14 KAPAMPANGAN ARTISTS

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1. IRINEO MIRANDA
The Dean of Philippine Illustrators, Irineo Miranda (b.
1896/d.1964), was an early graduate of the University of
the Philippines’ College of Fine Arts, finishing in 1916.
He honed his craft under Fernando Amorsolo, and soon,
he was earning illustration commissions from Pacific
Commercial Company, doing product labels and
advertisements. So good was he, that in 1918, he was
appointed to the faculty of U.P. where he taught his forte
—cartooning--along with decorative painting and
commercial design. He would stay on for over 40 years in
the academe. He continued to get project, illustrating
covers for Graphic, Liwayway and El Debate magazines. In his time, he was also a top-notch water-
colorist and a political caricaturist.

2. JUAN C. FLORES
Pampanga’s legendary sculptor and carver, Juan C.
Flores (b. 24 Jun. 1900/d. 14 Sep. 1992) of Sta. Ursula,
Betis, grew up in a fishing community. Not wanting to
be a fisherman, he went to Manila to seek his fortune
and found work in the santo shops of Quiapo. He
became an apprentice of Maximo Vicente, worked with
the Tampingcos, and honed his carving skills to
perfection. But just as he was making a name in the city,
he returned to Betis in 1922 to start his own ‘taller’. He
m ade religious statuaries, furniture, decorative wooden
items, church fixtures famed for their details and high
quality. On the side, he mentored young artists like
painters Vicente Manansala, Antonio Dumlao and Allan Cosio. First Lady Imelda Marcos gave him
commissions to do the decorative woodworks in Malacañang. He was rewarded in 1971 with a
Washington D.C. trip as the country’s representative in an art competition which he topped. Flores’
winning piece was a bust of the U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon. At the ripe age of 77, he was given the
Panday Pira Award. His most cherished award was being awarded as one of the “Most Distinguished
Sons of Pampanga” in 1982. His work is continued today by his son Daniel Flores.

3. ELIAS LAXA
Guagua’s master painter of Philippine vignettes
(b.1904/d.1990), was born in Banka, a fishing village.
At 16, he left for Manila, but it was only at the advance
age of 25 that he enrolled at the U.P. College of Fine
Arts, graduating in 1933. Laxa took on odd jobs,
including sign painting in Escolta. He went into serious
painting only after the War, supporting himself by
giving art lessons. His signature works are his color-
splashed seascapes, inspired by his humble
background. But he could also paint other subjects—
calesas on narrow alleys, market women, old colonial
churches, --done in colorful, swift-strokes. In 1952,
Laxa held his first one man show at the Miguel Galvez gallery. It was through his art that he managed to
support his 9 children, who earned degrees in engineering, architecture and education. In 1964, he flew
to Hawaii where he found artistic success.
Laxa’s family would join him there, in the
island state that embraced him and his art.
He passed away in 1990.

4. JOSE BUMANLAG DAVID

In the field of portraiture—where technical
accuracy, mastery of light, tone and mood
are required of the artist, one Kapampangan painter stands out—Jose Bumanlag David (b. 26 Jul.
1909/d.199?) of Mexico. Though he painted a variety of subjects throughout his long, prolific career, it
is in portraiture that he found recognition, thanks largely to his American clientele. A product of
Pampanga High School and the U.P. Fine Arts (1934), his paintings often appeared on the national
magazine, Philippine Free Press. His works could be found in pre-war classrooms as he painted many
historical scenes. David took a break to finish a management course in 1964 at the Air Force Institute at
Gunter Air Base University, Alabama. From 1971 till 1982, he gave private art classes to bored
American wives of U.S. military personnel and their other family members in Clark Field. One of his
last one-man show was held in 1990 at Galerie Andrea in 1990. Many of his portraits of American
military officers used to hang in various Clark Air Base buildings and those of Filipino heroes at the
Scottish Rite Temple.

5. VICENTE S. MANANSALA
National Artist Vicente “ Enteng” Manansala (b. 22
Jan. 1910/d. 22 Aug. 1981) was born in Macabebe,
and already had artistic inclinations as a boy
growing up in Intramuros where his family
relocated. At age 15, he painted his first oil—a head
of a cow coped fom a milk can. He entered U.P.
Fine Arts in 1926, and left home after graduation.
He worked as a billboard painter, art director and
finally won his first national award in 1941, for his
work “Pounding Rice”. He would be included as a
member of the “13 Moderns” and the “Neo-Realist
Group”. Manansala earned scholarships in Canada
(Ecole de Beaux Arts in Banff) and France (Ecole
de Beaux Arts of the University of Paris). He devised his own technique called “transparent cubism”.
His prized paintings are in various private and corporate collections here and abroad. Holy Angel
University has a section of its museum called The Vicente Manansala Collection, holding most of the
sketches, studies and drawings from the artist’s estate. Mananala was named National Artist for
painting in 1981.

