316. LAPU-LAPU AND BULAKNA PORTRAITS

A pair of Filipiniana paintings depicting Lapu-Lapu, the hero of Mactan and his wife, Bulakna--or so that's how the dealer described them to me. These mid-century 18 x 22" paintings, painted by artist Rodolfo Pasno, dates from 1957--and they were obtained online--in a facebook group, of all places. Pasno was a noted Mabini painter, active from the 50s thru the 70s, in a shop at the famed Pistang Pilipino.

They were sold in stretchers, with few chips and scratches. At some point, someone painted over the background, but that doesn't detract from the portraits that express so much of the character of the country's first hero and his voluptuous wife. I had them re-stretched, re-framed and cleaned, so now they're ready to hang again...so happy I could sing! "In March 16, fifteen hundred and  hundred twenty one, when Philippines was discovered by Magellan..."

297. CROSS IN A BOTTLE

 An interesting bottled whimsey that gives a fresh spin to the usual "ship-in-a-bottle" folk art. This crucifixion bottle, an ebay pick, dates from the early 20th century, and is quite an elaborate creation, featuring almost all the symbols of Christ's passion, all carved and cut from pine.

 The focal point of the bottle is a large serrated cross, and each facet shows allegorical and symbolic carvings such as a ladder, an anchor, a heart, a cross, and miniature crosses.

 This side of the bottle shows a rooster (associated with Peter's denial of Christ), a lance, a hammer, and a whip.

Turn the bottle around and you will see a pair of crossed swords, a shovel and a spear. The cross itself is trimmed with 3 criss-crossed serrated bars. Crucifixon bottles, as these are called in Europe and the U.S. were favorite folk art crafts done by local artisans and ordinary people during their spare time. There are also crucifixion bottles from the Philippines which were believed to have been made by Bilibid prisoners as part of their rehabilitation program. Regardless, all these bottles were made by deft and steady hands, requiring patience and many hours of perseverance to complete such folksy, collectible bottled art.

267. A Grate Collectible: ANTIQUE KUDKURAN

Now here's a fanciful kitchen collectible that I chanced upon at the famed Chatuchak Market in Bangkok. It's an old coconut grater carved in the shape of a man on all fours. The metal grater itself protrudes from the man's mouth. Coconut graters are found all over Asia, as the coconut was a staple food in this region. To remove the flesh off the shells, a half-coconut was scraped against a sharp-edged metal spur, while seated on the kudkuran's body.

Most Philippine kudkurans had a basic shape--just a paddle shaped seat to sit on with a metal grater screwed or nailed in the narrow portion of the seat. Others took on more figurative shapes--graters fashioned from tree stumps often took the form of 4-legged animals, like a horse. This example. made of heavy wood, is a more creative example--the crouching man even grasps a ball on one hand--playing while he works!

With the advent of motorized graters, the folksy kudkuran had all but disappeared in Philippine kitchens. I know a friend who collects them and displays them as sculptural pieces--and that s exactly how I will display my antique kudkuran.

249. Filipiniana Tole Art: A WEDDING IN 3-D

 One of the more unusual framed photos I have seen is this three-dimensional photo cut-out of a wedding couple, assembled between glass, found in an Apalit warehouse. The pictures appear in layers, with each picture element--the bouquet, the bride and the groom--cut out and glued on wood; which means that several sets of the same wedding photo were used to make this tole art piece.

 The whole ensemble was then mounted on the base of a frame, then sandwiched between glass, and the result is rather a unique and striking presentation of the busts of a wedding couple at a very special moment of their lives.

 I have seen only 2 similar pieces in my collecting lifetime--one, a solo figure of a woman in butterfly sleeves, and the other, also a 1930s wedding anniversary picture of a prominent couple in my town:

I may never know the identities of the bride and the groom, but what I do know is that their lifelike good looks are forever preserved in this rare, tole art piece that is a testament to the imaginative creativity of a Pinoy artist-photographer!

243. VINTAGE 3-D FOLK ART PAINTING

Time was when every 50s and 60s home had "works of art" such as this--a 3-D painting of some generic rural scene, often bought at furniture shops and downtown bazaars. Cheaply produced, the paintings featured subjects such as nipa huts that were cleverly raised in relief from the canvass using sticks, paper mache and cardboards. Elements such as the roof, the walls and the fences were then gesso'ed and painted, in the hope of achieving a more realistic, three-dimensional look. Think of it as "extreme impasto".

Nevertheless, despite this technique, paintings still looked kitschy and naive. But nowadays, period kitsch have been elevated to the status of folk art, Filipiniana style, and this example--sold at a swap shop--carried quite a price tag, many time its original price.Not even the fancy frame can hide the hideous execution of its theme--from the waterfall that cascades down to become a multi-tiered stream, the cockroach-looking carabao and the bahay kubo that looks like a cross between a log cabin and an Ifugao ulog hut. But as they say, one man's awful painting is another man's precious "outsider art".

