BenCab & Melvyn Calderon take flight with art
Two men are on a boat. No, not Ahab and Ishmael searching for the captain’s evil white nemesis, resulting in an ocean of good prose. No, not Marlow and some other guy on a quest to see Kurtz, resulting in a jungle of philosophy and psychology. The two aforementioned journeymen are Filipino artists. One is a painter, the other a photographer.
The former invited the latter to join him on the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) live-aboard boat on a trip to Tubbataha Reef National Park with some foreign scientists — ornithologists, marine biologists, etc. Tubbataha Reef was declared a National Marine Park in 1988 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. Apart from doing some diving, they also went to the Bird Islet on the North Atoll. It was where inspiration took flight.
National Artist Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera and photographer Melvyn Calderon present their paintings and photographs featuring some of the migratory birds they spotted during their trip: Red-footed Booby, Green-footed Booby, Brown Booby, Black Noddy, Brown Noddy, Great Crested Tern, and Sooty Tern, among others. The show is titled “Birds of Tubbataha,” on view from Oct. 13 to Dec. 9 at Gallery Indigo of BenCab Museum in Baguio. 
BenCab painted the watercolors in Baguio, based on his own photographs. None were done on the spot. The paper he used is a very special handmade paper we bought in Moulin de Larroque, a 13th-century paper mill in the village of Couze, in the Dordogne region in France.
“Melvyn and I were the only non-scientists on the live-aboard boat,” recalls BenCab. “We were aware that the Bird Islet was off-limits to visitors unless one is a scientist involved with the study of the migratory seabirds that come there. It is not easy to schedule a dive in the protected reef — one needs to book at least a year ahead. But it is almost impossible for a chance to visit the Bird Islet.”
The resulting watercolors by BenCab are amazing. He is known for handling of oil, acrylic or pastel in landmark Sabel paintings, his “Rock Sessions” (my personal favorite) and assorted erotica. But watercolor?
“I had done a few watercolors before but since it is such a difficult medium, I hadn’t used it in a while,” he explains. “I was inspired by the handmade paper (I bought) in France, I wanted to use the paper for something very special and decided to take up watercolor again. I also thought it would be suited to use on the bird subjects.”
Watercolor for Ben is both a demanding and alluring mistress.
“Watercolor is not easy to control. When applied, it tends to run away with you. (But) I just love its transparent quality and how one can create layers of color.”
The medium lends itself quite delicately to the subject, I might say. BenCab explains, “Birds usually symbolize freedom, of being able to travel without boundaries.” And how the strokes did gracefully travel across the absorbent and roughly textured paper from the Dordogne region.
Melvyn Calderon’s photographs illustrate how birds adapt to man’s onslaught of the environment. “The birds cope, adapt and innovate to improve their lives — to a certain extent they can be better than humans (in this regard). We take so much time to decide to fight for what is rightfully ours — it took us many years before we drove away Marcos and nine years before we finally realized that GMA was fooling us.”
Calderon became a lensman by accident. He wasn’t interested in photography at the onset, but when his sister got a camera as a gift from their father (architect Mel V. Calderon), and Melvyn started tinkering with it, something clicked — literally, figuratively. Melvyn’s father even bought him his first, second and third choices of cameras. Photography was to become his life’s work.
Calderon took photographs for the mosquito press during martial law — Mr. and Ms., Philippine Signs, Midweek. Later, he became a photographer for Time magazine.
He says, “This stint brought me to all kinds of coverage in Asia — from conflict to the Olympics. Now, I’m doing feel-good photography such as nature. I’m back to photographing my family — especially the movements, activities, and milestones of my nine-year-old daughter. My life has come full circle.”
The winged creatures are not just subjects in this exhibition by BenCab and Melvyn Calderon. Birds are also flying metaphors in making art itself. (“Flight is freedom,” cites Ben.) Or even a mode of thinking. (“Cope, adapt, and innovate,” Calderon points out.) Making art is the closest thing to feel how it is like to straddle clouds.
An artist should not have a problem of running out of ideas,” BenCab concludes. “One should keep challenging oneself to try different media and re-interpret your subject matter. It is also important to always be curious about things around you.”
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“Birds of Tubbataha” opens on Oct. 13, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at Gallery Indigo of the BenCab Museum, Km. 6 Asin Road, Tuba, Metro Baguio, and is open daily except Mondays, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. For details, call tel. (074)4427165 or 0920-5301954, e-mailbencabartfoundation@gmail.com, or visit www.bencabmuseum.org.
