorsolo as Co-Author,” which runs till April 4, 2009.

On Sept. 25, the National Art Gallery of the National Museum of the Philippines opened “Days of Drawing, Portraits of Passage,” which runs till January 15, 2009.

On Sept. 26, the Metropolitan Museum of Manila presented “bayANInanding: The Motherland and the Harvest of Amorsolo,” which runs till January 13, 2009.

Still on tap are the Yuchengco Museum’s “Mukhang Tsinoy: Portraits by Fernando Amorsolo,” which starts this Wednesday, October 1, and will run until January 17, 2009; the GSIS Museum of Art’s “SALIW: Rituals in Amorsolo’s Art,” from Oct. 2 to December 20; and finally, and maybe the most-awaited, the Ayala Museum’s “Amorsolo Women: Concealed and Revealed,” from Oct. 24 to March 8, 2009.

The cornucopia establishes once again Amorsolo’s preeminence in contemporary Philippine art, as well his multi-dimensional genius. Drawings, comic strips, formal portraits, nudes, landscapes, ritual and genre paintings are all featured.

We should also mention that the multi-venue retrospective billed as “His Art, Our Heart” also features a parent-child art appreciation workshop —”Knowing Amorsolo” — to be conducted at Museo Pambata for eight Saturdays from 2 to 4 p.m. This series started on Sept. 27 and will last till December 6.    

The Fernando Amorsolo Gala Benefit launched the seven-museums exhibition with a glitzy dinner at the Rizal Ballroom of the Shangri-La Manila on Sept 19. Attendance made one proud to be a Filipino.

Donning exclusively Filipiniana attire was the creme de la creme of Philippine art and society, among these the National Artists Arturo Luz, Bencab and Frankie Jose, former President Fidel V. Ramos with his beloved wife Ming, Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz, former NCCA Chair Dr. Jaime Laya who’s a member of the advisory board for the Amorsolo Retrospective, Cristina Estrada who chairs the C.R.I.B.S. Foundation Inc. — the head organization behind the stellar idea, Sylvia Amorsolo Lazo who chairs the Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation, Inc., Del Monte Philippines president Joselito Campos, Alfred Ty who represented the platinum sponsor Metrobank Group of Companies, and Jaime Augusto and Fernando Zobel.

Among others the aesthete in us also recognized were FEU chair Lourdes Montinola, Imelda Cojuangco, Ado Escudero, Patis Tesoro, Kim and Fely Atienza, Nonoy and Tina Colayco, Ramon del Rosario Jr., Bobby Romulo, Deanna Ongpin, Dr. Leovino Garcia, Amando Doronila, Ambeth Ocampo, Annie Sarthou, CB Garrucho, Malaysian art collector and instigator Willie Valentine, and CCP chairperson Emily Altomonte Abrera.

’Twas a fine evening that started with refreshing cocktail creations by Del Monte, followed by excellent wines (Mamta Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay from Ralph’s Wines and Spirits), brief speeches, raffle draws, and a superlative dinner menu that ranged from milkfish dumpling on greens with yellow mango relish, lumpia with sweet soya sauce, and pako salad in patis vinaigrette with salted egg and tomatoes as appetizers, to chicken binakol in coconut shell topped with malunggay leaves as soup, and for the main course, pinaputok na lapu-lapu wrapped in native pechay, prawn on lemongrass skewer with talangka glaze, and leg of spring chicken adobo on bringhe, topped by dessert of pastillas de leche ice cream in chocolate buko shell, jackfruit turron, and leche flan.

Indeed, high art begets high art from the chef — to whom, my earnest compliments! Why, even the coffee was full-flavored, unlike what follows most set dinners in hotels.

The night’s highlight came courtesy of a distinguished array of entertainers, led off by the Manila Symphony Orchestra String Quartet, followed by an ensemble performance — while appropriate Amorsolo art was projected on the stunning stage backdrop — featuring Coke Bolipata, Ricky Davao, The CompanY, Cris Villonco, Eula Valdez (an Amorsolo grand-daughter!), Isay Alvarez, Robert Sena, Grace Nono, Mon David, Joel Ayala, Cynthia Alexander, the Angono Regional Pilot School for the Arts, and Ms. Kuh Ledesma, with Leo Martinez as program host.

True to special form, Mon David came in scatting a classic OPM number, and brought the house down with a powerful duet with Ms. Grace Nono. And The CompanY’s medley put it all in proper perspective by including the showstopper, “Ganyan Talaga Kaming mga Pinoy” by Moy Ortiz and Edith Gallardo, per stage direk Alex Cortez.

I’m sure the glittering company that night appreciated the humor and sense of pagka-Pinoy — as earthy as Amorsolo’s — encapsulated by such rollicking lyrics as “Si Junjun, si Jack-Jack. Si LingLing, si Mac-Mac/ Pangalan nila’y ganyan/ Paulit-ulit lang/ Ganyan talaga kaming mga Pinoy// Kaming mga Pinoy/ Kami ay kuwan/ Pag may anuhan// Sila ay kuwan/ Anung-ano/ Parang ano/ Kasi may kuwan// Kay lolang mahal, Kami ay sabik/ Singhot pag humahalik// South Beach diet/ Di ko pansin/ Mahalaga sa ki’y kanin/ Aaaaaay!// Ang Pasko po saming bayan/ Setyembre umpisa na yan/ Enero ang katapusan/ ... Tibay ng kaha/ Kahit na otsenta/ Sa ballroom ang punta/ Umeeksena pa/ Ganyan talaga kaming mga Pinoy.”

Amorsolo would’ve been happy and proud.