232. LETTER ART: Victoriano Caballero

While scrounging around for some worthy finds at the antique row of NLEX's Sta. Rita Exit, I came upon an old religious print of the "Virgen de la Paloma"--tattered beyond repair--framed in a crumbling gesso'd picture frame. It was a pity that the print could no longer be salvaged, it had large missing parts--but the dealer pointed out to some possible paper treasures found at the back of the picture. Indeed, 3 pieces of paper were found sandwiched between the frame and the print, acting as backboards.

I was immediately drawn to a 22 x18 sheet of browning paper--a watercolor letter art bearing the name "Victorino Caballero". Letter art was a popular Filipino past-time, and the best examples were the water color 'letras y figuras' creations in the 19th century. "Letras y Figuras" refer to an art form involving the painting of the letters of the alphabet by ingeniously forming their contour out of the shape of human figures, animals, plants, and other objects. The foremost proponent of these charming folk art pieces was Jose Honorato Lozano. 

Simpler letter art involved embellishing individual letters with design elements like floral motifs, just like this example, thus creating a new font style that is at once pleasing and beautiful. This, actually, is a memorial piece--bearing the name of the dear departed. Underneath Victorino's name are pencilled inscriptions--indicating that this was unfinished: "Namatay ng icadalauampo ng Octubre ng taong isang libo ualong daan at ualong po at lima" (Died on the 20th of October in the year 1885). This work certainly was done after 1885, maybe a few months or so after the departure of Victorino from this mortal world.

190. FOLK ART FRUITS IN SHADOW BOXES

Was lucky enough to find this pretty pair of folk art fruit ensembles in shadow boxes that date back to the pre-War 30s. They used to hang in the home of a dealer-collector, until he probably got tired of them and consigned them at an antique shop. They're not exactly cheap but these fruity displays are very typical Filipiniana pieces that were handcrafted and sold at curio shops in Manila. The fruits are so life-like--they are actually made of wood, pulp and fabric coated with escayola/ gesso then painted realistically and assembled in their narra frames. The first boxed frame features a basket of indigenous fruits like kamatsile, lanzones, balimbing, atis, mabolo, duhat, banana. chico and kasuy, artfully arranged in an embroidered red satin pouch.

The second shadow box combines fruits and vegetable--ampalaya, green and yellow mangos, turnips, squash, guava, sampalok, avocado and a section of a sugar cane. The fruits are wired and stitched on to a fabric backing, which in turn, was nailed onto the wooden stretcher. The molded fruits have some minor scruffs but overall, the unusual displays are in fairly good condition despite their 70 odd years. Who would think that artistic inspirations can also come from our own orchard?

185. PEN AND INK FOLK ART

Now here are two nice finds from a Mabini antique shop: two calligraphic illustrations in their original frames, charming examples of turn-of-the century folk art, each dedicated by the maker to their object of affection. The first one is a birthday greeting for Pering, bearing the inscription:
"Happy Birthday, Pering. 26 July 1916". A heart shaped cut-out in the middle of the rose originally contained the picture of Pering, now lost. The colored paper art included a rustic scene in the foreground.

The second example carries a more profound, if not verbose, sentiments: "Anching, In your moments of meditation, let me be the subject of your inspiration with my most and sincere appreciation. Lucien. 18 Dec. 1934, Tuesday". Perhaps to balance this, the sender illustrated his paper tribute more simply, but using the same device of a flower with a cut-out center where a picture of Anching used to be. Drawn calendar pages are used to put in the sender's greetings.

Handmade paper greetings such as these went out of style with the coming of commercially printed greeting cards. But hopefully, with the renewed interest in scrapbooking, this paper art tradition can be revived and made popular again!

129. ROOSTER TAKAAN, Paper Mache Mold

Papier mache art is synonymous with the town of Paete, Laguna which has been churning out colorful papier mache figures of all shapes and sizes for many decades now. The industry peaked in the 1970s, when Manila antiques and art shops included these colorful, folksy figures to supplement their dwindling supply of genuine antiques. The horses were painted in red lacquer then the body was further decorated with folksy patterns.

Along Mabini, the place to go for these decorative figures was Junque, whose proprietor was no less than writer-culturati-book publisher Gilda Cordero-Fernando. Silahis Arts and Crafts in Intramuros not only carried these painted paper equines, but also other figures, like roosters, rabbits and later, women in Philippine costumes, angels and Santa Claus. In due time, even the solid wood molds on which newspaper strips were glued became hot collectibles. The example shown above shows a mold for a seldom-seen rooster figure. This "takaan", as they are called, was collected from Paete and found its way to a Mabini shop, and then to a shop in Angeles. where I found it. It is too plain and heavy to become a "manok ni San Pedro", but it does make a nice doorstop!