Maestro Maning: Cebuano gem

CEBU, Philippines - It’s awesome to find a 99-year-old Cebuano in great shape and with a sharp wit.

This unusually gifted artist from Cebu has been silent for many, many years in the U.S. Verily, art has been his guardian angel who has held his hand, his perception and ingenuity this far – at the threshold of his centenary (January 1, 2012 specifically).

"I hope that creative minds would continue to flourish here in Cebu. There's plenty of work to be developed still; technology should all the more be harnessed to keep us exploring a wealth of possibilities [not a device to put off our enthusiasm to propagate the art of the multiple originals]," an amazingly sharp Maestro Manuel Rodriguez Sr. – Mang Maning to fellow artists and friends – shared this insight after the launch of the coffee table book on him last February 26 at his high school alma mater (Class '34), the University of Southern Philippines Foundation in Lahug.

"Computers were created to make us ahead of our time, but people have been too slow to understand and explore the myriad of possibilities," he noted. "There isn't a strong movement anymore, or the presence of a group, to rally the use of machine to improve our ideas. Printmaking combines technology with creative skill, a convergence of techniques and aesthetics."

"The Internet gives us a wider plane to look at what art is. To look at how we see art nowadays. Take time to understand what art is trying to teach us. All we have to do is to know how to do it, then improve and advance," Mang Maning added.

According to him, today's artists should use available technology to challenge them to be more creative and to discover what more can be produced through the thinking process that our current school system inspires.

"Struggle to improve. Be continually inspired by the philosophy that art is life," he said pointing out that if today's e-books could not impart inventive skill anymore, one has to take a new road. "Take into account graphic renditions of beautiful and inspiring events and sceneries subconsciously stored in memory – that which later on appears in artworks while the artist is engaged in developing the growth of new images.

"Possibilities are inspired by the beautiful things we see and meet in the places we've been to. We have to constantly train the mind how to think. That is how to draw," he emphasized. "Art is a language. We make it simple to be understood. But we also make it symbolic to encourage the mind to be creative. That is the beauty of art. It opens our minds."

"Art is the drama of experience, the poetry of struggle, the music and dance of adventure and existence. Art is life," Mang Maning summed up over eight decades of his romance and espousal of the graphic arts.

Esteemed as the Father of Contemporary Printmaking, Mang Maning has ensured that printmaking as an art form will "not be relegated to the sidelines of the Philippine visual arts scene."

The last time that he flew over to Cebu was on December 15, 2006 when he conducted an Art Talk at the University of San Carlos-College of Architecture and stimulated fellow artists to believe that art is a "spiritual language."

"God is the truth and we are all part of that truth," this was one of his most quotable quotes.

"His Life and Art", essayed by Eva Florentino, and printed in Nassau (the Bahamas) articulated his beliefs, philosophy of life, and teachings. To borrow the words of Athena Lopez, president of the Society of Philippine-American Artists wherein Mang Maning is president emeritus: "There is something in [the] book that is good, satisfying and enduring. It is still the best way to showcase the artist and his art!"

Moreover, it was learned that Mang Maning (born 1912) received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to study printmaking in New York. In 1962, upon returning to the Philippines, he decided to teach and spread the art of printmaking to his fellow painters and students. "He single-handedly taught an entire new generation of young printmakers," this was mentioned by his daughter Erlinda Rodriguez-Gorospe who is his constant travel companion.

Further, it was learned that Mang Maning devoted so much time teaching printmaking that he almost neglected painting. He believed that this relatively new form could help bring art closer to the masses.

In a separate article penned by Eloisa May Hernandez, a professor of Humanities at UP-Diliman, Mang Maning is said to have opened the Contemporary Arts Gallery in Manila, a gallery cum workshop specializing in prints.

"He specialized in etching but could teach all the various techniques of printmaking. It is for his enormous influence in the reemergence of printmaking in the country that he earned the recognition of fathering Philippine printmaking," Hernandez pointed out.

Etching is the "process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal (this is the original process – in modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types of material). Intaglio method, along with engraving is the most important technique for old master prints, and remains widely used today."

The only thing that has reportedly stopped the granting of the National Artist Award to this Cebuano gem is the issue of his dual citizenship. He left Cebu while he was only 19 years old, earned a Fine Arts degree at the University of the Philippines Diliman, and has lived most of his life in New York than in the Philippines. Yet he considers himself always a Cebuano. (FREEMAN)