Before the Encounter

I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE.  As a humanities teacher, I have less appreciation for the local arts.  And with the syllabus that focuses more on the history of western art, the discussion on the Philippine art forms such as painting, sculpture, performing arts, and even cinema has taken a back seat and is placed at the final term.  Normally, the discussion would end up either in architecture or literature which still focuses on the western pieces.  This scenario only fringed my knowledge about the local arts, specifically, the artists who etched their names not only in the Philippines, but in the international artistic arena as well.

Ben Cabrera aka BenCab

I never heard the name BenCab not until my co-teacher who is also the curator of Museo Iloilo handed me an invite for the Philippine Art Awards.  So, when he told me that BenCab will grace the said award tomorrow (September 8), I immediately googled his name (pathetic me, right?), and here's what I found:


"Bencab (or Ben Cabrera) is one of the most

 accomplished Filipino painters and draftsman.

 In 1963 he finished a Fine Arts degree at the

 University of the Philippines. In the late 1960's 

 he moved to London with his British wife.

 Bencab has had many local and international 

 exhibitions, and has represented his country, 

 the Philippines, in various International 

 Biennales (like Affandi). In 1997 in Jakarta, 

 Bencab received his highest award so far- 

 the ASEAN art achievement award, because 

 of just that- achievement.  He is one of the founders of the Baguio Art Guild and the Tamawan Art Village Resort in

 Baguio City, which is a hotel where many 

 artists also do hotel work while remaining

 artists." 

And most importantly, BenCab is one of the National Artists of the Philippines for Visual Arts (conferred in 2006) and has been noted as  "arguably the best-selling painter of his generation of Filipino artists."  

I suddenly felt guilty.  I consider myself an artist and yet I cannot even recognize this art bigwig.  At the same time, I felt proud because I would be able to meet him in person.  With all the information about him and browsing over his artworks, I guess I am ready to face BenCab.