6. PATRICIO SALVADOR (b. 17 Mar.

1911/d.?). A 1931 graduate of Pampanga High,
he pursued an art course at the U.P. School of
Fine Arts, taking only a year to learn and
master painting basics. Soon, this Fernandino
was dividing his time between commercial art
and landscape painting. He was still painting in
the mid 1990s at his humble home on Teopaco
St. His small work, “Ricefields”, painted in oil
in 1943 now hangs at the Jorge B. Vargas
Filipiniana Museum at the U.P.

7. GALO B. OCAMPO, Sta.

Rita
Galo B. Ocampo, (b. 16 Oct.
1913/d. 12 Sep. 1985 ), who
hails from Sta. Rita, studied at
the University of the Philippines.
He is the only Filipino to study
heraldry abroad and to hold
membership in the International
Institute of Genealogy and
Heraldry in Madrid. He later
became a Director of the
National Museum in 1961. The
multi-talented artist was also
painter, sculptor, scenographer,
writer, teacher, and a cultural-
activist. On 22 July 2015, the order of Lakandula was conferred posthumously to Galo B. Ocampo with
the order of Maringal na Pinuno (grand officer) from the National Museum director, Jeremy Barnes.

8. LIBORIO T. GATBONTON
Liborio “Gat” Gatbonton (b. 23 Jun. 1914/.5 May
1976) was a Filipino cartoonist and caricaturist
during the 1940s and 1950s who created the
popular series "Jappy Days," a comic book that
satirized the Japanese rule in the Philippines. He
was also the chief cartoonist of the comics section
of the now-defunct Evening Chronicle. The
Candaba native went to Pampanga High School
and took a correspondence course in cartooning.
He took formal art lessons at the University of the
Philippines, and, in 1935, joined T.V.T.
Publications as a staff artist. He became a
cartoonist for the Manila Chronicle and was the
first Filipino artist to have his work published on
The New York Times.

9. SALVADOR CABRERA
Salvador Cabrera (b.1930/d.1986) was BenCab’s big
brother, older by some 12 years. He was often referred
to as a ’quick-draw’ artist who could finish as many as
10 paintings in a day. His trademark works showed
youngsters with large, gazing, soulful eyes, inspired by
artist Margaret Keane. Salvador, who maintained an
Ermita studio, had a successful career as an editorial
cartoonist of Daily Mirror, where his comic strip
featuring a character named Bindoy, ran for 10 years.
In his heyday, he built a large clientele, who paid
Php500 for his portraits, a hefty sum at that time—and
he could finish 5 a day. He managed to provide a
luxurious life for his family, but in the troubled ‘80s,
when patrons ceased coming, he had to rely on
BenCab’s help as his health began to fail. Salvador
Cabrera was also a skilled watercolorist, illustrator and a lay-out artist, and his works were once carried
by Angeles galleries, He died of heart attack in 1986.

10. ALLAN COSIO

The versatile artist, Allan Cosio (b. 1941)
traces his roots in Bacolor. This painter
(op art and abstract) , printmaker,
sculptor and tapestry maker has
represented the Philippines at the
Valparaiso Biennale in Chile. The Indian
Triennale, and the International Sculptue
Event in Victoria, Australia. He has also
exhibited in Geneva (Switzerland),
California, Munic, Beijing, Marsala
(Italy) and Hong Kong. For 5
consecutuve years, he was a prize winner
at the annual Art Association of the
Philippines (AAP) competitions. He won
a Britsih grant as his award for winning
the grand prize in the 1980 AAP awards. Cosio is married to the Ivi Avellana, daughter of director
Lamberto Avellana and theater actress, Daisy Avellana.
 11. BENEDICTO CABRERA (BenCab)
Benedicto Cabrera (BenCab, b. 10 Apr. 1942)
is a full-blooded Kapampangan whose parents
are from Sasmuan. He studied at the
University of the Philippines, graduating in
1963, and had his first one-man show at the
Gallery Indio in 1966. After BenCab married
British Caroline Kennedy in London in 1969,
the couple decided to stay there, where he
slowly, but surely established his name in the
international art scene, holding exhibits
(London, New York ,Macau) and winning
several art awards. Returing to the Philippines
in 1972, he was hailed as a Filipino pioneer of
the arts, but the restrictive Martial Law years forced him back to London. This episode marked the
beginning of his involvement with social commentary and the topics of freedom from repression. Later
in the 1990s, BenCab founded the Tamawan Village, an artists’ sanctuary-cum-gallery that has become
a popular cultural destination in Baguio. He was named a National Artist for Visual Arts in 2006, and in
2009, U.P., his alma mater, conferred upon him an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree.

