BenCab’s dance at 50

On his 50th year of art-making, that is.

He laughed when I quipped that he might also be declared a National Artist for Dance. BenCab said he wasn’t dancing, just going through tai chi moves the way he had in 1998 in Bandung, where he had first performed the ritual inside a large circle of organic stuff and masks he had installed. 

For the opening on Jan. 9 of his exhibit billed as “Another Scale” at the Vargas Museum in UP Diliman, BenCab had replicated that circle and also performed the ritual moves.

Well, tai chi is a cosmic dance, isn’t it? Only fitting for someone who’s reached the top of the mountain, in more ways than one, and now justifiably celebrating his half-century of distinctive, distinguished, excellent variant art that he’s shared very generously with an adoring public.

For “Another Scale,” there were only a few works actually on exhibit, with the most outstanding, or appealing or both, a 27-ft. by 4-ft. roll of Arches paper stretched out on a wall, boasting charcoal and pastel illustrations of 62 female nudes, in various states of deshabille.

For the book BenCab: Nude Drawings published by Anvil Publishing Inc. in 2008, that powerful, singular/plural mural of the classic/romantic apple of all artists’ eyes was featured as a foldout, with book designer RayVi Sunico taking care to ensure faithful perspective when it’s stretched out.

Now here it was again on exhibit, drawing appreciation from mostly students in a campus that celebrates liberalism. And no one had to make any snide joke that the dozens of female forms in their unadulterated glory represented the fifty years of BenCab’s own romance with the subject.

Well. Anything is possible with Benedicto Cabrera, who at 23 officially began his lifetime career — after first serving as an illustrator at the US Embassy thence at The Manila Times — with his initial exhibit at Indigo Gallery on A. Mabini St. in Malate. Scores of exhibits and much gallivanting later, including a hippie tour across Asia to Europe and over a decade as an artist of a family man in London, Ben came home, settled in Baguio City, and has since ruled the roost, well before his highly successful art turned 50.

But for the past year, he has commemorated and celebrated its milestones — across multiple genres he has engaged in besides painting: prints, sculpture, drawings, book art, installation, music and dance, even digital engagement. 

The series of shows began in February last year when “Variations of Sabel” — a set of eight steel sculpture pieces cut out from his signature series on his now-famous subject — was donated to the the University Art Collection of UP Diliman in celebration of Arts Month in 2015. The colorful sculpture pieces were first displayed at the lobby of Villamor Hall, or the University Theater.

That event kicked off the “BenCab: 50 Creative Years” yearlong celebration, which featured retrospective exhibitions in eight museums.

From March 2015 to the present, the artist’s private collection, “BenCab” Up Close and Personal,” has been on display at the BenCab Gallery of the BenCab Museum in Baguio.  

From April to July last year, “Frames of Reference: Ex Libris” (a BenCab Book Art exhibition) was displayed at Lopez Museum & Library. It offered a glimpse into the National Artist for Visual Arts’ life and art practice during the late ’60s onwards, while living and exhibiting abroad, and his eventual return to the Philippines.

This consisted of 15 of his art-books that offered an intimate portrait of the artist, the lover, the family man, the bibliophile and collector, among other hats he continuously wears. Some were small, scrapbook-like compilations of collages (clippings and cut-outs), drawings and sketches interspersed with his handwriting — highlighting his love for handmade paper, the art of bookbinding, and nostalgia. Other handcrafted books show early studies of some of his most important series of works: Sabel, Larawan and Japanese Women (ukiyo-e). Curated by Dannie Alvarez, the exhibit also included early folios of prints. 

On April 30, the musical theater production Sabel, Love and Passion had its world premier and gala night at The Theatre at Solaire. Inspired by his now-mythical subject Sabel, the stage presentation essayed the story of a dynamic young woman who rose “from the depths of her depression to the glory of her personal triumph, with dance helping hold her life together and ultimately regaining her soul.”

