Volume 6, Issue No. 9
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Monday, September 9, 2024
~ The Filipino community is fortunate to have a master in arts in the person of Maestro Romi C. MananQuil who, for 14 years, led the Philippine Artists Group of Canada as president. This month, the maestro is celebrating his "more than half a century of passion and creativity" with a show at Neilson Park Creative Centre in Etobicoke. The show runs until September 22. Gazing at his paintings transposes to an era of simplicity, selflessness, and hard work. More importantly, they reinforce love of country.
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ARTIST ROMI C. MANANQUIL
The Maestro In Our Midst
Toronto Is Home to Eminent Filipino Artists
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle
TORONTO - Unexceptional is the right word to describe what I know of the arts. Bluntly put, I am neither connoisseur nor art critic, but I do have a healthy appreciation for paintings, sculptures, and music. My amateurish opinion is largely based on personal perception.
The little that I learned from two semesters of a humanities subject in college in the Philippines many years ago has been my guiding light in viewing the works by the great artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Michelangelo, Rembrandt; our very own Juan Luna, Fernando Amorsolo, Botong Francisco, Vicente Manansala, Hernando Ocampo, among many others.
I've encountered them all, not personally, of course, but through their paintings. I've seen Luna's Spoliarium in the National Museum and The Blood Compact in Malacanang Palace in the course of my previous work as a foreign correspondent.
I absolutely agree with Filipino historian Ambeth Ocampo who wrote in 2000, and I quote: "The fact remains that when Luna and Felix Resurrección Hidalgo won the top awards in the Madrid Exposition of 1884, they proved to the world that indios (Filipinos) could, despite their supposed barbarian race, paint better than the Spaniards who colonized them."
(Related story: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/06/pags-art-exhibit-celebration-of.html)
It rings true in Toronto. One need not look beyond our community. Here, a slew of distinguished artists topped no less by a master, Maestro Romi C. MananQuil, lives and leads a creative life putting stunning images on canvas and other media.
It would seem superfluous for him to talk about himself; the paintings he has done in the last six decades speak for him as a patriot, a loving husband, father, grandfather, neighbour, friend, colleague, mentor.
We may have resided in different parts of the homeland prior to settling in Canada, but Maestro MananQuil has captured an important period in one's life journey without having to be by his side.
I refer to at least 10 of his paintings - immortalized on canvas - exhibited currently at Neilson Park Creative Centre and during a recent show by the Philippine Artists Group of Canada which he headed as president for 14 years.
(Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU1EUCZ9F0k&t=63s)
What's so striking is his rendering of the most consequential chapter in the Filipinos' bloody march to freedom, fought courageously to the death against a foreign power that had colonized the country for over three hundred years.
Maestro MananQuil's "Himagsik," "Kalayaan," "Dr. Jose P. Rizal," "Pagtatanim," and "Lakeshore Morning" are visual images of a revolutionary and arduous past, and a seeming comfortable life in a new home in Toronto.
"Himagsik" and "Kalayaan" call to memory my two grandfathers, both members of the Katipunan, who had fought in Cavite province with General Emilio Aguinaldo in the revolution against Spain. They both survived but only one saw through the 1898 declaration of Philippine independence in Kawit.
Pleasant memories are rekindled, for me personally, by Maestro MananQuil's "Pagtatanim ng Palay" and "Sampung Kahig, Isang Tuka" which bring to life the years visiting my paternal grandparents in Naic, Cavite.
Travelling for hours by bus from Pasay City where the family had moved, to the old hometown, the highway scenery was a sight to absorb - large tracts of land in green and gold amidst moving shadows of farmers either planting or harvesting rice. They're gone now, replaced by mushrooming subdivisions and fancy homes.
Under their bamboo hut close to the shorelines of Manila Bay overlooking Corregidor island, my grandparents domesticated hens and other poultry, assuring them a supply of meat and eggs. Looking at "Sampung Kahig, Isang Tuka" makes me wonder how Maestro MananQuil acquired that singular essence of rural life.
Three of his paintings - "Jolens," "Kanyong Kawayan," and "Bisperas" - happily transpose me to an era of youthful abandon, undiluted innocence, and genuine brotherhood.
"Jolens" is a marble game, so-called for what's probably is its English equivalent - "hole-in". For lack of a playground, the streetwise dudes that my buddies and I were, played it in alleys or in some neighbour's backyard.
(To give an idea of how and what "jolens" is, I found this video on YouTube: "MARBLE GAME" in the Philippines" (Larong Pinoy / Traditional Filipino Game / Laro ng Lahi)
"Kanyong Kawayan" is an old-fashioned bamboo cannon traditionally used in many areas in the Philippines to welcome the new year with a bang. I grew up with the practice and was the one person, to my dismay, assigned to light it up.
(Here's what Filipiknow website says: "To make the bamboo cannon explode, it is propped up against a stone. Kalburo or wet calcium carbide is fed into the bamboo, until the kalburo reaches the base. Ordinary kerosene is sometimes used. A stick is then lit from a kerosene lamp and then applied on the hole, creating a booming sound. Periodically, one has to blow into the hole to free it from ashes)."
The maestro and his grandson Justin also happen to like "Kanyong Kawayan," which is also my favorite. (Video at the 2:50 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZQaTOSmoU0).
Maestro MananQuil's "Bisperas" (Christmas Eve) depicts a tienda near a church while a young lady cooks bibingka and steams puto bumbong. This is exactly how it looked then. Through the years, the sight continues to remind me of a custom widely observed in our neighbourhood weeks before Christmas and up to days after the New Year.
His "Ligaw Tingin" and "Pa-Charming" are, for me, a vivid record of adolescent history. These paintings acknowledge Filipinos' inherent shyness even as both man and woman flirt with each other.
And if the lady knew he had eyes on her, she would pretend not to notice, feigning to be incognizant, or to put in Maestro MananQuil's words, "pa-charming" or in contemporary lingo, pakipot (coy).
In my neighbourhood, a friend was so enamoured with a store attendant through his constant "ligaw tingin." He soon realized his effort was not working. So he mustered the courage to tell her of his intention. For some time, she was "pa-charming," only to surrender her charms. Months later they were married and lived happily ever after.
I love these paintings if only for the fact that they're testimonials to a simple and blissful life, long gone but still occupy a special place in my heart, thanks to Maestro MananQuil.
His creativity translated into paintings through his adroit grasp of the brush is surely the reason he is a maestro - The Maestro actually - in the Filipino community in Greater Toronto Area, or perhaps in Canada. (Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved).
Hello Romy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for covering, recording, and sharing about Romi MananQuil's recent art exhibits at Neilson Art Gallery, Toronto. I surely admire the Maestro for being a Fil-Can painter of extraordinary talent and creativity. Your 4 articles provided a rare glimpse of who the man is as an excellent creator of life on canvas reflecting Philippine culture and traditions as well as his own personal / family history.
Romi, to me, should be fully recognized as one Fil-Can artist who provided meaning and significance to us Filipinos in the diaspora. He should be recommended for the status of "Philippine National Artist in Visual/Creative Arts." if the opportunity exists. Relatedly, is it possible to ask if most or all of the paintings displayed were done in the Philippines or Canada? Also, were they executed plainly through his "memory of the past", his "pure imagination" or with " visual models" or photos?
Pardon these amateurish questions. These are for me to determine whether the artist's obras are based on past and present reflections of his life experiences, background, and knowledge of what is obtained in Philippine society and cultural environment. ( Note: Romi's wife was a fellow educator in the Philippines way, way back). Maraming salamat ulit, Romy. Best regards, Tony A. San Juan, Toronto