12. JOSE W. HERNANDEZ

Manila-born Jose W. Hernandez (b. 22 Sept. 1944/
d.19? ) practically grew up in San Fernando, when his
father was assigned as a law teacher at Harvardian
College. Jose spent his grade school years at the
Assumption Academy. His artistic inclinations showed
early; he would fill his notebooks with drawings rather
than schoolwork. In his senior year at Pampanga High,
he was offered a scholarship by Pres. Diosdado P.
Macapagal. However, he abandoned his schooling to
learn from established artists like Fernando C.
Amorsolo, Botong Francisco, Vicente Manansala,
Simon Saulog and Ben Alano. Painting in the realist
tradition, he had his first group exhibit with Mabini
masters in 1965. From 1974-77, Hernandez operated his own gallery in Angeles City. His works have
been exhibited in the U.S., and reproduced on Unicef greeting cards.

13. MARCELINO C. GALANG

“Mars” Galang (b. 1 Jan. 1945/d.2001).was
born in Cabusao, Camarines Sur. His father,
Zoilo M. Galang of Bacolor, was pioneering
encyclopedist who singlehandedly produced
the 10-volume “Philippine Encylopedia”
published in 1934. This makes Mars, a half-
Kapampangan. He went to public schools in
the Sta. Cruz district of Manila, then took up
Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines
on a scholarship. He became not only a
painter, but also a printmaker, colorist and
draftsman. Mars dabbled in minimalism,
where he excelled. He represented the
Philippines at the 1st India Triennial in New Delhi (1968) and the 7th Paris Biennial. His last one-man
show ws in 1985, an thereafter remained inactive.
 14. CESAR VICTOR “CID” P. REYES
The prodigious artist, advertising executive, book
author, art scholar and art critic Cid Reyes (b. 28 Jul.
1946) is a Kapamangan Pangilinan, courtesy of his
mother Humilde, from Apalit. After his Lasalle
studies, he became an Italian government scholar at
the Academia de belle Arti in Rome, and tool courses
in Art History at the City Lit Institute in London.
Twice named Art Critic of the Year, Reyes is also a
mutli-awarded advertising creative. In 1989, he
authored “Conversations in Philippine Art”, which
featured his interviews with 8 National Artists. His
published books have won 2 national Book Awards.
As a painter, Reyes has exhibited his works in major
art galleries featuring his robust abstract works using automotive paint. Reyes travels around the country
lecturing on various aspects of art and art history. He was named Most Outstanding Kapampangan in
Arts in 2015.

15. CLAUDE S. TAYAG

The renaissance man from Angeles City, Claudio
“Claude” Moises Tayag (b. 1956) is the son of
writer-lawyer Renato ‘Katoks’ Tayag. Although an
AB Economics U.P. graduate, he forayed into art by
observing artists E. Aguilar Cruz (his menor),
Romula Galicano and Sofornio Y. Mendoza. He
won praises for his paintings of folk festival
imageries and folk santo watercolors. He also
ventured into creating functional and decorative
sculptural wooden pieces. Also known as an award-
winning chef, Tayag and wife Mary Ann Quioc,
offer unique dining experiences at his residence
known as Bale Dutung (Wooden House), and at his
1856 Downtown Café, pop culture restaurant.

16. NORMAN TIOTUICO

The foremost exponent of Kapampangan contemporary indigenous art, Norman Tiotiuico (b.1966) of
Angeles City is a Fine Arts graduate of the University of the Philippines. In 2004, he was named a
Rockefeller and Ford Foundation
grantee at the 4th International
Sculpture Symposium in Vietnam
His works are mostly sculptures,
inspired by spiritual and
environmental issues. Tiotuico,
subscribes to the belief that he, as
an artist, is just a medium used by
the Creator as an executor of His
ideas. His work is represented at
Saatchi Art, the world’s leading
online art gallery. This Most
Outstanding Kapampangan
Awardee for the Arts in 2008
exhibits regularly; his latest, ”Kalalangan Kapampángan Experiment” (Feb. 2018), features his latest
native art installation works.

SOURCES;
Salvador Cabrera: lex Castro Collection
BenCab: photo: wikipedia
Allan Cosio: http://www.philstar.com/arts-and-culture/2014/11/24/1394631/allan-cosio-cid-reyes-
ricco-renzo
Juan Flores:Singsig,Magazine
Mars Galang: Portrait by BenCab, Art Manila Newspaper, Vol. 2 Series 7, 2001
Liboro Gatbonton: Mobilways
Elias Laxa: Sunday Times Magazine 1963.
Vicente Manansala: Vicente Manansala Collection, Holy Angel University
Irineo Miranda: Leon Gallery
Galo Ocampo: Positively Filipino
Cid Reyes: Cuadro Filipino, photo by Joey Ibay.
Claude Tayag: Scred Heart Seminary Annual
Norman Tiotuico: Saatchi-Art, iorbitnews
All others: Kayumanggi, Biographes of Philippine Visual Artists, Peso Book Foundation 2000.