Malang : Not a day older at 76

It’s7:30 am, and while most of us are just about getting ready to go to work or to school, early riser is already way into the middle of his day. He has done his stretching exercises, read the Bible, and has faced a few canvases before he even orders pancakes for breakfast at a favorite fast food chain nearby–habits that he has found difficult to break since the late 80s. Malang recalls that he started going out for breakfast when the power crisis was at its peak, forcing him to go to the nearest restaurant that stayed open just when everything went dark.

For a man now in his mid 70s, Malang is full of energy–and still raring to continue what he has been doing for decades: painting. Colleagues and art aficionados can only marvel at the pace he is going. "Yun lang ang alam kong trabaho," he says., albeit humbly, as each conversation with him reveals a lot more than a casual visit to a gallery featuring his works or leafing through the many books written about him. His latest birthday exhibit, "7+6", proves that Malang is not about to be slowed down by age or earlier successes–a staying power that he credits more to spiritual strength than physical prowess, as not a day passes without a quiet time to acknowledge the power of prayer.

Even as he has long earned the stature of what many may just be dreaming of, Malang still gets up as early as 4:30 am and makes sure that every second counts by either catching up on his reading list or doodling on his notebook when he is alone.

By starting his day very early, Malang has no problems squeezing in everything that may come up later in the day, including playing badminton with friends. He even used to go to the gym but found that weight training was weighing him down more than it was helping him. He then discovered that stretching exercises, which he religiously does for 15 to 20 minutes every morning, suited him better, and is now glad that he can play badminton just about anywhere, a sport he and son Soler used to play long before nearly everybody got hooked on the game.

Malang is careful not to get too distracted, though. "Ang importante talaga ay discipline," says Malang, noting that it is one of the thing that he keeps telling the members of the Saturday Group, to which he is now the senior adviser. Even as he regularly accepts social invitations, Malang makes sure that he always has time to paint. Malang recalls and gratefully acknowledges that his becoming a born-again Christian in 1987 was largely responsible for making him seemingly ageless, and in his words, less wordily". Before, he normally would stay up watching TV until 2 am, and now he calls it a day by 8 pm, just after he has taken his last look on his canvases. With this schedule, he can begin each day brimming with fervor. "I don’t wait for my muses anymore," says Malang, who rests between works by cleaning his own brushes, preferring to work alone. He adds that his being jobless–not being tied to a fixed 9 to 5 day job–makes it easy for his friends and colleagues to call him any time.

If he is not busy doodling in his notebook, Malang may be spotted at bookstores, looking up the latest titles on art, spirituality and leadership principles. He even diligently passes around photocopies of articles that he finds interesting or helpful. Malang adds that traveling has also been rejuvenating, especially if he can to New York to visit the different museums there and shop for new art materials to replenish his mind with new ideas.

Malang is always open to change, perhaps helped by the fact that he did not even finish his fine arts course in UP because work opportunities, as a layout artist and illustrator at the Manila Chronicle several decades ago, proved too hard to resist. There, he largely learned on his own, often seeking the advice of his colleagues, a practice that, until now, he is still doing. Through the years, he also learned not to throw away anything, and has even kept an old canvas that Manansala wanted to do all over again in exchange for a new one. "Babalikan ko afetr a year," Malang says about his unfinished pieces, "konting retoke lang, pwede na ulit."

Malang’s extensive body of work, though, is far from pwede na, or average. Alya Honasan writes in The Art of Malang as Filipino (2002), "At this stage in his art, despite his claims otherwise, Malang appears able to harness a medium to do anything he wants, while deftly adapting to the material’s qualities. He can make Chinese ink behave like charcoal, and charcoal look as opaque as gouache. When he is working in oil, the impastos come generously and frequently, the paint raising off the canvas. When he is using gouache, the form becomes softer, more delicate in its vigor.

In the same book, longtime friend Juan Gatbonton draws a picture of a man with humble beginnings–women vendors were culled from happy childhood memories when he was his mother’s assistant in their family-owned sari-sari store–who then rose to become one of his generation’s most respected visual artists without having to explain why.

Malang says, "There are no messages in my works. I don’t make social statements. I don’t express any artistic theory. When I look around me, I see patterns. I just enjoy doing what I do, and perhaps this shows in my works. People can take from my paintings whatever they want them to mean."

"7+6", marking his 76th birthday, features seven large pieces and six smaller ones, spanning Malang’s evolving approach to painting a picture of the simple, fun-loving Filipino. One can easily see it in Malang’s recent works, they are undergoing a transition toward a greater degree of abstraction. Malang himself points out that this is not a conscious effort, but it’s where his instincts are taking him. "I do it without thinking," says Malang, asked whether it is a deliberate move to shift visual gears. Somehow he is becoming more fascinated with pure form and color than familiar, representational objects. He is even planning to exhibit an all-abstract collection later in the year.

One thing is sure, though, Malang will continue to greet each morning with a smile, and his acrylics and oils not very far behind.