The collaboration featured music and musical direction by Louie Ocampo, direction, book and lyrics by Freddie Santos, and starred Iza Calzado and the Philippine Ballet Theater, with the special participation of Audie Gemora, Aicelle Santos, Bo Cerrudo, Antoinette Taus and Timmy Pavino. It also had a two-night run on June 26 and 27 at the Music Museum.

In commemoration of Flag Day, “Ode to the Flag” (paintings by BenCab) opened on May 30 at his museum’s Gallery Indigo and lasted till Aug. 2.

On June 9, “BenCab in Multiples: A Print Retrospective” at the CCP’s Main Gallery, opened with a special fashion show, as a preview of the “Freeway x BenCab” National Artist Collectors’ Series. The exhibit which lasted till Aug. 16 referred to “multiples” as the ability of the printmaking process to produce original editions. A Print Retrospective Exhibit Walkthrough with BenCab and Pandy Aviado was conducted on July 10.

From July 14 to Aug. 30, “Madonna” went on exhibit at the Print Gallery of the BenCab Museum. And from Aug. 16 to 29, “BenCab x Secret Fresh Limited-Edition” (three sculpture pieces inspired by BenCab’s art) went on show at Secret Fresh Gallery, Ronac Art Center.

From Sept. 30, the digital art exhibition “BenCab in Two Movements: Augmented Realities” has been on show at the Samsung Digital Gallery of Yuchengco Museum. Its run has been extended until end of April, with a video clip of Ben’s tai chi performance at the opening of “Another Scale” added to the digital exhibit. 

“BenCab: The Filipino Artist” — a retrospective exhibit that served as the annual fundraiser of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, had an invitational dinner on Oct. 3, followed by the opening reception on October 25, and may still be viewed until Feb. 27.

From Nov. 27 to Jan. 24, “BenCab: Portraits” was on show at Ayala Museum, with Ambeth Ocampo as guest curator. The opening coincided with the launch of “BenCab X” at National Book Store in Glorietta 1 — BenCab art as stationery products — and a re-issue of the BenCab: Nude Drawings book.

For an artist of undeniable international stature, it was also fitting to have at least one event in the 50-Years celebration transpire abroad. This occurred last December, when Ben turned over his painting “First Migrants” to the Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu in commemoration of the 109th anniversary of the arrival of the first Filipino migrant workers in Hawaii.

It was the artist’s friend and long-time collector, Rep. Eric Singson of Ilocos Sur, who broached the idea. To his surprise, Ben immediately asked for historical and visual references, did the artwork, and announced that the 91 x 122 cm. acrylic-and-pencil-on-canvas piece would be his personal donation.

The painting was turned over to Philippine Consul General Gina A. Jamoralin on Dec. 20, on the very first celebration of Sakada Day in Hawaii, with the unveiling ceremony held at the Hawaii State Capitol Auditorium in Honolulu.

The event also marked Ben’s return to Hawaii after over two decades, since his major 12-year retrospective exhibition “Being Filipino: Paintings, Prints & Drawings” was held at the Focus Gallery of the then Honolulu Academy of Arts (now the Honolulu Art Museum), way back in 1984.

Speaking of Rep. Eric Singson, he was also responsible for House Resolution 2088, with House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte conferring upon the National Artist the resolution of recognition of his 50 years as visual artist at the Batasan Pambansa’s Plenary Hall on Sept. 14.

The final exhibit for BenCab’s yearlong celebration of 50 years of art is billed as “Appropriated Souls: Larawan & Sabel” — to open at the National Museum on Feb. 28. The series retrospective, including paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture, will run until May 29.

As a final event, the book BenCab: The Filipino Artist will be launched sometime in the second quarter of this year — as a catalogue of the entire series of retrospective exhibitions, with the curators writing about each exhibit. The main writer is Patrick Flores, while photography is by Wig Tysmans.

But we can all be sure that BenCab’s dance of art will not end with the last of the eight museum exhibits nor with this book. He will certainly continue to take everyone by the hand and turn all wall flowers into terpsichorean partners in appreciation of his unflagging spirit — of unique vision, bold creativity and inspirational generosity.

BenCab’s dance will go on, well beyond decades and centuries, in partnership with nudes, history, and all things Pinoy.