Gaga over Botong

MANILA, Philippines - For this day and age, when computer geeks and painters are the new rock stars, Asia’s glamourati flocked to the Hong Kong Art Fair 2012. It was a sea of his-and-hers Hermes bags, gallery owners and collectors dressed in the de rigueur Prada and Margiela, the designers of choice for the art-intelligentsia.

At center stage was the auction of the major Philippine piece by no less than Carlos “Botong” V. Francisco, titled “Nose Flute.”

Botong’s Sun-King status in the mid 20th century had been eclipsed by the moonlike, feminine glamour woven by one of his younger contemporaries Anita Magsaysay-Ho whose Filipina farm girls (followed by BenCab’s feminine “Sabel” series) have both been a hit among collectors.

“By right, no canvas is worth a million dollars,” says top auction man Daniel Komala, also managing director of Asia’s rising auction-house star in its own right, One East Larasati-Hong Kong. “And you can quote me on that,” he grins. “But ‘history’ is priceless. And the Botong is a piece of history.”

For the Botong “Nose Flute,” its own back story was the stuff of legend — having been commissioned by a buddy of Botong in Manila’s glory days, none other than adman and tourism guru Aurelio “AG” Palileo whose wife, daughter of society beauty Nelly Lovina, connected AG to a string of families straight out of Manila’s 400. AG himself was from an old Pagsanjan family and counted among his ancestors the boy-general Gregorio del Pilar and had extended collateral bloodlines to Gen. Carlos P. Romulo and to Senator Helena Benitez.

Botong was perhaps the first modernist to throw the gauntlet down and challenge Fernando Amorsolo’s idyllic golden landscapes, peopled with serene peasants amid a fairytale Philippine countryside. Instead Botong chose to celebrate Filipino manhood, which he believed was a metaphor for patriotism — Lapu-Lapu, Bonifacio, even his Urduja was painted as the equal of the marauder Limahong.

In many ways, his work ran parallel to Juan Luna’s audacious style that ran at loggersheads to Amorsolo’s turn-of-the-century equivalent, none other than Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo. Incidentally, it was Juan Luna, the first Filipino artist to join the million-dollar club, followed only recently by young turk Roland Ventura.

The “Nose Flute” was an unusual masterwork adding romance to Botong’s usual iconic testosterone-laced history lessons. Here, Botong was not playing schoolteacher. He was in love.

The work promptly resonated with buyers across Southeast Asia, with museums, both private and state-owned, in Singapore and Indonesia, signifying interest in adding it to their collections.

The opening bid for the work began at US$380,000 or P15 million (roughly double the level achieved by another Botong piece at Christie’s in 2005) and rose rapidly.

Filipino bidding was ginger at best, possibly unnerved by the reputedly deep pockets of the oil-rich Indonesians.

When the dust of the auction had settled, it was an Indonesian — and not a Filipino — who brought home the Botong. More’s the pity, considering it is the grand old man’s 100th birth anniversary this year.

The price paid was record by any standards at HK$5,024,000 or US$648,258 or a cool P27.9 million.

Although it was a whisper under a million dollars, it was nevertheless an undeniable statement of the lure of Botong’s artistry.

The latest performance put Botong back on top of his modernist contemporaries — and comfortably in the “premier league” of Filipino old masters.

“The ‘Nose Flute’ was simply majestic and there was never any doubt in my mind that it would set a record,” said Totong Francisco, Botong’s grandson.”Lolo’s works are worldclass.”

Salvador “Badong” Juban, Botong’s last apprentice, speaking with a “heavy heart” from his Angono studio, mourned that while “we may have gained a world’s record, we have lost a national treasure.”

Perhaps there may be something in all that “Ban-American-Popstars” folderol after all. In the case of Lady Gaga’s spectacle (a 22-ton castle was flown in for the occasion) the same weekend as the Botong auction — it was a formidable pastiche (but a pastiche nevertheless) of Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar and yes, even Imelda Marcos. And so, while Manila’s who’s who lapped up Lady Gaga in various Imeldific ternos, the Indonesians (who had shunned her shows for the threat it posed to their cultural values) were happily purring their way home with one of the Philippines’ most fascinating and what’s most important in the world of art — original treasures.

In a more perfect world, it would not be an overrated popstar sitting at our high table, but rather Botong over Gaga instead of the other way around.